Samantha Figgins

Samantha Figgins
Please Credit Photo:  Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Samantha Figgins.  Photo by Andrew Eccles
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SAMANTHA FIGGINS (Washington, D.C.) began dancing at Duke Ellington School of the Arts under the tutelage of Charles Auggins and Sandra Fortune-Greene and attended summer intensives at Dance Theatre of Harlem under the direction of Arthur Mitchell. She continued her education at SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance. There she performed works by George Balanchine, Bill T. Jones, Paul Taylor, and Twyla Tharp. Upon graduating cum laude, Ms. Figgins became a member of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, performing works by Dwight Rhoden, Jae Man Joo, and Camille A. Brown. She also performed at the 2014 DanceOpen Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia. Ms. Figgins was featured both on the cover of Dance Spirit magazine and in Pointe magazine’s “10 Careers to Watch” in 2013. She has worked with Beyoncé and can be seen in the film Enemy Withinalongside Tiler Peck and Matthew Rushing. Ms. Figgins joined the Company in 2014.

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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Samantha Figgins and Jeroboam Bozeman
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Samantha Figgins
Samantha Figgins
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Samantha Figgins and Jeroboam Bozeman
Samantha Figgins
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Featured Press Coverage

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Dance Magazine - Dancing While Deaf

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Samantha Figgins will never forget the first time she danced Revelations wearing the small devices held in place by a wire loop over each ear. "I thought they changed the music," Figgins recalls, laughing. All of a sudden, she could make out individual voices in the opening choral number "I Been Buked." When she found herself on the left side of the first formation, she could hear her fellow dancers breathe, and during "Wade in the Water," she discovered a bass line that she never knew was there.

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ELLE - Dancer Samantha Figgins Finds Balance

Dance is all about balance: long lines, landing exaggerated pirouettes, and maintaining perfect form from head to toe. Often, that sense of balance—of remaining strong and steady through every turn—starts in the ear. Samantha Figgins knows this all too well. A life-saving surgery during infancy left her with unilateral hearing loss, or deafness in one ear (her right). In our latest episode of The Movement, Figgins reveals the life-changing decision that allowed her to hear — and perform — fully, for the very first time.