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41-484: Complexions Contemporary Ballet's unique style draws on inspiration from the visual arts, theatre, street-dance and pop culture. Dwight Rhoden has created over 90 ballets for Complexions. Both Rhoden and Desmond Richardson were dancers with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater . Complexions has appeared at major European dance festivals including Italy's Festival of Dance for four consecutive years,

82-530: A Los Angeles production at the Mark Taper Forum to a Broadway show. In 1995, Clarke choreographed “The Tempest.” In November 2003, she started work on Caroline, or Change , a musical that features spirituals, blues, Motown, classical music and Jewish Klezmer. Clarke was responsible for the choreography of the show that began as an Off-Broadway production, received a Broadway production of 126 performances in 2004, received six Tony Award nominations, and had

123-598: A choreographer, Clarke is credited with staging and movement for more than 30 shows on and off Broadway. A native of Washington, D.C. , Clarke took dance classes with her sister at the Alma Davis Dance School, and as a senior in high school, she was a lead dancer with Doris Jones' company in DC. Clarke worked as a summer employee for the Central Intelligence [Agency]. She grew up in a middle class Black community,

164-882: A dynamic, with so many different tones. I thought it was a nice partnership between that and Bowie.” Complexions has received numerous awards including the New York Times “Critics Choice” Award. It has appeared throughout the US, including the Joyce Theater /NY, Lincoln Center /NY, the Brooklyn Academy of Music 's/NY, the Mahalia Jackson Performance Arts Center in New Orleans, the Paramount Theatre in Seattle,

205-475: A larger space for rehearsals, school performances, production materials, and offices. The board of trustees established a campaign steering committee to identify potential major donors. Joan Weill, who served fourteen years as chairwoman of the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, and her husband, Sandy Weill , co-chaired the building capital campaign, and donated a total of eighteen million dollars to

246-530: A lead gift of sixteen million dollars to the campaign. In 2021, AAADT received a twenty million dollar gift from MacKenzie Scott to support its "Dancing Forward" initiatives. In 2024, the Whitney Museum unveiled "Edges of Ailey," the first major museum exhibition to survey the artistry of Alvin Ailey and AAADT. In November 2024, AAADT announced that Alicia Graf Mack , a former Alvin Ailey company member and

287-686: A minor role and was part of the ensemble in Hallelujah, Baby! , which received five Tony Awards , including Best Musical . In 1966, Clarke appeared in the Metropolitan Opera 's first production, Antony and Cleopatra . In 1968, she played Mamselle Tulip in the House of Flowers at the Lucille Lortel Theatre . In 1969, Clarke had a role in Douglas Turner Ward’s “The Reckoning” at

328-527: A partnership as part of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ Year of the Youth initiative. The Ailey Extension was created in 2005. Ailey Extension offers instruction in more than 25 different dance and fitness techniques, including Ballet, Hip-Hop, Horton, House, Jazz, Masala Bhangra, Samba, West African, and Zumba. Since 2005, the Ailey organization has been headquartered at the Joan Weill Center for Dance, which

369-483: A place where people shopped through mail-order catalogues in order to purchase clothes offered in stores where they were not welcomed. “The black community, as I remember it, was very closely knit," Clarke said in the San Francisco Examiner : "Before the fabric of this society was torn by racism and lack of education, we all took care of each other. We all watched each other's children." In 1959, Clarke landed

410-421: A prominent dance company and global arts institution, has performed for audiences around the world. The following is a sample of significant AAADT performances, residencies, and tours: Alvin Ailey created seventy-nine dances for the company that bears his name. He maintained that the company was not solely a repository for his choreography, and sought the contributions from other choreographers. Today, AAADT has

451-474: A repertory of nearly three hundred works by more than one hundred choreographers, including: The company keeps Alvin Ailey's works, including Revelations (1960), Night Creature (1974) and Cry (1971), in continuous performance. Memoria was one of Alvin Ailey's balletic pieces, with long lines and a clear technical style different from his usual jazz character style of swirling patters, strong, driving arm movements, huge jumps, and thrusting steps. This dance

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492-470: A role in the original touring cast of West Side Story . At the urging of her sister, she auditioned for the role, got it, and joined the touring company while it was in Chicago, and remained in the cast until April 23, 1960. In 1961, Clarke appeared in the interracial love story Kwamina starring Brock Peters and Robert Guillaume , and featuring the choreography of Agnes de Mille . In 1967, she played

533-908: A two-month run at the Lyttleton Theatre, National Theatre in London, winning the Olivier Award for Best New Musical. In 2010, Clarke choreographed A Free Man of Color , and in 2017, she choreographed, Fly , a play about the Tuskegee Airmen . The show was produced by the Lincoln Center Institute and toured to several venues, including Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Pasadena Playhouse, Florida Studio Theatre, St. Louis Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Ford's Theatre, Vineyard Playhouse, and Crossroads Theatre. After George C. Wolfe hired Clarke to create movement and staging for The Colored Museum ,

574-570: Is an American actress, dancer, vocalist, choreographer , and director. Clarke, a Tony Award nominee, made history in 1995 when she became the first African-American, as well as the first African-American woman, to direct and choreograph a major staging of the classic opera, Porgy and Bess . Clarke began her career as a principal dancer with the Katherine Dunham Company and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater , and as an actress appeared in many stage, film, and television productions. As

615-747: Is eligible to participate in Title IV programs. In 1998, the Ailey School and Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC), Fordham University launched a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree program. The program is recognized as one of the preeminent BFA dance programs in the country. In 1989, Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey is founded and develops into the national AileyCamp program. By 2016, AileyCamp expanded to ten cities: Atlanta, GA; Baltimore, MD; Berkeley/ Oakland, CA; Chicago, IL; Kansas City, KS; Kansas City, MO; Miami, FL; New York, NY; Newark, NJ; and Seattle/Tacoma, WA. In 2023, AileyCamp Atlanta launches

656-561: The 92nd Street Y in New York. Ailey was the company's director, choreographer, and principal dancer. The company started as an ensemble of seven dancers, including Nat Horne, Minnie Marshall, Ella Thompson Moore, and Dorene Richardson, "the only dancer who performed in Alvin Ailey’s two concerts (1958 and 1960) at the 92nd Street Y." In addition to Ailey, the original company worked with guest choreographers in addition to Ailey. For

697-423: The Katherine Dunham Company and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater . In the Ailey company, she toured internationally and received positive reviews and audience ovations. In addition to dancing with Dunham and Ailey, Clarke performed with the companies of Tally Beatty, George Faison , and Louis Johnson . Clarke, along with Michael Blake, Carmen de Lavallade , Sheila Rohan, and others, co-founded

738-573: The New York City Center . In 1974, AAADT had their State Theater at Lincoln Center debut. The program featured Ailey's “Feast of Ashes,” Talley Beatty 's “The Road of the Phoebe Snow,” John Butler's “Portrait of Billie” revival, the premiere of John Jones's “Nocturne,” and Joyce Trisler 's “Journey.” In 1977, the company performed at President Jimmy Carter ’s inauguration gala. In 1988, AAADT hosted its 30th-anniversary season gala at

779-570: The Oprah Winfrey Foundation pledged one million dollars to endow a student scholarship at the Ailey School. In 2005, the Ailey organization, including the main company, Ailey II, and the Ailey School, moved into its new West 55th Street home, the Joan Weill Center for Dance, the former WNET-TV studios where AAADT first appeared on television in the early 1960s. In 2008, Glorya Kaufman donated six million dollars to AAADT's educational programs, including support for AileyCamp programs,

820-483: The 50th Anniversary of the first performance of the Ailey classic Revelations . That same year, Robert Battle , artistic director (2011-2023), established a New Directions Choreography Lab to nurture emerging artists. In 2014, AAADT kicks off a fifty million dollar capital campaign, "Campaign for Ailey's Future," to support artistic, educational, and building expansion projects, and to honor outgoing board chair Joan Weill. Sandy Weill , Joan Weill's husband, provided

861-680: The Action (1977); working with St. Jacques and Philip Michael Thomas on the A Book of Numbers ' set in Dallas ; and portraying Jean-Michel Basquiat 's mother, Matilde, in Basquiat (1996). Clarke has had a variety of guest roles on tv shows, such as Hill Street Blues , Amen , Another World , As the World Turns , Beat Street , Hart to Hart , Into the Night , The Jeffersons , The Ropers , Sex and

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902-470: The Ailey School relocated to four new studios in a building on Broadway . The Ailey School was established in 1969, the same year the company moved to the Brooklyn Academy of Music . The Ailey School is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD). The school is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as an institution of higher education and

943-531: The Ailey School, Ailey Extension, AileyCamp, and other operations, is housed in the 87,000 square-foot Joan Weill Center for Dance, one of the largest buildings dedicated exclusively to dance in the United States. AAADT is recognized as a vital American cultural ambassador , and has performed for diverse audiences in more than seventy countries around the world. In 1958, Alvin Ailey and a group of young Black modern dancers performed as "Alvin Ailey and Company" at

984-708: The Ailey School, and Ailey's BFA program with Fordham University. The fifth floor lobby in the Weill Center for Dance is named in Kaufman's honor. Also in 2008, the United States Congress passed a resolution officially designating the company a "vital American Cultural Ambassador to the World." In 2011, the United States Senate passed a resolution recognizing the artistic and cultural contributions of AAADT and

1025-539: The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performed at Broadway's Billy Rose Theater . In 1970, the Ailey company and school relocated to 229 East 59th Street in Manhattan, a renovated church building. In April of that year, a financial crisis caused Ailey to issue a statement that the dissolution of the company might take place. The crisis abated, however, and in 1971 AAADT made its first performance at

1066-481: The City Center. The company and school are located at 45th Street and Broadway, and move the following year into a 36,000 square-foot space at 211 West 61st Street in Manhattan. In 1989, Alvin Ailey died from AIDS-related complications . Judith Jamison, who rejoined AAADT in 1989, replaced Ailey as the artistic director of AAADT. The company was struggling with mounting debts, and the number of company dancers

1107-590: The City, Three's Company . She appeared in the TV miniseries King (1978), which was based upon the life of Martin Luther King Jr. , the slain civil rights leader. In 1985, Clarke played “Ruby” in the musical Grind and worked with Lester Wilson . In 1992, Clarke earned a Tony Award nomination for “Best Choreography” for her work in the 1992 Broadway hit Jelly's Last Jam . The show grew from New York workshops and

1148-866: The Isle De Dance Festival in Paris, the Maison De La Dance Festival in Lyon, the Holland Dance Festival, Steps International Dance Festival in Switzerland, Łódź Biennale, Warsaw Ballet Festival, Kraków Spring Ballet Festival, the Dance Festival of Canary Islands/Spain, and Le Festival des Arts de St-Sauveur/Canada, and in Korea, Spain, and Australia. "From Bach to Bowie" is a two-part dance program set to

1189-847: The Music Center in Los Angeles, and the Winspear Opera House /Dallas. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Founded in 1958, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater ( AAADT ) is the largest modern dance company in the United States. Based in New York City , the company was founded by Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Alvin Ailey (1931-1989), a noted choreographer and dancer. The Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, which includes AAADT and Ailey II,

1230-528: The St. Mark’s Playhouse, an off-off Broadway theater that showcased the work of the Negro Ensemble Company . In 1970, Clarke was a dancer in “Purlie,” a musical that nominated for five Tony Awards. In 1972, she was in the musical “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope,” which was the first Broadway musical to be directed by an African American woman, Vinnette Carroll . Clarke served as a principal dancer in

1271-526: The company of five women and five men toured as the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. The dancers included Loretta Abbot, Takako Asakawa, Hope Clarke , Joan Peters, and Lucinda Ransom, Alvin Ailey , Bill Luther, Hector Mercado, James Truitte , and Dudley Williams, performed in Paris and London. In 1965, Judith Jamison joined the company and would later serve as the company's first artistic director after Alvin Ailey 's death in 1989. In 1969,

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1312-487: The company's first performance, Ailey's Ariette Oubliee , Blues Suite , and Cinco Latinos were featured. In 1960, the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, later to be renamed the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT), presented the premiere of Revelations at Kaufmann Concert Hall in New York. Rehearsals for Revelations were held in the basement of Clark Center for the Performing Arts , which would later serve as

1353-513: The dean and director of the dance division at Juilliard , will take over as AAADT artistic director on July 1, 2025. The Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation is the largest modern and contemporary dance organization in the United States and consists of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, The Ailey School, Ailey Camp, Ailey Extension, and Ailey Arts In Education and Community Programs. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater,

1394-577: The effort. In 2017, AAADT unveiled The Elaine Wynn and Family Education Wing, a 10,000-square-foot expansion to the Weill Center. Elaine Wynn is a major donor to AAADT. The Wynn Wing adds three floors to Weill Center and features four additional dance studios, two new flexible classrooms, and administrative offices. The following is a partial list of trustees who have played a major role in AAADT's history. A partial list of former Alvin Ailey dancers. Hope Clarke Hope Clarke (born March 23, 1941)

1435-422: The former 5 Plus Ensemble (New Beginnings Theater), a dance company created to showcase the work of dancers, choreographer, and musicians who are older than the age of 50. After appearing on Broadway and around the world as a dancer, Clarke moved to Hollywood, California with the help of actor and friend Raymond St. Jacques . Her most memorable film roles were co-starring with Sidney Poitier in A Piece of

1476-443: The music of Johann Sebastian Bach and David Bowie . According to Rhoden, "this program is very much in line with Complexions, as it is a celebration of differences in many ways. The cast, the material and the choreography that we do is celebrating the beauty of things that are very different and putting them together... It’s all about the contrast. Bach is eternally danceable. It has a spirit. Dancers really respond to it. There’s such

1517-590: The official residence for the company. In 1962, Ailey recast his all-black dance company into a multi-racial group, and the modernized company completed its first international tour to Australia and southeast Asia. The tour of the Lavallade-Ailey American Dance Company, named for Ailey's partnership with Carmen de Lavallade , started in Sydney, Australia, and ended in Seoul, South Korea. In 1964,

1558-581: The pair have collaborated on 10 plays, including the opera Amistad , the Off-Broadway play, Spunk , and Broadway shows Caroline, Or Change , A Free Man of Color , and Jelly's Last Jam , which earned Clarke a Tony Award nomination. In 1995, Clarke directed the Houston Grand Opera production of Porgy & Bess , the first African American to stage a major professional U.S. staging of “Porgy and Bess. Regarded as America’s greatest opera,

1599-555: Was later adopted into the repertory of the Royal Danish Ballet . Cry is a three-part, 17-minute solo created for Judith Jamison . It was meant to pay homage to "all Black women everywhere, especially our mothers" and can be seen as a journey from degradation to pride, defiance, and survival. In 1974, Ailey created the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble (later renamed Ailey II). In 1980, the second company and

1640-439: Was originally designed as a 77,000 square-foot building. The Weill Center features state-of-the-art dance studios, a performance space with a seating capacity of 275 people, classrooms, a costume shop, physical therapy facilities, faculty and student lounges, and administrative offices. In the late 1990s, following their Russia , France and Cuba tours and South Africa residency, AAADT's leadership determined that it needed

1681-579: Was reduced. In 2000, AAADT launched the silent phase of a five year, sixty-six million dollar capital campaign for a new building that would double its size and an endowment for financial stability. In 2002, AAADT broke ground on its new building site on West 55th Street. In 2004, the United States Postal Service issued a first class postage stamp honoring Alvin Ailey as part of the American Choreographers stamp series, and

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