Ailey sails into City Center season with Alicia Graf Mack at helm

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This holiday season when the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre sails into City Center for its annual celebration of dance that lifts the spirits, stirs the soul and reminds us that life is beautiful, there is a new artistic director at the helm, Alicia Graf Mack. The fourth artistic director in the history of the internationally acclaimed company, Mack will take the reins once held by Alvin Ailey, Judith Jamison, and Robert Battle and who, in true Ailey spirit, has co-curated this season with Associate Artistic Director Matthew Rushing.

Together the two have created a season that will warm the heart with a mix of Ailey classics, including, of course his masterpieces “Cry, and Revelations,” Ronald K. Brown’s heartwarming and soul-stirring “Grace,” and Alonzo King’s thrilling “Following the Current Upstream.” In addition there are five world premieres, among them Fredrick Earl Mosley’s “Embrace,” which explores the connection and fragility of human relationships set to music by Stevie Wonder, Ed Sheeran, and many others. Maija García’s “Jazz Island” brings an Afro-Caribbean folktale to life, inspired by a story by Geoffrey Holder. Matthew Neenan’s “Difference Between” showcases his signature abandon and playfulness. Jamar Roberts’ ”Song of the Anchorite” reimagines Alvin Ailey’s 1961 ballet “Hermit Songs” for contemporary times. “The Holy Blues” taps into the blues and gospel to connect the sacred and secular, choreographed by Urban Bush Women’s Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, in collaboration with Samantha Figgins and Chalvar Monteiro.  

This season also features the company premiere of Medhi Walerski’s ”Blink of an Eye,” an explosive display of precision originally choreographed for Nederlands Dans Theater; and a new production of Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison’s moving duet, “A Case of You,” performed to Diana Krall’s sultry rendition of Joni Mitchell’s classic song. 

Instagram has given thousands a taste of what’s in store this season at City Center with tantalizing snippets of AAADT dancers undulating, lunging, swirling and leaping during rehearsing. In addition, folks have been reminded of the mission behind the majesty by brief takes of interviews with Mack recalling how Ailey identified the company’s mission as “holding up a mirror to our society to show people how beautiful they are.”

The Amsterdam News caught up with 45-year-old Mack as she juggled rehearsals, interviews, and dance classes to discuss her mission, the upcoming season, and life in the spotlight. A critically acclaimed dancer with AAADT and Dance Theatre of Harlem, even managing to obtain both a Bachelor’s from Columbia University and a Master’s degree from Washington University, before making history as the first African American to head the famed Juilliard School’s Dance Division and then taking on the glorious task of leading this iconic institution.

Mack took the helm of AAADT just six months before the 2025 City Center season, when many of the wheels had already been set in motion. The transition was seamless both because the 67-year old organization is a well-oiled machine and because Mack and the interim director Rushing share a warm bond as former Ailey company members. “I have loved working with Matthew since the time when we were both dancers in the company. He was my rehearsal director,” Mack said. “But, more than that, I trust his voice, his vision, his knowledge, so it was a very seamless melding of ideas.” 

Even in her role at Juilliard, when curating seasons, Mack always bounced ideas off the artistic team. “So here, too, we will continue to bounce off of each other and move forward in that way. I’m lucky to have an artistic partner in Matthew,” she added.

Being inclusive is not only second nature to Mack but it is an integral part of the spirit of the company Alvin Ailey founded and viewed not as a vanity project featuring only his own choreographic voice but one that offered a platform and a stage for other voices. This was especially important at a time when being able to sustain a dance company was an ordeal, especially for struggling young diverse choreographers. That tradition continues with the inclusion of a wide variety of voices sharing their stories. For instance, Rushing reached out to Mosley whose work consists of movement propelled by the contemporary sounds of voices like Stevie Wonder. 

Mack also commissioned Roberts’ “Song of the Anchorite,” inspired by an early solo Alvin Ailey created and performed. Explaining the inspiration for the work, Mack said, “When I knew that I was taking this role it was around the time of the Whitney Museum exhibit ‘Edges Of Ailey.’ Jamar and I were talking about the exhibit and dreaming about what we could make together and we started talking about these iconic images of Mr. Ailey in ‘Hermit Songs.’” Mack describes a memorable image of Alvin Ailey in a stunning backbend wearing harem pants with ropes wrapped around his chest, which she and Roberts were both transfixed by and which became the inspiration for his work set to a beautiful jazz score titled “Song of the Anchorite.”

Then there is the work Mack says she and Rushing settled on together — the inimitable late Ailey Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison’s “A Case of You.”  “I realize ‘A Case of You’ has been like a marker throughout my Ailey career. The first rehearsals that I had with Ailey, Ms. Jamison had created it as a gift to Joan Weill on dancers Clifton Brown and Hope Boykin. When I joined in 2005, she embarked on a new work called ‘Reminiscin’ ’ and positioned that duet, ‘A Case of You,’ inside of the larger work. I learned that piece during my first month of being at Ailey. Later, when I came back I was in the room with Ms. Jamison and she was reshaping it as a duet with Hope Boykin and Clifton Brown as the first cast and Jamar and myself as the second cast. So I performed this duet many, many times, during my time under her leadership and then, as you know, I left Ailey for almost three years total, but I graduated with my master’s degree and I was teaching at Webster University in St. Louis as a full-time professor and the Ailey company called to say ‘Ms. Jamison requests that you come back and perform ‘A Case of You’ with Jamar for her last City Center season before she retires.’ So of course I came back and I performed and instantaneously I was like ‘I don’t think I’m done dancing…’ Robert Battle was there, in the wings, literally, watching the rehearsals and seeing the performance and he came to me and said, ‘Alicia, I know you’re not done dancing. I can see it and it would be amazing if you came back under my direction.’ So it was ‘A Case of You’ that brought me back to Ailey, that brought me back to dancing, so I feel that it’s fitting to open our season with ‘A Case of You.’”

As the AILEY’s 2025 season at City Center begins, Mack shared her enthusiasm for what she says is “a company of artists capable of everything from classical to hip hop to work that draws on West African dance while also showing exceptional acting skills — dancers who are able to express this artform and its stories at the highest levels.” She also is quick to remind folks that AILEY is “the totality of it all” — an organization that includes the first company, Ailey II, and an incredible extension program “which fulfills the idea that dance is for everyone.” And, of course, there is also The Ailey School, including the Ailey/Fordham BFA program, she says. “We’re all under one umbrella and it’s wonderful.”  

It is now December and time for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre’s City Center season. Mack is excited to note that “there’s going to be a lot of energy unleashed on that stage.” So, audiences need to buckle up and prepare to enjoy a beautiful ride with the AILEY.

For more info, visit ailey.org.