Alvin Ailey Every company has what is known as a "signature piece," that is, a work which expresses something about the artistic direction and the spirit of the company. For the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater that piece is Revelations. Choreographed and set to traditional music, Revelations was first performed at the Ninety-second Street YM-YWHA New York, NY., January 31, 1960. The lead dancers were Joan Derby, Minnie Marhsall, Merle Derby, Dorene Richardson, Jay Fletcher, Nathaniel Horne, and Herman Howell and the soloists were Nancy Redi and Gene Hobgood. The music was performed by the Music Masters Guild Chorus of the...
more than 180 works by sixty-seven choreographers. Since its inception, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has performed for an estimated 19,000,000 people in forty-eight states, sixty-eight countries and on six continents.Another component of Ailey"s commitment to education has been the Company"s long-standing involvement in arts-in-education programs, including free performances, mini-performances, lecture/demonstrations, workshops and master classes in communities in the US and throughout the world.

Ailey died on December 1, 1989 - and with his death, American dance lost one of its most luminous stars. Judith Jamison is now the Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey

American Dance Theater.