Auditorium Theatre 2018-19 Issue 3 Alvin Ailey

Dance Theater Workshop, American Dance Festival, and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Mr. Battle was honored as one of the “Masters of African American Choreography” by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2005, and he received the prestigious Statue Award from the Princess Grace Foundation-USA in 2007. He has honorary doctorates fromThe University of theArts and Marymount Manhattan College. Mr. Battle was named a 2015 visiting fellow for The Art of Change, an initiative by the Ford Foundation. He is a sought-after keynote speaker and has addressed a number of high-profile organizations, including the United Nations Leaders Programme and the UNICEF Senior Leadership Development Programme. MASAZUMI CHAYA, ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Masazumi Chaya was born in Fukuoka, Japan, where he began his classical ballet training. Upon moving to NewYork in December 1970, he studied modern dance and performed with the Richard Englund Repertory Company. Mr. Chaya joined Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1972 and performed with the Company for 15 years. In 1988, he became the Company’s rehearsal director after serving as assistant rehearsal director. Amaster teacher both on tour with the Company and in his native Japan, he served as choreographic assistant toAlvinAiley and John Butler. In 1991, Mr. Chaya was named associate artistic director of the Company. He continues to provide invaluable creative assistance in all facets of its operations. Mr. Chaya has restaged numerous ballets byAlvinAiley, including Flowers for the State Ballet ofMissouri (1990) and The River for the Royal Swedish Ballet (1993), Ballet Florida (1995), National Ballet of Prague (1995), Pennsylvania Ballet (1996), and Colorado Ballet (1998). He has also restaged The Mooche, Stack-Up, Episodes, Bad Blood, Hidden Rites, and Witness for the Company. At the beginning of his tenure, Mr. Chaya restaged Ailey’s For ‘Bird’ - With Love for a Dance in America program entitled Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Steps Ahead . In 2000, he restagedAiley’s Night Creature for the Rome Opera House and The River for La Scala Ballet. In 2002, Mr. Chaya coordinated the Company’s appearance at the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree-lighting ceremony, broadcast onNBC. In 2003 he restaged The River for North Carolina DanceTheatre and for Julio Bocca’s BalletArgentina. Most recentlyMr. Chaya restaged Bad Blood, Blues Suite, Love Songs, Masekela Langage, Pas de Duke, and Vespers for the Company. As a performer, Mr. Chaya appeared on Japanese television in both dramatic and musical productions. He wishes to recognize the artistic contribution and spirit of his late friend and fellow artist, Michihiko Oka. JUDITH JAMISON, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR EMERITA Judith Jamison joined Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1965 and quickly became an international star. Over the next 15 years, Mr. Ailey created some of his most enduring roles for her, most notably the tour-de-force solo Cry . During the 1970s and 80s, she appeared as a guest artist with ballet companies all over the world, starred in the hit Broadway musical Sophisticated Ladies , and formed her own company, The Jamison Project. She returned to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1989 whenMr.Ailey asked her to succeed him as artistic director. In the 21 years that followed, she brought the Company to unprecedented heights — including two historic engagements in South Africa and a 50-city global tour to celebrate the Company’s 50 th anniversary. Ms. Jamison is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, among them a prime-time Emmy Award, an American Choreography Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, a National Medal of Arts, a "Bessie" Award, the Phoenix Award, and the Handel Medallion. She was also listed in “The TIME 100: The World’s Most Influential People” and honored by First Lady Michelle Obama at the first White House Dance Series event. In 2015, she became the 50 th inductee into the Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Dance. In 2016, she received the Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award from the Fred and Adele Astaire Awards. As a highly regarded choreographer, Ms. Jamison has created many celebrated works, including Divining (1984), Forgotten Time (1989), Hymn (1993), HERE... NOW. (commissioned for the 2002 Cultural Olympiad), Love Stories (with additional choreography by Robert Battle and Rennie Harris, 2004), and Among Us (Private Spaces: Public Places) (2009). Ms. Jamison’s autobiography, Dancing Spirit , was edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and published in 1993. In 2004, underMs. Jamison’s artistic directorship, her idea of a permanent home for theAiley companywas realized and named after beloved chairman emerita Joan Weill. Ms. Jamison continues to dedicate herself to asserting the prominence of the arts in our culture and she remains committed to promoting the significance of theAiley legacy – using dance as a medium for honoring the past, celebrating the present, and fearlessly reaching into the future. BENNETT RINK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Bennett Rink became executive director of Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation in 2013. Mr. Rink first joinedAiley as manager of special events in 1994, became development director in 1998, and then worked as senior director of development and external affairs from 2007 to 2012. In his tenure overseeing Ailey’s development, Mr. Rink led a $75 million capital campaign supporting Ailey’s first permanent home, The Joan Weill Center for Dance which opened in 2005, and established WHO'S WHO IN THE COMPANY