About AILEY

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Please Credit Photo: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Photo by Dario Calmese
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Founded by Alvin Ailey on March 30, 1958, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is one of the most acclaimed dance companies in the world. With a repertory that boasts close to 300 works by more than 100 choreographers, it has performed in more than 70 countries on six continents and has been designated a "vital American Cultural Ambassador to the World” by a US Congressional resolution. 

The Ailey Organization includes: Ailey II (a second performing company of young dancers and emerging choreographers), The Ailey School (one of the world's most extensive dance training programs), Ailey Arts In Education & Community Programs (which bring dance into classrooms and communities), and Ailey Extension (offering dance and fitness classes to the public). Using the American modern dance tradition and the beauty of the African American cultural heritage, AILEY enlightens, unites, and inspires all people.    

Featured News Releases

Ailey II, The Next Generation of Dance, Launches 28-City US Tour

NEW YORK – Updated December 17, 2024 — Ailey II, the celebrated second company of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, will embark on a 28-city tour, October 4, 2024-May 1, 2025. The next generation of dance will captivate audiences across the United States from Albuquerque, NM to Kansas City, MO, to Miami, FL, before returning home for its annual New York City season, March 26–April 6 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater. The 2024-25 repertory features two world premieres by former Ailey II member Alia Kache and by Houston Thomas, as well as repertory favorites and beloved classics. This season also celebrates the life and legacy of beloved Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison.

Ailey II Celebrates Golden Anniversary Season At The Joyce Theater April 9 - 14

NEW YORK – March 5, 2024 — Fresh on the heels of a successful world tour, Ailey II, the celebrated second company to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, returns to The Joyce Theater from April 9 – 14 with a golden anniversary celebratory program. During the eight-performance engagement their “dynamic movement and dazzling technique” will shine in premieres by Artistic Director Francesca Harper and the exciting duo of Baye & Asa, Amadi ‘Baye’ Washington and Sam ‘Asa’ Pratt, alongside repertory favorites and revered classics by beloved founder Alvin Ailey, William Forsythe, and Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison.

Ailey II, The Next Generation of Dance, Leaps Into Its 50th Anniversary With A World Tour And New York Season

NEW YORK – January 4, 2024 — Ailey II, the next generation of dance, will mark its 50th anniversary of bringing “off-the- charts energy” to the stage by embarking on a world tour from January 20 – May 19, inspiring audiences from Rotterdam, Netherlands to Kansas City, Missouri. The gifted ensemble of rising stars will then return home for a celebratory New York season at The Joyce Theater, April 9 – 14, 2024. The second company of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will present a diverse repertory including two world premieres, by Artistic Director Francesca Harper and the dynamic duo of Baye & Asa, alongside repertory favorites and revered classics during the 2024 tour and New York City engagement.

Featured Press Coverage

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Interview - “If You Can Walk, You Can Dance”: Inside the Whitney Museum’s Alvin Ailey Retrospective

In 1949, as legend has it, Alvin Ailey, then a young gymnast, followed school buddy and fellow future dance icon Carmen de Lavallade to the famed Lester Horton “Dance Theater” on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. It was a simple gesture that would lay the groundwork for the future of American concert dance. After Horton’s unexpected death, Ailey took over the Horton company for a while before starting the eponymous Alvin Ailey Company in New York, forming a beautiful, long and deeply intersectional lineage that incorporated dance, art, and innumerable interconnected histories culminating in the very first exhibit of the archival record of the Alvin Ailey Company, a show five years in the making and currently on view at The Whitney Museum of American Art.

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Sheen Magazine - Ailey II, The Next Generation of Dance, Launches 28-City Tour October 4, 2024 – May 1, 2025

Ailey II, the celebrated second company of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, will embark on a 28-city tour, October 4, 2024-May 1, 2025. The next generation of dance will captivate audiences across the United States from Albuquerque, NM, to Kansas City, MO, to Miami, FL, before returning home for its annual New York City season, March 26–April 6 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater. The 2024-25 repertory features two world premieres by former Ailey II member Alia Kache and by Houston Thomas, as well as repertory favorites and beloved classics.