Founded in 1958, theAlvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) is the largestmodern dancecompany in the United States.[2] Based inNew York City, the company was founded byPresidential Medal of Freedom recipientAlvin Ailey (1931–1989), a noted choreographer and dancer. The Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, which includes AAADT and Ailey II, the Ailey School, Ailey Extension, AileyCamp, and other operations, is housed in the 87,000 square-foot Joan Weill Center for Dance, one of the largest buildings dedicated exclusively to dance in the United States.[3] AAADT is recognized as a vital Americancultural ambassador,[4] and has performed for diverse audiences in more than seventy countries around the world.
In 1958, Alvin Ailey and a group of young Black modern dancers performed as Alvin Ailey and Company at the92nd Street Y in New York.[5][6][7][8] Ailey was the company's director, choreographer, and principal dancer.[9][10] The company started as an ensemble of seven dancers, includingNat Horne,[11][12] Minnie Marshall,[11] Ella Thompson Moore,[12] and Dorene Richardson, "the only dancer who performed in Alvin Ailey’s two concerts (1958 and 1960) at the 92nd Street Y."[12] In addition to Ailey, the original company worked with guest choreographers.[10] For the company's first performance, Ailey'sAriette Oubliee,Blues Suite, andCinco Latinos were featured.[6]
In 1960, the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, later to be renamed the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT), presented the premiere ofRevelations at Kaufmann Concert Hall in New York.[6][8] Rehearsals forRevelations were held in the basement ofClark Center for the Performing Arts,[12] which would later serve as the official residence for the company.[6][13]
In 1962, Ailey recast his all-black dance company into a multi-racial group, and the modernized company completed its first international tour to Australia and southeast Asia.[5][10][14] The tour of the Lavallade-Ailey American Dance Company, named for Ailey's partnership withCarmen de Lavallade, started in Sydney, Australia, and ended in Seoul, South Korea.[15]
In 1964, the company of five women and five men toured as the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. The dancers included Loretta Abbot, Takako Asakawa,Hope Clarke, Joan Peters, and Lucinda Ransom,[16]Alvin Ailey, Bill Luther, Hector Mercado,James Truitte, and Dudley Williams, performed in Paris and London.[17][18]
In 1965,Judith Jamison joined the company[19] and would later serve as the company's first artistic director afterAlvin Ailey's death in 1989.[5][20]
In 1969, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performed at Broadway'sBilly Rose Theater.[21]
In 1970, the Ailey company and school relocated to 229 East 59th Street in Manhattan, a renovated church building.[15] In April of that year, a financial crisis caused Ailey to issue a statement that the dissolution of the company might take place.[22] The crisis abated, however, and in 1971 AAADT made its first performance at theNew York City Center.[23]
In 1974, AAADT had theirState Theater at Lincoln Center debut.[8][24] The program featured Ailey's “Feast of Ashes,”Talley Beatty's “The Road of the Phoebe Snow,” John Butler's “Portrait of Billie” revival, the premiere of John Jones's “Nocturne,” andJoyce Trisler's “Journey.”
In 1988, AAADT hosted its 30th-anniversary season gala at the City Center.[9] The company and school are located at 45th Street and Broadway,[9] and move the following year into a 36,000 square-foot space[25] at 211 West 61st Street in Manhattan.[20]
In 1989, Alvin Ailey died fromAIDS-related complications.[26][27] Judith Jamison, who rejoined AAADT in 1989, replaced Ailey as the artistic director of AAADT.[28] The company was struggling with mounting debts,[29] and the number of company dancers was reduced.[9]
In 2000, AAADT launched the silent phase of a five year, sixty-six million dollar capital campaign for a new building that would double its size and an endowment for financial stability.[25]
In 2002, AAADT broke ground on its new building site on West 55th Street.[25][30]
In 2004, theUnited States Postal Service issued a first class postage stamp honoring Alvin Ailey as part of the American Choreographers stamp series,[5][31] and theOprah Winfrey Foundation pledged one million dollars to endow a student scholarship at the Ailey School.[32][33]
In 2005, the Ailey organization, including the main company, Ailey II, and the Ailey School, moved into its new West 55th Street home, the Joan Weill Center for Dance, the former WNET-TV studios where AAADT first appeared on television in the early 1960s.[30][34][35]
In 2008,Glorya Kaufman donated six million dollars to AAADT's educational programs, including support for AileyCamp programs, the Ailey School, and Ailey's BFA program with Fordham University.[36] The fifth floor lobby in the Weill Center for Dance is named in Kaufman's honor.[36]
Also in 2008, theUnited States Congress passed a resolution officially designating the company a "vital American Cultural Ambassador to the World."[4][37][38]
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre performs Alvin Ailey'sRevelations. Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami, Florida
In 2011, theUnited States Senate passed a resolution recognizing the artistic and cultural contributions of AAADT and the 50th Anniversary of the first performance of the Ailey classicRevelations.[37] That same year,Robert Battle, artistic director (2011-2023), established a New Directions Choreography Lab to nurture emerging artists.[39]
In 2014, AAADT kicks off a fifty million dollar capital campaign, "Campaign for Ailey's Future," to support artistic, educational, and building expansion projects, and to honor outgoing board chair Joan Weill.[40]Sandy Weill, Joan Weill's husband, provided a lead gift of sixteen million dollars to the campaign.[40]
In 2021, AAADT received a twenty million dollar gift fromMacKenzie Scott to support its "Dancing Forward" initiatives.[41][42][43]
In 2024, theWhitney Museum unveiled "Edges of Ailey," the first major museum exhibition to survey the artistry of Alvin Ailey and AAADT.[44][5] In November 2024, AAADT announced thatAlicia Graf Mack, a former Alvin Ailey company member and the dean and director of the dance division atJuilliard, will take over as AAADT artistic director on July 1, 2025.[1]
The Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation is the largest modern and contemporary dance organization in the United States[2] and consists of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, The Ailey School, Ailey Camp, Ailey Extension, and Ailey Arts In Education and Community Programs.[43]
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, a prominent dance company and global arts institution,[45] has performed for audiences around the world.[41] The following is a sample of significant AAADT performances, residencies, and tours:
Alvin Ailey created seventy-nine dances for the company that bears his name.[5] He maintained that the company was not solely a repository for his choreography, and sought the contributions from other choreographers. Today, AAADT has a repertory of nearly three hundred works by more than one hundred choreographers,[49] including:
The company keeps Alvin Ailey's works, includingRevelations (1960),Night Creature (1974) andCry (1971), in continuous performance.Memoria was one of Alvin Ailey's balletic pieces, with long lines and a clear technical style different from his usual jazz character style of swirling patters, strong, driving arm movements, huge jumps, and thrusting steps. This dance was later adopted into the repertory of theRoyal Danish Ballet.Cry is a three-part, 17-minute solo created forJudith Jamison. It was meant to pay homage to "all Black women everywhere, especially our mothers" and can be seen as a journey from degradation to pride, defiance, and survival.[10][54][55][56][57]
In 1974, Ailey created the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble (later renamed Ailey II).[41] In 1980, the second company and the Ailey School relocated to four new studios in a building onBroadway.[20]
The Ailey School was established in 1969,[41][25] the same year the company moved to theBrooklyn Academy of Music.[58] The Ailey School is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD).[59] The school is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as an institution of higher education[60] and is eligible to participate in Title IV programs.
In 1998, the Ailey School and Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC),Fordham University launched aBachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree program.[61][6][62]The program is recognized as one of the preeminent BFA dance programs in the country.[61]
In 1989, Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey is founded and develops into the national AileyCamp program.[5] By 2016, AileyCamp expanded to ten cities: Atlanta, GA; Baltimore, MD; Berkeley/ Oakland, CA; Chicago, IL; Kansas City, KS; Kansas City, MO; Miami, FL; New York, NY; Newark, NJ; and Seattle/Tacoma, WA.[5]
In 2023, AileyCamp Atlanta launches a partnership as part of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ Year of the Youth initiative.[5]
The Ailey Extension was created in 2005.[41] Ailey Extension offers instruction in more than 25 different dance and fitness techniques, including Ballet, Hip-Hop, Horton, House, Jazz, Masala Bhangra, Samba, West African, and Zumba.[63]
The Joan Weill Center for Dance 405 West 55th Street at Ninth Avenue New York City
Since 2005, the Ailey organization has been headquartered at the Joan Weill Center for Dance, which was originally designed as a 77,000 square-foot building.[41][64] The Weill Center features state-of-the-art dance studios, a performance space with a seating capacity of 275 people, classrooms, a costume shop, physical therapy facilities, faculty and student lounges, and administrative offices.[30]
In the late 1990s, following theirRussia,France andCuba tours andSouth Africa residency, AAADT's leadership determined that it needed a larger space for rehearsals, school performances, production materials, and offices.[25] The board of trustees established a campaign steering committee to identify potential major donors. Joan Weill, who served fourteen years as chairwoman of the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation,[65] and her husband,Sandy Weill, co-chaired the building capital campaign,[65][40] and donated a total of eighteen million dollars to the effort.[25]
In 2017, AAADT unveiled The Elaine Wynn and Family Education Wing, a 10,000-square-foot expansion to the Weill Center.[5]Elaine Wynn is a major donor to AAADT.[66]The Wynn Wing adds three floors to Weill Center and features four additional dance studios, two new flexible classrooms, and administrative offices.[67]
Troy Powell, artistic director, Ailey II, 2012-2020, who was fired after allegations of sexual misconduct involving students and other young dancers surfaced online.[75][45]
Sylvia Waters, dancer, 1968-1974, and artistic director emerita, Ailey II, 1975-.[76]
Barbara Jonas (1933-2018),[80][81] former member, board of trustees, whose husband Donald Jonas[82] made a donation in her honor to endow all performances ofRevelations.[19][83]
Anthony S. Kendall, president, board of trustees, 2024[84][85]
Philip Laskawy, chairman(1994-?);[51] chairman, executive committee (-2006-);[86] chair emerita, board of trustees[85]
2001: National Medal of Arts, Judith Jamison and Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, the first dance organization to receive the honor.[5][123]
2015: National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, AileyCamp Miami, recognized byFirst Lady Michelle Obama[5]
2023: Outstanding Company and Best Modern Choreography (Kyle Abraham, Are You in Your Feelings?), 2023 National Dance Awards, UK Critics’ Circle[5]
2024: AileyDance for Active Aging received a resolution from the Newark Municipal Council for its contributions to the senior community in Newark, New Jersey.[5]
^ab"Text - H.Res.1088 - 110th Congress (2007-2008): Recognizing and commending the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for 50 years of service as a vital American cultural ambassador to the world." Congress.gov, Library of Congress, 15 July 2008,https://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/house-resolution/1088/text.
^abcdefgh"Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre: Origins to 1979",International Encyclopedia of Dance, vol. 1. Oxford University Press, New York: 1979. 54–57.
^Kourlas, Gia (November 27, 2018). "A Dance Homage to Alvin Ailey as His Company Turns 60". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
^abcdefghijklmnoAiley, Alvin, Ulysses Dove, Judith Jamison, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Danmarks radio, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, RM Arts (Firm), and Kultur International Films. 1990. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Directed by Thomas Grimm. West Long Branch, NJ: Kultur.
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