Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Tickets

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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
The dancer's body is simply the luminous manifestation of the soul.

There are many arenas that do promote the performing art abilities. Amongst these are many known names including The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater which is a modern dance company based in New York. It was founded in 1958 by choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey. It is made up of 30 dancers as well as artistic director Judith Jamison and associate artistic director Masazumi Chaya.

Today, led by Artistic Director, Judith Jamison, AAADT has gone on to perform for an estimated 21 million people in 48 states and in 71 countries on six continents, including two historic residencies in South Africa. The company has earned a reputation as one of the most acclaimed international ambassadors of American culture, promoting the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience and the preservation and enrichment of the American modern dance.

Alvin Ailey and a group of young black modern dancers first performed at New York's Young Men's Hebrew Association, under the name Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, in March of 1958. Following this performance, the company traveled on well-known station wagon tours; in 1960, the AAADT became a resident company of the 51st Street YWCA's Clark Center for the Performing Arts. In 1962, 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. Judith Jamison joined the company in 1965.

Ailey established a school in 1969, the same year that the company moved to the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Both company and school relocated to Manhattan a year later, to a renovated church building. Later the crisis abated and in 1971 AAADT made its first performance at the New York City Center, where it is currently the resident company. Associate artistic director Masazumi Chaya joined the company in 1972, thus adding more embellishments to their artistic vigor and passion.

AAADT, the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble (a touring company) and the Ailey school relocated in 1980 to four new studios in a building on Broadway. The company celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary three years later. Alvin Ailey died on December 1 of 1989; Judith Jamison assumed the post of Artistic Director, and the entire Ailey organization moved to 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. Thus its not just the presentation of performing art, rather the pedagogical aspect is also given due consideration thus spreading the art forms to all and sundry.

Many arts organizations have experienced stresses upon the death of their founding artistic director. The others have also contributed to the success of AAADT, but the work of the Executive Director from 1990 to 1993, Michael Kaiser is often cited as a model of successful Not For Profit performing arts management.

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. The company and school moved into the building, named the Joan Weill Center for Dance, in 2004. The company toured Russia and the United Kingdom the following year.

In anything at all, perfection is finally attained, not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away.

Antoine De Saint-Exupery
In 2007, it was among over 530 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.

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 200 works by over seventy choreographers; including such choreographers as Ulysses Dove, Karole Armitage, Uri Sands, and most recently Twyla Tharp (whose work The Golden Section is part of AAADT's 2006 repertory). The company keeps Alvin Ailey's works, including Revelations, Night Creature and Cry, in continuous performance.

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has performed for an estimated 21 million people in 48 states, as well as 71 countries in six continents. Among these performances are included two South African residencies. The company and its dancers and artistic staff have been recognized as cultural ambassadors numerous times, as in the 2002 awarding of the National Medal of Arts to both Judith Jamison and the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation.