Judith Jamison, a famend performer and choreographer who devoted most of her dance profession to the trailblazing Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, has died.
Jamison died Saturday after a quick sickness, the corporate introduced in a press release on social media. She was 81. “We remember and are grateful for her artistry, humanity and incredible light, which inspired us all,” the corporate’s announcement added.
Debbie Allen and Misty Copeland, Black dance trailblazers in their very own proper, paid tribute to Jamison on social media over the weekend. “I owe so much to you for seeing me and making me know I could go all the way,” Allen wrote on Instagram.
She added: “I will always honor you and remember all the great moments we shared. It has been a blessing to be in your orbit.”
American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Copeland mentioned Jamison’s contributions to bop left a “lasting mark on our world”; she praised the choreographer for her legacy, which she says will “continue to shape the future of dance.” The Dance Theatre of Harlem additionally mourned the “icon and legend.”
Jamison started dancing for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1965, a yr after assembly the corporate’s namesake at a fruitless tv audition. Ailey was Jamison’s “spiritual walker, my mentor and my support.” Beneath his tutelage, she made an impression on the dance world along with her grace, lengthy limbs and magnetic presence. Most notably, she carried out Ailey’s 1971 solo “Cry,” the place she famously folded, prolonged and suspended herself in a white long-sleeved leotard and an identical lengthy ruffled skirt.
“In my interpretation, she represented those women before her who came from the hardships of slavery, through the pain of losing loved ones, through overcoming extraordinary depressions and tribulations,” Jamison wrote in her autobiography “Dancing Spirit.” “Coming out of a world of pain and trouble, she has found her way — and triumphed.”
An undated picture of Judith Jamison performing Alvin Ailey’s “Cry.”
(Jack Mitchell / Alvin Ailey Dance Basis and Smithsonian Establishment by way of Related Press)
Jamison blossomed throughout her 15 years as an organization dancer. She usually appeared as a visitor artist with firms around the globe and carried out memorable items, together with 1976’s “Pas de Duke” with ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Although she left the corporate in 1980, Jamison pursued choreography with Ailey’s help. She choreographed her first dance, “Divining,” for the corporate in 1984. She introduced her work to the Washington Ballet and collaborated with choreographers Maurice Béjart and Jennifer Muller/The Works.
The Broadway world additionally loved Jamison’s abilities as she starred within the Duke Ellington revue “Sophisticated Ladies” in 1981. The unique solid additionally included influential faucet star Gregory Hines, Tony winner Hinton Battle and singer Phyllis Hyman.
In 1988, Jamison fashioned her personal firm in her native Philadelphia, however a yr later she returned to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Ailey noticed Jamison as his successor, naming her the corporate’s inventive director in 1989. Ailey died of a blood dysfunction in December 1989. He was 58.
“He said, ‘I’m not doing well; you know I’m sick, and I’d like you to take over the company,’” Jamison recalled to The Instances in 2010. “I said, ‘Sure, of course, Alvin.’ That was it. The decision to do it was instantaneous.”
Throughout her tenure, Jamison led the Ailey firm by way of appreciable progress to a exceptional stage of stability, due to in depth touring. In accordance with the corporate, Jamison oversaw two engagements in South Africa and a 50-city world tour that commemorated the corporate’s fiftieth anniversary.
Jamison additionally introduced Ailey’s “Revelations” (the place she impressed as a lady holding a white parasol) to the White Home in 2010. On the time, first woman Michelle Obama praised Jamison as a “an amazing, phenomenal, ‘fly’ woman.”
“I am a continuation of what Alvin started. And what I wanted to do was broaden it — make it bigger, and certainly not have anyone forget who this man was, what he has done for the world of dance — what a great swath of intelligence and beauty, and a different way of looking at movement, and sharing the stage,” Jamison instructed The Instances in 2010. “He just made a big pathway for all of us to pursue our individual and collective goals.”
Jamison, born Could 19, 1943, retired as inventive director in 2011. She selected choreographer Robert Battle as her successor and served as the corporate’s inventive director emerita till her dying.
All through her profession, Jamison was open concerning the discrimination that she and fellow Black firm members confronted early on. She instructed The Instances in 2019, “We couldn’t actually get decent food because it wasn’t being served to us,” including she had as soon as been served “sour milk and cold coffee.” Black dancers, Jamison mentioned, nonetheless face discrimination — even when “it happens more subtly.”
“It’s always very difficult to get our history straight as African Americans, as Black dancers,” she mentioned in 2019. “That’s part of what’s so important about celebrating 60 years of Alvin Ailey, because we’re still here to tell the truth about what was in his mind.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.