Renowned dancer and choreographer Judith Jamison, who led the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for over two decades, passed away on Saturday in New York at 81. Jamison’s death occurred at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center after a brief illness, according to Christopher Zunner, managing director of public relations at the dance company.
“We remember and are grateful for her artistry, humanity, and incredible light, which inspired us all,” Zunner stated.
Born on May 10, 1943, in Philadelphia, Jamison discovered her love for dance early on, beginning lessons at age six at the Judimar School of Dance in her hometown. Encouraged initially to study the piano and violin, Jamison gravitated toward ballet, later training under African American dance pioneer Katherine Dunham. She attended Germantown High School and briefly enrolled at Fisk University before dedicating herself to dance and kinesiology studies at the Philadelphia Dance Academy.
Jamison joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1965, quickly becoming a celebrated figure in modern dance when few Black women held prominence in the field. Her defining moment came in 1971 with the premiere of Cry, a 17-minute solo created by Alvin Ailey as a tribute “to all Black women everywhere—especially our mothers.” This piece became a hallmark of the Ailey troupe and earned Jamison international acclaim. Alvin Ailey later wrote of Jamison’s performance, “With Cry, she became herself. Once she found this contact, this release, she poured her being into everybody who came to see her perform.”
In addition to her iconic work with Ailey’s company, Jamison performed with global ballet companies, including the San Francisco Ballet, Swedish Royal Ballet, and Vienna State Ballet, and even graced the Broadway stage in Sophisticated Ladies alongside Gregory Hines. She began her choreography work in the 1980s, premiering her first ballet, Divining, with the Ailey company in 1984 and launching her dance group, The Jamison Project Dance Company, in 1988.
Following Ailey’s death in 1989, Jamison took over as the artistic director of his company, steering it through a period of profound growth and establishing its first permanent home, the Joan Weill Center for Dance. She also founded a partnership with Fordham University, creating a joint Bachelor of Fine Arts program to support a multicultural dance curriculum.
Throughout her career, Jamison received numerous honors, including the National Medal of Arts and a Kennedy Center Honor, recognizing her contribution to the arts and her role in broadening the visibility of Black dancers and choreographers. Her legacy is preserved in her autobiography, Dancing Spirit, and her choreography, which remains foundational to the company’s repertoire.
Reflecting on her role as Ailey’s successor, Jamison once said, “I felt prepared to carry [the company] forward. Alvin and I were like parts of the same tree. He, the roots and the trunk, and we were the branches. I was his muse. We were all his muses.”
