Coming this fall to the ever-expanding Ailey organization is an intriguing new event: the Choreography Unlocked festival. From Oct. 12–14 and 26–28, the Joan Weill Center for Dance will host workshops, performances and panel discussions. It is an extension of Ailey’s New Directions Choreography Lab, an annual residency fellowship for four emerging and mid-career choreographers, […]

Some nights, you head home buzzing with energy. After last night’s Dance Magazine Awards, we were dancing with it. We had the privilege of honoring four legends of our field—Rennie Harris, Marika Molnar, Linda Celeste Sims and Diana Vishneva—in a ceremony that was filled with inspiration and beauty. Joshua Culbreath in Doubt & Dolo. Photo […]

In 1960, America was in the midst of a social transformation. The Supreme Court had ruled “separate but equal” unconstitutional six years prior, but the country’s response was slow and turbulent as desegregation incited violent responses. Surrounded by powerful civil rights momentum, a 29-year-old Alvin Ailey created an ode to the resilience of the human […]

For Dance Magazine‘s 90th anniversary issue, we wanted to celebrate the movers, shakers and changemakers who are having the biggest impact on our field right now. There were so many to choose from! But with the help of dozens of writers, artists and administrators working in dance, the Dance Magazine staff whittled the list down […]

Judith Jamison was always going to be a tough act to follow. But in the six years since Robert Battle took the helm of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, he’s launched a new era for the iconic troupe. Take last season: Battle revived Ailey’s Masekela Langage, pushed the envelope with Kyle Abraham’s new Untitled America […]

Chalvar Monteiro saw his first Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performance at 12 and was smitten. Today, at 28, he’s a lithe, elegantly understated member of the company. But he’s experienced some happy detours along the way—namely as a dancer with MacArthur-winning choreographer Kyle Abraham, as well as Sidra Bell and Larry Keigwin. After a […]

Your first dance job can be exhilarating. And terrifying. Those initial few weeks especially can feel like an obstacle course of incredible opportunities and narrowly-avoided mistakes as you navigate the nuances of a company life. It’s a process that many recent grads are just getting to know as companies rev up for their fall seasons. A few months ago, I spoke to Alvin […]

The first time Jacqueline Green auditioned for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, she was 16. She’d taken her first dance class just three years earlier—when teachers had to physically hold her foot to teach her a tendu. Yet when she and a couple of friends learned that Ailey’s main company was holding auditions in Washington, […]