His smile was proportional to his height, 1.78 meters. It immediately enveloped you in a circle of positive energy. Radiant, naturally magnetic, dancer Judith Jamison left a glittering trail wherever she went. International star, muse of Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) in the 1970s, director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatrein 1989, he died on November 9 in New York at the age of 81.
Testimonies immediately poured in on Instagram to celebrate. Mikhail Baryshnikov he remembers “his emotional eloquence and his restraint” when he discovered her on stage. Choreographer Wayne McGregor welcomes“Inspiring, elegant and iconic Judith Jamison”. Dancer Yannick Lebrun, who, as a teenager, sang the ballet DVD repeatedly Hymnin his grandmother’s house in Guyana, he commented on the disappearance of the woman who hired him in 2008: “Words cannot express the immense amount of love and gratitude I have for you, Judi… Thank you for your grace, your courage, your strength, your tenacity in carrying on Ailey’s legacy. Thank you for making my dreams come true…”
Judith Jamison was born on May 10, 1943, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She learned to play the piano and violin from her father. She was 6 years old when she learned about classical and modern dance, then tap dance, acrobatics, as well as dance technique. Katherine Dunham (1909-2006)pioneering African-American activist. About ten years later, she is a student at the Academy of Dance in Philadelphia, where this curious and reckless learns everything she can, perfecting a flexible and responsive body.
Lyrical power
The choreographer Agnès de Mille (1905-1993) hired him in 1964 at the American Ballet Theater in New York. A year later, he joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre: he was 22 years old. She quickly revealed herself as one of Ailey’s leading performers, electrifying with her lyrical power many of the choreographer’s performances, including his best-seller, Revelations (1960). In the now historic solo Cry (1971), designed for her on music by John Coltrane and the gospels, carries aloft, between pain and bite, the torch of a piece dedicated to Ailey’s mother and “All black women “.
His talent is captivating and has earned him numerous collaborations such as Cullberg Ballet, Swedenor 20th century ballete century, where Maurice Béjart asked him to approve his version of The ghost of the rosein 1978. Two years later, he appeared on Broadway in Sophisticated ladieshe then founded the Jamison Project in 1988 before taking over the reins of his own band at Ailey’s request.
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