We Celebrate the Human Spirit Through Movement: Honoring Judith Jamison
Collage honoring Judith Jamison. Photography by Jack Mitchell © Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Inc. and Smithsonian Institution.
By Karla Méndez
Writer Karla Mendez examines the life of dancer and choreographer Judith Jamison, whose decades-long career indelibly shifted the landscape of dance.
“Coming out of a world of pain and trouble, she has found her way – and triumphed.” These were the words choreographer and dancer Judith Jamison spoke when discussing Alvin Ailey’s celebrated piece Cry (1971). Choreographed as a birthday present for Ailey’s mother, it was dedicated to “all Black women everywhere – especially our mothers.” With the lead representing all women, it is no surprise that Jamison—at that point a dancer with the company since 1966—was cast in the piece. As Gia Kourlas wrote for The New York Times upon Jamison’s passing on November 9th, 2024: “Jamison was a rapturous pillar of strength and sorrow.” Throughout her career, Jamison epitomized what it looked like for the Black body to push against walls, divides, and the constricting societal structures that dictate what it can do and in which spaces it can exist.
Familial Protection
Judith Ann Jamison was born on May 10, 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Tessie Brown Jamison, an elementary school drama teacher who drew, and John Jamison Sr., a sheet metal engineer with former dreams of becoming a classical pianist. Growing up in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Jamison was seemingly protected from the omnipresent racism outside the borders of her community. Her extended family–including aunts, uncles, and her grandparents on her mother’s side—all lived within a 20 mile radius. A working class, racially diverse neighborhood, the schools in Germantown were integrated, but that integration stopped at the gates of the schools.
Jamison recalled that she didn’t realize until years later that she was never invited to some classmates’ homes. “I was a good kid. There was no reason why I shouldn’t have been asked back to someone’s home,” she said. Coming from a tight-knit and loving family, it is understandable how Jamison could be oblivious to the exclusion she and other Black American children experienced. As MoBBallet wrote about her home life, the environment she grew up in sheltered her from racism and kept any potential fears or insecurities about occupying a Black body from developing. Moreover, for Jamison, who was tall with dark skin and short hair, had it not been for her family and the inheritance of her mother’s “regal comportment, refined manner, and sense of pride”, she would have fallen victim to the destructive effect of colorism.
“It’s such a treasure to be a dancer.”
Growing up in Philadelphia, Jamison was surrounded by and had access to the art culture in the city, something her parents introduced her to at a young age. As a child, her father taught her to play the piano and violin. By age six she had begun her dance training at the Judimar School of Dance. In a 2012 conversation with Norton Owen, the Director of Preservation at Jacob’s Pillow, Jamison stated that her parents enrolled her in dance classes at an early age due to the length of her legs and because she pigeon-toed and knock-kneed, which required her to wear corrective shoes.
As a student at Judimar, she studied under the tutelage of Marion Cuyjet, a trailblazer in dance education. Due to the prevalence of racism, Black American students were not permitted in classical ballet classes in Philadelphia prior to the Civil Rights Movement. Cuyjet circumvented this with her “white skin, red hair, and green eyes.” Cuyjet’s mixed-race ancestry gave her the ability to pass, allowing her to gain access to spaces other Black Americans were forbidden from entering. Cuyjet’s training fueled her determination to tear down the barriers in classical ballet and provided opportunity for Black American children to study the dance.
As a dance teacher, Cuyjet was a known disciplinarian, insisting her students fluency of the French terminology of ballet. Of Cuyjet’s insistence on knowing not just the steps, but the accompanying language, Jamison recalled, “I think we had little books. We had to write things down.” In Cuyjet’s studios, Jamison developed a profound respect and proficiency for many styles of dance. She danced en pointe and was taking classes in tap, acrobatics, and the Dunham technique by the age of eight. “I had [Cuyjet’s] training, which included ballet and by the time I was ten I was studying with Antony Tudor. I was his protege,” she said in her talk with Jacob’s Pillow. Cuyjet saw immense promise in Jamison’s natural dance ability and sent her to train with Tudor, who founded the Philadelphia Ballet Guild, as a way to further her dance education.
At the age of 14, Jamison made her stage debut in Giselle, playing the role of Myrtha. It was also at this time that Jamison would become a student teacher. In her talk with Jacob’s Pillow she said, “When I was 14, I was teaching nine-year-olds…that’s when I found out what a ferocious teacher I was.” In many ways, her teaching style was modeled after Cuyjet, in particular her high standards and insistence for serious study.
Judith Jamison, Artistic Director Emerita of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater discusses her dance career—from the early years of her training in Philadelphia with Marion Cuyjet and the lack of African-American dancers represented in ballet to her first encounter with Alvin Ailey. Moderated by Norton Owen, Director of Preservation at Jacob's Pillow. July 12, 2012.
Upon graduating from Germantown High School, Jamison participated in several sports and the Philadelphia String Ensemble. Later, she attended Fisk University for psychology. But after three semesters, she realized she wanted to pursue a professional dance career and transferred to the Philadelphia Dance Academy, which later became a part of the now shuttered University of the Arts. As a student there, she continued her commitment to dance, studying with Nadia Chilkovsky, James Jamieson, and Yuri Gottschalk. According to MoBBallet, Jamison “built her petite allegro with lightning speed” while Gottschalk was responsible for helping her develop her strength and release her jump, which allowed her to execute double tours and saute de basque.
While at the University of the Arts, she reluctantly accompanied a friend to a master class that was being taught by Agnes de Mille, who Jamison immensely admired. de Mille was taken with Jamison, saying she was astonishing while everyone else was ordinary. After the class, de Mille went up to her and asked her if she would be interested in dancing in the American Ballet Theatre’s (ABT) The Four Mary’s, in which one of Jamison’s idols, Carmen De Lavallade, was starring as the fourth Mary. Jamison accepted the offer and made her debut with ABT at the age of 22. During her time with the company, she lived with De Lavallade and her husband, dancer Geoffrey Holder.
Jamison’s admiration for De Lavallade began when she watched Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors on CBS. The special, which she would watch every year at Christmastime, was choreographed by Donald McKayle, who she would eventually audition for after completing work on The Four Mary’s. Black American dancers were scarce, as segregation and racism prohibited them from taking classes, dancing in productions, or joining dance companies. For example, in the 1930s prima ballerina, choreographer, and teacher Janet Collins, attempted to take ballet classes but was told she would be taking space in class. While the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo Company was willing to hire her, the director Leonide Massine informed her if she wanted to join, she would have to perform in whiteface. Here, representation is crucial to a societal understanding of marginalized and underrepresented groups and a reduction in stereotypes. For young children, it can help increase their self-esteem, provide validation, and encourage them to pursue dreams and goals they would otherwise feel are out of reach. For Jamison, seeing De Lavallade on her television screen was inspiring, as she hadn’t seen many examples of professional Black dancers.
“Jamison’s artistry, spirit, dedication, and passion for dance live on in the walls that continue to be torn down and the work that continues to be produced.”
Sowing the Seeds of a Transformative Collaborative Relationship
After her commitment with ABT ended, Jamison decided to remain in New York City. Without any dance job prospects, she got a job as a log flume ride operator at the World Fair, thanks to the help of ABT rehearsal pianist Martha Johnson. During this time, she auditioned for Donald McKayle but felt that it went poorly, saying “I felt as if I had two left feet.” Though the audition did not result in an offer from McKayle, days after Jamison received a phone call from his friend Alvin Ailey asking her to join his company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). That one call would lead to a 23-year dance career and collaborative relationship with Ailey. In 1965, Jamison made her debut with the company at their performance of Congo Tango Palace at Chicago’s Harper Theater Dance Festival. She danced with AAADT until 1966 when Ailey was forced to put the company on a temporary hiatus due to financial complications. In the interim, Jamison danced with Harkness Ballet, also assisting the artistic director. In 1967, Ailey reformed AAADT and Jamison returned.
Over the fifteen years she spent dancing with AAADT, Jamison became Ailey’s muse and the company’s principal dancer, bringing to life some of his most celebrated roles. She embodied the role of Erzuile in Geoffrey Holder’s The Prodigal Prince (1967), the Mother in Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (1968), and danced in the duet, Pas de Duke (1976) with Mikhail Baryshnikov. The duet led to Jamison becoming a guest artist with the San Francisco Ballet, the Swedish Royal Ballet, the Cullberg Ballet, and the Vienna State Ballet. Yet the piece that personifies Jamison and Ailey’s collaborative relationship and catapulted Jamison to international stardom is the 15-minute solo, Cry (1971).
To All Black Women Everywhere
Choreographed in 1971 as a 59th birthday gift for Ailey’s mother, Cry begins with stillness: just Jamison on stage, dressed all in white, with a large white scarf held up covering her face. The color of the garments is intentional and reminiscent of and a visual reference to enslavement and the clothing Black women were forced to wear. Jamison said of her interpretation, that she “represented those women before her who came from the hardships of slavery.”
In their revisit of Cry, AAADT wrote that the cloth Jamison held in between her hands becomes representative of a rope of bondage, a washcloth for scrubbing the floor, a head scarf of nobility; a symbol for the weight of the world that’s placed on the shoulders of Black women. Ailey wanted the piece and its choreography to represent and be dedicated “to all Black women.”
It was an emotionally and physically demanding piece, but one that Jamison, through all her years of training, was prepared to take on. Much has been written of how when performing the solo, Jamison’s body seemed to endlessly stretch. It was exemplary of how her body, long and tall, flows across the stage, crossing through the air and enchants audiences. As dance impresario Paul Szilard said about Jamison, “She had such an enormous personality that when she stepped on stage, in five minutes the entire public was in her hands.”
Embarking on A New Path
In 1980, she left AAADT after being cast in the Broadway musical Sophisticated Ladies, alongside Gregory Hines, Phyllis Hyman, and Hinton Battle. To leave the company meant to leave the position she had grown familiar with. When Jamison stepped onto Broadway, it was unfamiliar territory in more ways than one. It was her first experience on stage that wasn't a concert dance, making it challenging at first. Through this experience, she learned several new skills that were significantly beneficial as she embarked on this new path in her career.
Jamison also taught master classes at Jacob’s Pillow in 1981, passing on her skills and technique to a new generation of dancers. In 1988, she founded her own dance company, The Jamison Project, in New York City. At the helm of the company, she choreographed pieces like Divining (1984), Forgotten Time (1989), and Hymn (1993), which was a tribute to Ailey. Hymn would later win an Emmy. Many of the pieces Jamison choreographed display complexity and drama, evoking an impassioned emotional response from the audience.
Jamison’s Legacy
In 1988, Jamison returned to AAADT as the artistic associate at the request of Ailey, whose health was failing. When he passed away in 1989, she was named artistic director, a position she held for 21 years. In those two decades, Jamison turned the company into the powerhouse it is today, bringing it out of debt for the first time ever. Under her leadership, the company performed two engagements in South Africa and embarked on a 50-city global tour to celebrate 50 years. She was also primarily responsible for the Ailey company’s permanent home, the Joan Weill Center for Dance. The center, which is the largest building dedicated to dance in New York City, opened in 2005 after tireless fundraising by Jamison.
In an article about Jamison’s life and career, Kourlas wrote that to build AAADT into the successful company it is today most likely required personal sacrifice from Jamison, most notably her independent dance career. When looking at Jamison’s career, it’s difficult to ignore the significance of its longevity and the doors she opened as a Black woman pursuing dance during a period in which Black bodies were not permitted in those spaces. Through her dedication to dance, and AAADT specifically, Jamison built a space within which other young Black dancers could pursue their dreams, much as Cuyjet did for her.
In addition to her career as a dancer, choreographer, and artistic director, Jamison served on the National Council on the Arts from 1972 to 1976. She was the recipient of a Kennedy Center Honors in 1999, the National Medal of the Arts, and the Handel Medallion by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the highest honor awarded by the City of New York. She was also inducted into the Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Dance, its 50th inductee and received the Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award from the Fred and Adele Astaire Awards. In 1993, Doubleday Books published Jamison’s autobiography Dancing Spirit, which was edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
For Jamison, her introduction to dance wasn’t accidental. Dance was a channel through which she could provide guidance, offer leadership, and give back to her community. In 1976, she told The New York Times that she believed she had a special gift bestowed upon her by God and she is simply using it. Jamison’s many contributions to dance throughout her career have opened the door for contemporary choreographers like Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Camille A. Brown, Alicia Graf Mack and dancers like Misty Copeland, Aesha Ash, and Michaela DePrince. Her artistry, spirit, dedication, and passion for dance live on in the walls that continue to be torn down and the work that continues to be produced.
About the author: Karla Méndez is an arts and culture writer whose work examines the histories of Black and Latin American women and their representations within visual art, literature, poetry, and performance. She is interested in how women put forth representations of themselves that are accurately representative of their expansiveness and how they use these avenues to engage with topics of identity, gender, race, and the female body. Ultimately, her work seeks to explore and reinstate forgotten and ignored histories as a site of care for ourselves and our communities.
She is the lead columnist of Black Feminist Histories and Social Movements, a column for the advocacy organization Black Women Radicals. She is a contributor for the Boston Art Review and Elephant Magazine and her work has appeared in the Brown Art Review and Ampersand: An American Studies Journal.