Ailey Connections
While the full Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater hasn’t performed at the Pillow since 1963, the company’s 2025 engagement offers an opportunity to consider past appearances by Ailey-related dancers and choreographers, with more historical context in John Perpener’s multi-media essay.
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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Pas de Duke, 2024
Though this performance featured only two Ailey dancers—Jacquelin Harris and Patrick Coker (both alumni of The School at Jacob’s Pillow)—it’s a chance to revisit a landmark duet created for Judith Jamison and Mikhail Baryshnikov.
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Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
As the Wind Blows, 2022
This is one of the first new works commissioned by former Ailey star Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell after she assumed the directorship of Hubbard Street in 2021. Choreographer Amy Hall Garner also created Century for the Ailey company in 2023 in addition to an earlier work for Ailey II.
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Paramodernities by Netta Yerushalmy
Revelations: The Afterlives of Slavery, A Response to Alvin Ailey’s "Revelations" (1960), 2018
Inviting audiences to reconsider canonical dance works from a new perspective, choreographer Netta Yerushalmy employed the eminent scholar Thomas F. DeFrantz to both write and perform his text about Ailey’s Revelations.
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Carmen de Lavallade
As I Remember It, 2014
This one-woman retrospective examines the life and career of Carmen de Lavallade, premiered at the Pillow when its creator was 83. That same year, de Lavallade also presented Geoffrey Holder’s The Creation for the Season Opening Gala. Ten years earlier, she appeared here in Ailey choreographer Dwight Rhoden’s It All.
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Dance Theatre of Harlem
The Lark Ascending, 2013
More than 40 years after Alvin Ailey created this lyrical work for his own company in 1972, Dance Theatre of Harlem broke with tradition by putting the female dancers en pointe for the first time.
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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
"I Wanna Be Ready" from Revelations, 2007
This riveting solo was performed by Matthew Rushing to help commemorate the Pillow’s 75th anniversary season. Rushing began performing leading roles with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1992, becoming Rehearsal Director in 2010, Associate Artistic Director in 2020, and Interim Artistic Director in 2023.
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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Cry, 2007
In another nod to the Pillow’s 75th anniversary, Linda Celeste Sims danced the first excerpt from Ailey’s Cry ever to be performed here. Sims performed principal roles with Ailey from the time she joined the company in 1996 until 2020.
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Battleworks Dance Company
Strange Humors, 2003
Choreographer Robert Battle created or restaged more than a dozen of his dances for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater during the 12 years when he directed the company (2011-23). One of those works is seen here in a performance by Battle’s own Battleworks Dance Company.
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RhythMEK
Episodes (Living in the Present Moment), 2000
Launched by three former Ailey dancers, RhythMEK had the distinction of being a performer-led company. One of the former Ailey stars seen here, Desmond Richardson, returned to the Pillow the following year to revive a virtually unknown work by José Limón.
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Carmen de Lavallade
Portrait of Billie, 1992
More than 30 years after creating this role, Carmen de Lavallade revived it for this single performance as an homage to its choreographer, John Butler. Several years later, de Lavallade presented another one-time-only performance, a revival of Ruth St. Denis’s The Incense.
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Dayton Contemporary Dance Company
Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder, 1990
As the first of four works by Donald McKayle to be performed by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder holds a special place in the company’s repertory.
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Ailey II
"Wade in the Water" from Revelations, 1988
For the first time in 25 years, Revelations returned to the Pillow stage in 1988, this time performed by Ailey II with Alvin Ailey himself in attendance.
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Judith Jamison
Scene Seen, 1988
Recognized as Ailey’s primary muse in the 1960s and ’70s, Judith Jamison established The Jamison Project in 1988, commissioning this Garth Fagan solo for herself.
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Sarita Allen & Stephen Smith
Tease, 1988
Another work from the repertory of The Jamison Project was created by Judith Jamison herself, performed here by two prominent Ailey dancers who were also on the faculty of The School at Jacob’s Pillow.
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Clive Thompson DanceCompany
Four Cornered Moon, 1985
A major Ailey star in the 1960s and ’70s, Clive Thompson established his own company on Staten Island in the 1980s. He’s seen here with two of his company members in a commissioned work by David Gordon.
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Talley Beatty
"Mourner's Bench" from Southern Landscape, 1948
Between the early 1960s and the late 1980s, Talley Beatty set six of his works on the Ailey company. Here’s the choreographer himself in an early solo.