Dance pioneer Judith Jamison dies at 81

Judith Jamison, dance star and former artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, died Saturday. She was 81. “We remember and are grateful for her artistry, humanity and incredible light, which inspired us all,” read a statement from the company posted on social media.

As a dancer, Jamison was best known for “Cry.” First premiering in 1971, the dance is a 17-minute solo choreographed by Alvin Ailey, dedicated to “all Black women everywhere – especially our mothers.” In an interview with NPR in 2008, Jamison said the piece continues to resonate with people because it told a specific, singular story that anyone could understand. “It had nothing to do with how high I was raising my legs or how many pirouettes I was doing or any of that. It had to do with inner self and it had to do with vulnerability and being able to share that vulnerability and for you to recognize it as something human.”

Jamison was born in 1943 in Philadelphia. Her 1993 memoir Dancing Spirit detailed a childhood full of culture – museums, zoos, operas and theaters. When she was 6, she started attending the Judimar School of Dance. In 1965, she joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and became one of the most recognizable talents in dance. She left to start her own company briefly but returned, eventually succeeding Ailey as the company’s artistic director.

Under Jamison, the company flourished. In 2005, the company opened the Joan Weill Center for Dance – a physical space and permanent home to the Ailey company. Jamison told NPR that she never thought something like that would be possible. “We were just out there trying to keep the flame alive.”

Since her death, friends, family and fans have posted tributes to Jamison. Former first lady Michelle Obama posted on X, “Today, Judith’s spirit will live on in all the dancers she’s inspired, in all the pieces she’s perfected, in all the audiences she has moved and uplifted.”

In 2011, Jamison stepped down as the company’s artistic director. She told NPR ahead of leaving that she was confident in the company’s future. “I am fearlessly reaching into the future,” she said.

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