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It’s a new and exciting chapter for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater<\/a>.<\/p>\n On Dec. 3, the theater\u2019s 2025-26 season kicked off with a festive Opening Night Gala, complete with a moving performance and rousing party, raising the curtain on AILEY\u2019s next era under the leadership of Artistic Director\u00a0Alicia Graf Mack<\/a>, renowned dancer and educator.\n<\/p>\n Graf Mack shares her enthusiasm to step into the role with PEOPLE. \u201cI have been staring at images of Judith Jamison since I was a child. She has always been my North Star, embodying everything I aspire to be,” she says.\n<\/p>\n Jamison, Artistic Director Emerita, passed away in Nov. 2024. Having worked side-by-side with Ailey himself, she served as a mentor and a “mother figure” to Graf Mack.\n<\/p>\n “How lucky I am to have learned directly from her leadership and to walk the path she created, one defined by integrity, grace, and an unwavering pursuit of excellence.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. \u00a0<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n <\/span> \u201cTonight marks more than an opening night. It is a continuation of a dream that began 67 years ago in the heart and mind of one visionary man: Alvin Ailey,\u201d Graf Mack said to attendees ahead of the performance.<\/p>\n \u201cI am here to share our authentic identities, our stories, our beauty, our advocacy, and the rich diversity of movement languages that speak directly to the soul.\u201d\n<\/p>\n The night’s performances included Blink of An Eye, A Case of You, Grace<\/em>, and last but not least, Revelations.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n The Gala honored Daria L. Wallach, chair of the AILEY Board of Trustees, for her visionary leadership, meaningful contributions, and invaluable commitment to AILEY and its legacy.\n<\/p>\n Colman Domingo<\/a>\u00a0served as Honorary Chair alongside\u00a0Ciara<\/a>, who also appeared as Honored Guest to introduce the inspiring finale of Alvin Ailey\u2019s\u00a0Revelations<\/em>\u00a0with a soul-stirring choir.\n<\/p>\n <\/span> Ailey is credited with popularizing modern dance and bringing African Americans to the forefront of dance in the 20th century. That same night, he was remembered as an honoree in the inaugural Dance Hall of Fame ceremony. Mikhail Baryshnikov<\/a>, Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss<\/a>, Misty Copeland<\/a>, Bob Fosse, Martha Graham, Gene Kelly<\/a>, Kenny Ortega, Jerome Robbins and Twyla Tharp<\/a> were also honored at that event, which took place at Los Angeles\u2019 Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center.<\/p>\n The unforgettable dancer died from complications of AIDS\/HIV in 1989; later, President\u00a0Barack Obama<\/a>\u00a0awarded him with a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom.\n<\/p>\n He formed his own dance group, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958 which was inspired by his mentor Lester Horton.\n<\/p>\n From there, Ailey created his most recognized piece of choreography,\u00a0Revelations<\/em>. A decade after founding the dance company, he founded his dance school.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n NEED TO KNOW The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater celebrated its Opening Night Gala on Dec. 3 The Christmas mainstay brought out many with an appreciation of dance, who wish to honor Ailey’s legacy Artistic Director\u00a0Alicia Graf Mack tells PEOPLE about ushering in the next chapter for the theater, which continues to be rooted in … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Alvin-Ailey-Celebrates-Milestone-Season-as-1960s-Iconic-Revelations-Continues.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13069,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13067\/revisions\/13069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nJack Mitchell\/Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Inc. and Smithsonian Institution<\/p>\n
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\nJack Mitchell\/Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Inc. and Smithsonian Institution<\/p>\n
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