Judith Jamison: Difference between revisions

'''Judith Ann Jamison''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ʒ|æ|m|ɪ|ˌ|s|ə|n}};<ref>{{cite web|url=https://prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/jamison/index.html|title=Judith Jamison|first=Annette|last=Keogh|publisher=Stanford Presidential Lectures in the Arts and Humanities|date=2010|access-date=March 9, 2020|archive-date=January 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110105155603/http://prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/jamison/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> May 10, 1943 – November 9, 2024) was an American dancer and choreographer. She wasdanced with the artistic director of [[Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater]] from 1965 to 1980 and was Ailey's muse. She later returned to be the company's artistic director from 1989 until 2011, and then its artistic director [[Emeritus|emerita]]. She received the [[Kennedy Center Honors]] in 1999, the [[National Medal of Arts]] in 2001, and the [[Handel Medallion]], New York City's highest cultural honor, in 2010.

Judith Jamison was born in 1943 to Tessie Brown Jamison and John Jamison Sr.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/judith-jamison |title=Judith Jamison |work=History Makers Online |date=August 30, 2016 |access-date=January 6, 2019}}</ref> and grew up in [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, with her parents and older brother.<ref name=Defrantz2011>{{cite web |last=DeFrantz |first=Thomas |title=Great Performances: Judith Jamison, Free To Dance |date=November 11, 2011 |url=https://www.thirteen.org/freetodance/biographies/jamison.html |access-date=January 7, 2019 |archive-date=January 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107124449/https://www.thirteen.org/freetodance/biographies/jamison.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Her father taught her to play the piano and violin. She was exposed to the prominent art culture in Philadelphia from a very early age. At the age of six, sheShe began her dance training at the Judimar School of Dance at six.<ref name="Seibert-2024" /> There she studied with [[Marion Cuyjet]],<ref name="Seibert-2024" /> who became one of Jamison's early mentors. Under Cuyjet's tutelage, Jamison studied [[classical ballet]], and [[modern dance]]. The Judimar studios were treated as a "holy place", and thereCuyjet's wasclasses always had a sense of performance and theatricality in Cuyjet's classes.<ref name=Jamison1993>{{cite book |last=Jamison |first=Judith |title=Dancing Spirit |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |year=1993 |isbn=978-0385425575 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/dancingspiritaut0000jami }}</ref> By the age of eight, Jamison began dancing ''en pointe'' and started taking classes in [[tap dance|tap]], [[acrobatics]], and [[Katherine Dunham#Dunham Technique|Dunham technique]] (which was referred to as "primitive").<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sommers |first=Pamela |date=May 6, 1990 |title=Judith Jamison, Branching Out |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1990/05/06/judith-jamison-branching-out/3bbbb415-5d79-4307-858c-dda33ee21002/ |access-date=May 8, 2023 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

A few years later, Cuyjet began sending Jamison to other teachers to advance her dance education. She learned the [[Cecchetti method]] from [[Antony Tudor]], founder of the Philadelphia Ballet Guild,. andShe studied with Delores Brown Abelson, a graduate of Judimar who pursued a performance career in New York City before returning to Philadelphia to teach. Throughout high school, Jamison was also a member of numerous sports organizations, the Glee Club, and the Philadelphia String Ensemble. She studied [[Dalcroze Eurhythmics]], a system that teaches rhythm through movement.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunning |first=Jennifer |date=February 24, 1996 |title=Classic Dance and Race: A Story Still Unfolding |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/24/arts/classic-dance-and-race-a-story-still-unfolding.html |access-date=May 8, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508135347/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/24/arts/classic-dance-and-race-a-story-still-unfolding.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

At the age of 17, Jamison graduated from Judimar; andshe began her collegiate studies at [[Fisk University]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/freetodance/biographies/jamison.html |title=Great Performances: Free To Dance – Biographies – Judith Jamison |website=[[PBS]] |access-date=September 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509150730/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/freetodance/biographies/jamison.html |archive-date=May 9, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> After three semesters there, she transferred to the Philadelphia Dance Academy (now the [[University of the Arts (Philadelphia)|University of the Arts]]), where she studied dance with [[James Jamieson (dancer)|James Jamieson]], [[Nadia Chilkovsky Nahumck|Nadia Chilkovsky]], and Yuri Gottschalk. In addition to her technique classes, she took courses in [[Labanotation]], [[kinesiology]], and other dance studies. During this time, she also learned the [[Lester Horton#Technique|Horton technique]] from Joan Kerr, which required great strength, balance, and concentration.<ref name=Jamison1993 />

In 1964, after seeing Jamison in a master class, [[Agnes de Mille]] invited her to come to New York City to perform in a new work that she was choreographing for [[American Ballet Theatre]], ''The Four Mary's''.<ref name=Jamison1993 /> Jamison immediately accepted the offer and spent the next few months working with the company. When the performances ended and she found herself in New York without a job, Jamison attended an audition held by [[Donald McKayle]]. She felt that she performed very poorly in the audition and claimed, "I felt as if I had two left feet."<ref name=Jamison1993 /> However, a few days later, a friend of McKayle's, [[Alvin Ailey]], called Jamison to offer her a place in his company – [[Alvin Ailey Dance Theater]].<ref name="Institution">{{Cite web |last=Institution |first=Smithsonian |title=Judith Jamison: Dancer and Choreographer |url=https://www.si.edu/spotlight/judith-jamison |access-date=May 8, 2023 |website=Smithsonian Institution |language=en |archive-date=May 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508135158/https://www.si.edu/spotlight/judith-jamison |url-status=live }}</ref>

Jamison made her premierepremiered with Alvin Ailey Dance Theater at Chicago's Harper Theater Dance Festival in 1965 in ''Congo Tango Palace'', and; in 1966, she toured Europe and Africa with the company. Jamison had always had a strong interest in African identity; therefore, traveling to Africa with the company and having the opportunity to observe the culture first-hand was an exciting and valuable experience for her.<ref name=Defrantz2011 /> Unfortunately, soon afterward, financial complications forced Ailey to put his company on a temporary hiatus. During this time, Jamison danced with [[Harkness Ballet]] and served as an assistant toassisted the artistic director. However, she immediately returned to Alvin Ailey Dance Theater when the company re-formed in 1967. Jamison spent the next thirteen years dancing with Alvin Ailey Dance Theater and was Ailey's muse.<ref name="Seibert-2024" /> "A performer of great intelligence, warmth and wit," said ''The New York Times'',<ref name="Seibert-2024" /> Jamison learned over seventy ballets. "With Ailey's troupe, Jamison did many [[U.S. State Department]] tours of Europe, going behind the [[Iron Curtain]] as well as into Asia and Turkey. She danced quite a bit in Germany, which she said became her "second home".<ref name=Daniels1987 /> Throughout her performance career with the company, she danced in many of Ailey's most renowned works, including ''Blues Suite'' and [[Revelations (Alvin Ailey)|''Revelations'']].<ref name="Institution" />

On May 4, 1971, Jamison premiered the famous solo, ''Cry''. Alvin Ailey choreographed this sixteen-minute dance as a birthday present for his mother, Lula Cooper, and later dedicated it to "all-black women everywhere, especially our mothers."<ref>{{cite web |title=Repertory: Cry |date=February 9, 2010 |publisher=Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation |access-date=November 8, 2011 |url=http://www.alvinailey.org/about/people/judith-jamison}}</ref> The solo is intensely physical and emotionally draining to perform. It celebrates the journey of a woman coming out of a troubled and painful world and finding the strength to overcome and conquer. Jamison never ran the full piece from start to finish until the premiere. ''Cry'' became her signature piece.<ref>"Judith Jamison." ''Britannica Academic'', Encyclopædia Britannica, December 14, 2021.</ref> The piece and Jamison's performance in it received standing ovations and overwhelming critical acclaim at the premiere, rewarding Jamison with great fame and recognition throughout the dance world. Today, ''Cry'' remains a crowd favorite and is still featured in the company's repertoire.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pressroom |first=Ailey |title=Cry |url=https://pressroom.alvinailey.org/alvin-ailey-american-dance-theater/repertory/cry |access-date=March 23, 2023 |website=Ailey Pressroom |language=en-US |archive-date=March 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323175634/https://pressroom.alvinailey.org/alvin-ailey-american-dance-theater/repertory/cry |url-status=live }}</ref>

Throughout her years with Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, Jamison continued to perform all over the worldworldwide. Along with her work with Ailey's company, she also appeared as a guest artist with the [[Cullberg Ballet]], Swedish Royal Ballet, [[San Francisco Ballet]], and numerous other companies. SheJamison danced alongside many renowned dancers, including the ballet legend [[Mikhail Baryshnikov]], in a duet entitled, ''Pas de Duke'', choreographed by Alvin Ailey in 1976.<ref>{{cite book |last=Long |first=Richard A. |title=The Black Tradition in American Dance |url=https://archive.org/details/blacktraditionin0000long |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Rizzoli International |year=1989 |isbn=978-0847810925}}</ref> Finally, in 1980, she left Ailey's company to perform in the [[Broadway musical]], ''[[Sophisticated Ladies]]''. It was Jamison's first stage experience outside the realm of concert dance, and she admitted it was initially very challenging for her. It was a completely different performance atmosphere and required a variety ofvarious new skills.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hill |first=Chanel |title=Black History Month: Profile on legendary dancer and choreographer Judith Jamison |url=https://www.phillytrib.com/the_learning_key/black-history-month-profile-on-legendary-dancer-and-choreographer-judith-jamison/article_ab9733fb-ffe1-5944-ab7b-ddfbb864db6c.html |access-date=May 8, 2023 |website=The Philadelphia Tribune |date=February 9, 2021 |language=en |archive-date=May 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508135147/https://www.phillytrib.com/the_learning_key/black-history-month-profile-on-legendary-dancer-and-choreographer-judith-jamison/article_ab9733fb-ffe1-5944-ab7b-ddfbb864db6c.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In addition to performing, Jamison wanted the opportunity to explore working with her owna group of dancers. She began teaching master classes at [[Jacob's Pillow]] in 1981 and soon began choreographing her own works. She later formed The Jamison Project with a group of dancers with awho strongstrongly desiredesired to work and learn. The Project premiered on November 15, 1988, at the [[Joyce Theater]] in New York City, performing works such as ''Divining'', ''Time Out'', and ''Tease''. Jamison later invited guest choreographers, including [[Garth Fagan]], to set work for the company.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Levy |first=Suzanne |date=May 14, 1990 |title=THE JAMISON'S JUMPING JOLTS OF ENERGY |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/05/14/the-jamisons-jumping-jolts-of-energy/8ef51d1c-2050-47b3-b4ea-ea70f9bd804b/ |access-date=May 8, 2023 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=August 27, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827232852/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/05/14/the-jamisons-jumping-jolts-of-energy/8ef51d1c-2050-47b3-b4ea-ea70f9bd804b/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1988, Jamison returned to Alvin Ailey Dance Theater as an artistic associate. Upon Ailey's death, on December 1, 1989, she assumed the role of artistic director and dedicated the next 21 years of her life to the company's success.<ref>{{cite web |title=Judith Jamison |work=Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation |date=February 9, 2010 |access-date=November 8, 2011 |url=http://www.alvinailey.org/about/people/judith-jamison |archive-date=November 12, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112091630/http://www.alvinailey.org/about/people/judith-jamison |url-status=live }}</ref> Alvin Ailey Dance Theater continued to thrive as Jamison continued to rehearse and restage classics from the company's repertory, as well as to commission distinguished choreographers to create new works for the dancers. Jamison also continued to choreograph,choreographing and createdcreating dances such as ''Forgotten Time'', ''Hymn'', ''Love Stories'', and ''Among Us'' for the company. In July 2011, Jamison transitioned into the role of artistic director emerita and appointed [[Robert Battle]] to the position of artistic director designate.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 2, 2009 |title=Dance: Judith Jamison and Alvin Ailey |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/vd-dance-judith-jamison-and-alvin-ailey |access-date=May 8, 2023 |website=Vogue |language=en-US |archive-date=May 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508135554/https://www.vogue.com/article/vd-dance-judith-jamison-and-alvin-ailey |url-status=live }}</ref>

Following a brief illness, Jamison died at [[Weill Cornell Medical Center]] in New York City, on November 9, 2024. She was 81.<ref name="Seibert-2024">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/09/arts/dance/judith-jamison-dead.html|title=Judith Jamison, Alvin Ailey Dancer of 'Power and Radiance,' Dies at 81|work=[[The New York Times]]|first=Brian|last=Seibert|date=November 9, 2024|access-date=November 10, 2024|archive-date=November 10, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241110061610/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/09/arts/dance/judith-jamison-dead.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

*The [[The BET Honors|BET Honors]] – a tribute to the achievement of leading African Americans (2009)<ref>{{Cite web |title='THE BET HONORS' Kicks Off Inauguration Weekend with an Exhilarating Evening Dedicated to Mary J. Blige, Tyler Perry, Earvin 'Magic' Johnson, the Honorable Congressman James E. Clyburn, B. Smith and Judith Jamison |url=https://www.betpressroom.com/press-release/the-bet-honors-kicks-off-inauguration-weekend-with-an-exhilarating-evening-dedicated-to-mary-j-blige/ |access-date=May 8, 2023 |website=www.betpressroom.com |language=en}}</ref>