Judith Jamison, the legendary dancer and choreographer of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for 20 years, died on November 9 at 81 at her New York home due to a brief illness, as reported by the Aliang and Instagram accounts. Philadelphia native Jamison started dancing at the age of six.
They began performing the same year in Alvin Ailey’s Modern Dance Company, where few black women in America danced. In 1971, she was again showcased in Cry, a 17-minute production, for which Ailey stated, “This work is dedicated to all black women everywhere but especially to our mothers.” In his autobiography, Ailey wrote that ‘Cry’ became a significant work for Jamison because she fully expanded herself in the work. Goddess Younan, with ‘Cry,’ she became herself.
Once she found this contact, this release, she poured her being into everybody who came to see her perform, he wrote. Aside from dancing for Ailey, Jamison danced on Broadway and started her own dance company. She returned to Alvin Ailey in 1989, continuing as artistic director until 2011 to influence its future. In her forty-year career, Jamison was hardly overlooked, and she was awarded with a Kennedy Center Honor and National Medal of Arts, among many others.
