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{{Short description|Modern dance company based in New York City}}{{Update|part=History|reason=Has not been updated since 2004 and this is still an extremely active and notable dance company|date=May 2023}}{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Use American English|date=November 2023}}(File:Alvin_Ailey_American_Dance_Theater_(48269597276).jpg|thumb|Theatre at 405 West 55th Street at Ninth Avenue)The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) is a modern dance company based in New York City. It was founded in 1958 by choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey. It is made up of 32 dancers, led by artistic director Robert Battle and associate artistic director Matthew Rushing.

History

Alvin Ailey and a group of young Black modern dancers first performed at New York's 92nd Street Young Men's Hebrew Association (92nd Street Y), under the name Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT), in March 1958.WEB, 2006-02-10, Alvin Ailey Dance Company Comes to Dorothy Chandler,weblink 2023-05-10, Glendale News-Press, en-US, Ailey was the company's director, choreographer, and principal dancer. The company started as an ensemble of only seven dancers, plus their choreographer, and many guest choreographers."Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre: Origins to 1979", International Encyclopedia of Dance, vol. 1. Oxford University Press, New York: 1979. 54–57.Following their first performance, which included Ailey's Blues Suite, the company traveled on what were known as the "station wagon tours"; in 1960, the AAADT became a resident company of the 51st Street YWCA's Clark Center for the Performing Arts.WEB, Armstrong, Jenice, April 23, 2008, Jenice Armstrong: Alvin Ailey troupe's famed Judith Jamison reflects on its 'past, present and future',weblink 2023-05-09, inquirer, en, During this period Ailey choreographed his famous work Revelations, a character dance done to traditional music. In 1962, Ailey changed his all-black dance company into a multi-racial group. In that same year, the company was chosen to tour the Far East, Southeast Asia and Australia as part of President John F. Kennedy's "President's Special International Program for Cultural Presentations". AAADT was the first "Black" company to travel for Kennedy's program.WEB, Transforming Dance around the World,weblink 2023-05-09, National Museum of African American History and Culture, en, In 1960, James Truitte joined the dance company, and later became an authority on Horton's technique.NEWS, New York Times,weblink James Truitte, 72, a dancer, teacher and historian, dies, Jennifer, Dunning, August 24, 1995, WEB, James Truitte, MOBBallet.org, 1 November 2019,weblink 3 September 2022, Judith Jamison, a star of the company for 15 years, joined the company in 1965.WEB, Judith Jamison: Dancer and Choreographer,weblink 2023-05-09, Smithsonian Institution, en, Ailey established a school in 1969, the same year that the company moved to the Brooklyn Academy of Music.WEB, Rabinowitz, Chloe, April 11, 2023, Alvin Ailey to Return to BAM for First Time in More Than a Decade With Two Programs,weblink 2023-05-10, BroadwayWorld.com, en, Both company and school relocated to 229 East 59th Street in Manhattan a year later, to a renovated church building.JOURNAL, Jackson, Jonathan David, DeFrantz, Thomas F., 2005-07-01, Dancing Revelations: Alvin Ailey's Embodiment of African American Culture,weblink Dance Research Journal, 37, 1, 135, 10.2307/20444627, 20444627, 192083772, 0149-7677, free, In April of that year, a financial crisis caused Ailey to issue a statement that the dissolution of the company might take place.NEWS, Kisselgoff, Anna, 1970-04-23, City Ballet and Musicians Talk; Ailey May Disband His Troupe, en-US, The New York Times,weblink 2023-05-10, 0362-4331, The crisis abated, however, and in 1971 AAADT made its first performance at the New York City Center.NEWS, 1971-03-16, CITY CENTER TO ADD AILEY DANCE SEASON, en-US, The New York Times,weblink 2023-05-10, 0362-4331, AAADT, the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble (later renamed Ailey II), and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center (later renamed The Ailey School) relocated in 1980 to four new studios in a building on Broadway. The company celebrated its 25th anniversary three years later.Alvin Ailey died on December 1, 1989; before his death he selected Judith Jamison to succeed him as artistic director, and the entire Ailey organization moved to 211 West 61st Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The Ailey School and nearby Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC), Fordham University, have since affiliated to offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree program.WEB,weblink Partnerships and Affiliations {{!, The Ailey School|publisher=Fordham University|access-date=May 3, 2022}}Following tours in Russia, France and Cuba in the 1990s, as well as a residency in South Africa in 1997, the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation announced in 2001 that a new dance complex was to be developed. Ground was broken on the building site in Manhattan the following year. The company and school moved into the building, named the Joan Weill Center for Dance, in 2004.WEB, Patton, Charlie, May 14, 2010, As artist director prepares to pass the torch, Alvin Ailey dance theater comes to Jacksonville,weblink 2023-05-09, The Florida Times-Union, en-US, (File:P20230210ES-0147 (52734537651).jpg|thumb|The Alvin Ailey Dance Theater performs, Friday, February 10, 2023, in the State Dining Room of the White House.)

Governance

The Ailey School is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD). The school is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as an institution of higher education and is eligible to participate in Title IV programs.

People

Many people have contributed to the success of AAADT, but the work of Michael Kaiser, the executive director from 1990 to 1993, is often citedWEB,weblink Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Foundation, Michael M., Kaiser, 2005, Artsmanager, December 30, 2006,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20061006040413weblink">weblink October 6, 2006, dead, .Kaiser, Michael (February 1, 2002), "Winter Council 2002 Keynote Address", DanceUSA. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061210201206weblink |date=December 10, 2006 }}.Auster, Bruce B. (March 2, 2003), "Turnaround Artist", U.S.News. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007141324weblink |date=October 7, 2012 }}. as a model of successful nonprofit performing arts management.Masazumi Chaya, who later served as associate artistic director for 28 years, first joined the company as a dancer in 1972.WEB, Reiter, Susan, December 17, 2019, Alvin Ailey Honors Masazumi Chaya, Its Long-Standing Associate Artistic Director,weblink Playbill, After 21 seasons (since 1989), Jamison personally selected Robert Battle to succeed her as Ailey's artistic director in 2011, and The New York Times declared he "has injected the company with new life."Kourlas, Gia (June 13, 2013), "Dance Review: From Sex to Salvation, Not Without Introspection", The New York Times.Troy Powell became artistic director of Ailey II in 2012, succeeding artistic director emerita Sylvia Waters, who ran the junior company for its first 38 years.NEWS, Kourlas, Gia, 2012-04-17, The Guide and Spirit of Ailey II Steps Down, en-US, The New York Times,weblink 2023-05-09, 0362-4331, Powell was fired in 2020 after allegations of sexual misconduct involving students and other young dancers surfaced online.WEB,weblink Troy Powell, Artistic Director of Ailey II, Has Been Fired for Sexual Misconduct, The New York Observer, 20 July 2020, Porter, Juan Michael II, Francesca Harper, daughter of former school director Denise Jefferson, was appointed director of Ailey II in 2021. NEWS,weblink Ailey II Names a New Artistic Director, The New York Times, September 2021, Kourlas, Gia, Denise Jefferson was selected by Ailey to head the school when it was founded in 1984, and served as its director until her death in 2010.Fox, Margalit (July 20, 2010). "Denise Jefferson, 65, Director of the Ailey School, Is Dead", The New York Times. Retrieved July 21, 2010.In 2010, The Ailey School hired Tracy Inman and Melanie Person to be the school’s co-directors.WEB, THE AILEY SCHOOL NAMES TRACY INMAN AND MELANIE PERSON AS CO-DIRECTORS,weblink 2023-05-09, www.dance.nyc, en,

Performances and repertory

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has performed for an estimated 25 million people in 48 states, as well as 71 countries on six continents. Among these performances are included two South African residencies. The company has often been an ambassador for American culture, starting with President John F. Kennedy's Southeast Asia tour program. The troupe toured southeast Asia and Australia in 1962, and performed in the International Arts Festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1963. They performed at the first World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal, in 1966. In 1968, AAADT performed at the Edinburgh Festival, earning awards for "best choreographer", and "best company". They were also awarded "best male dancer" at the International Dance Festival in Paris in 1970, the same year that they did a six-city tour of the USSR. The company and its dancers and artistic staff have been recognized as cultural ambassadors numerous times, as in the 2001 awarding of the National Medal of Arts to both Judith Jamison and the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation.Lifetime Honors - National Medal of Arts {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721054307weblink |date=July 21, 2011 }} In 2008, the United States Congress passed a resolution officially designating the company a "vital American Cultural Ambassador to the World."WEB,weblink 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., Nadler, Jerrold, July 15, 2008, www.congress.gov, July 29, 2019, WEB,weblink S.Res.72 - 112th Congress (2011–2012): A resolution recognizing the artistic and cultural contributions of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the 50th Anniversary of the first performance of Alvin Ailey's masterwork, 'Revelations'., Gillibrand, Kirsten E., February 17, 2011, www.congress.gov, July 29, 2019, WEB,weblink S.Res.490 - 110th Congress (2007–2008): A resolution recognizing the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for 50 years of service to the performing arts., Clinton, Hillary Rodham, September 23, 2008, www.congress.gov, July 29, 2019, (File:Alvin Ailey - Revelations.jpg|thumb|Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre performs legendary Alvin Ailey's Revelations in Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.)Founder Alvin Ailey created more than 79 dances for his company during his tenure; he also maintained, however, that the company was not solely a repository for his choreography. Hence AAADT has a repertory of more than 235 works by more than 90 choreographers, including Ulysses Dove, Karole Armitage, George Faison, Uri Sands, Elisa Monte, Talley Beatty, Katherine Dunham, Donald Byrd, and Twyla Tharp (whose work The Golden Section, excerpted from her larger ballet, The Catherine Wheel, entered AAADT's repertory in 2006). The company's popularity comes from its theatrical, extroverted style of dancers with strong personalities and muscular skill. Yet the majority of AAADT's pieces have not held the stage for more than a few seasons, and comparatively few have managed to reach critical acclaim. However, the company keeps Alvin Ailey's works, including Revelations (1960), Night Creature (1974) and Cry (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 the Royal Danish Ballet. Cry is a three-part, 17-minute solo created for Judith 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. Cry has great physical and emotional demands on both performer and audience.WEB, Gates, Elizabeth, 2023-03-14, A Teen Dancer Reflects on Seeing Alvin Ailey's Iconic 'Revelations' for the First Time,weblink 2023-05-09, VOX ATL, en-US, WEB, Night Creature - April 14 -28, 2021 - The Montrealer,weblink 2023-05-09, themontrealeronline.com, NEWS, Gladstone, Valerie, 2000-11-26, DANCE; The Long Shadow Of Ailey's Great 'Cry', en-US, The New York Times,weblink 2023-05-09, 0362-4331, NEWS, 2009-09-15, Alvin Ailey dancers bring "Memoria" to Copenhagen, en, Reuters,weblink 2023-05-09, Battle has expanded the company's repertory in significant ways, adding works by established choreographers such as Garth Fagan, Jiri Kylian, Wayne McGregor, Ohad Naharin and Paul Taylor, and commissioning new dances from contemporary choreographers including Kyle Abraham and Aszure Barton. In 2011, Battle also established a New Directions Choreography Lab to nurture emerging artists.NEWS, Lee, Felicia R., 2011-05-12, Ailey Awards New Choreography Fellowships, en-US, The New York Times,weblink 2023-05-09, 0362-4331,

See also

• Culture of New York City
• Carmen De Lavallade
• Jeroboam Bozeman
• Judith Jamison
• Mel Tomlinson
• Masazumi Chaya
• Keith McDaniel

References

{{Reflist|refs=NEWS }}

External links

{{Archival records|title=Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation collection, 1958-2008|location= Music Division, Library of Congress|description_URL=https://lccn.loc.gov/2013572111}}{{Commons category|Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater}}

• Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater website
• Repertory of the Company
• History and Timeline of the Company
• Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Channel on YouTube
• Fordham University Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program affiliation
• Archival footage of Matthew Rushing performing in Alvin Ailey's Revelations in 2007 at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival
• Archival footage of Ailey II performing in Alvin Ailey's Revelations in 1988 at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival
• Map: {{Coord|40|46|01|N|73|59|13|W|format=dms|display=inline,title|type:landmark_region:US-NY}}

{{African-American dance}}{{Dance Companies in the United States}}{{National Medal of Arts recipients 2000s}}{{Authority control}}