Judith Jamison’s Life and Legacy—at Zellerbach Hall and Around the World

“She taught me a lesson, too. When you put something out there, you have to go for it, stay on it, and stick to it.”

By Krista Thomas, Cal Performances Interim Director of Communications; with special thanks for the contributions of Robert Cole and Sylvia Lindsey
Photo: Judith Jamison. Photo by Andrew Eccles.

In November 2024, the world lost a dance legend. Celebrated for her talents as a performer, choreographer, company leader and founder, and overall visionary, Judith Jamison has had an international reach, and inspired many generations of dancers and dance-lovers. And, though her impact was elevated to a global scale, it is felt intimately here at Cal Performances as well.

Ms. Jamison was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1943 and, by her own account, was “filled” with the arts as a child, both as an audience member and practitioner. Her formal dance training began at age six and blossomed into a career that, in her early 20s, would land her a role as company member at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

While Ms. Jamison had been a remarkable dancer since the beginning of her time at the company, it was six years after she joined that she starred in the work that would propel her to international stardom: Alvin Ailey’s “Cry” (1971). Created in only about one week as a tribute to “all Black women everywhere — especially our mothers,” the work saw Ms. Jamison—for and alongside whom the work had been developed— in a solo role, embodying generational hardships and unmatched perseverance. According to Ms. Jamison, “In my interpretation, she [the dancer] represented those women before her who came from the hardships of slavery, through the pain of losing loved ones, through overcoming extraordinary depressions and tribulations. Coming out of a world of pain and trouble, she has found her way—and triumphed.”

Her deeply emotional performance was met with significant enthusiasm. The New York Times review from the following evening reported, “Because ‘Cry’ is a solo, even though a formidably long one [15 minutes], its importance could easily be overlooked. But it certainly wasn’t by the first-night audience, which applauded and cheered it for nearly 10 minutes.”

From 1965 until 1980, Ms. Jamison saw her career grow even further. During this time, she remained at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and performed many works as a company member as well as alongside other national and international dance companies (especially ballet companies) as a guest performer. In 1980, she temporarily left the company to pursue other ventures, including performing on Broadway and founding her own company, the Jamison Project, through which her output as a leader and choreographer flourished.

Ms. Jamison returned to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in a leadership position in 1988 and assumed the title of artistic director in late 1989 following the passing of the company’s founder and her longtime artistic collaborator, Alvin Ailey. In 1993, Ms. Jamison choreographed Hymn as a tribute to “Mr. Ailey’s incredible contributions to dance and humanity,” per the company.

Ms. Jamison’s tenure as artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater lasted from 1989 until 2011. During that time, she choreographed many renowned works, secured a permanent home for the company, asserted the significance and expanded the influence of Mr. Ailey’s legacy, and oversaw the growth of AileyCamp to inspire middle school children through dance.

At the time Ms. Jamison began leading the company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater had already been performing at Cal Performances annually, though generally only for a few performances during each engagement. It was with Ms. Jamison that Cal Performances cemented a much stronger partnership that would span 7+ performances each season, eventually making Cal Performances the company’s most performed-at venue outside of New York. What is fondly referred to as “Ailey Week” at Cal Performances has become a beloved tradition. What is more, the company’s pronounced presence across each season has undoubtedly given shape to Cal Performances’ overall dance profile and, as a result, has shaped the ways our Bay Area community has come to experience life-enhancing dance performance.

Robert Cole, who was Cal Performances’ artistic director for much of the same time that Ms. Jamison led Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, reflected, “Judith was a very strong leader. She had a driven personality, which I related to and appreciated. But I think the main thing about Judith, why she was so successful: her gift was that she shared Ailey’s vision. She shared it, and she made it grow.”

At Cal Performances, this growth was visible not only in the increased frequency of engagements with the company, but also through the creation of Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp, which will celebrate its 23rd year next summer. AileyCamp was developed by Mr. Ailey in his final year of life as a free summer program for middle school children that uses dance as a means of teaching personal development. Along with classes in company repertoire and styles like ballet and African dances, the program teaches positive self-image, conflict resolution, and self-expression, among other invaluable skills. At the time that Ms. Jamison assumed leadership of the company, AileyCamp was just getting its legs. However, Ms. Jamison was incredibly dedicated to extending opportunities to the youth, and invested her energy into seeing this program expand. In recent years, she shared, “I was filled as a child, so that’s what’s so important to me still to this day—will always be—that children see it [the arts]… because if they don’t have my background but they get a chance to see, in a theater, live people trying to convey spiritual art to you… it’s wonderful, because they have a whole other world open to them.”

AileyCamp dancers on stage in the Final Performance at Zellerbach Hall

Sylvia Lindsey, who has been a longtime supporter of arts throughout the Bay Area and especially of Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp, recalled Ms. Jamison’s vision and ensuing determination to get an AileyCamp on the West Coast. “She was motivated because she saw what AIleyCamp was already doing elsewhere, and she wanted a camp on the West Coast. The company was coming to Cal Performances every year already. She was the first person who talked to me about AileyCamp, and I remember her saying something like, ‘I know we can get this camp here.’” And in 2002, thanks to the support of Ms. Jamison and the Ailey company, numerous dedicated donors and community advocates and trustees—most notably Ms. Lindsey, Maris Meyerson, and Susan Marinoff—and a “wonderful [Cal Performances] staff” who could support the vision, per Mr. Cole, Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp officially launched.

Ms. Lindsey, who considered Ms. Jamison a friend and inspiration, shared that, through this process, “She taught me a lesson, too. When you put something out there, you have to go for it, stay on it, and stick to it.” Ms. Lindsey recalls Ms. Jamison being steadfast in checking in on the program’s development, and personally invested in the camp’s success.

Since Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp’s founding, the camp has impacted more than 1,300 individuals, and AileyCamp more broadly has expanded to serve 10 cities across the country. So much of what we know and admire from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater today was intentionally nurtured by Ms. Jamison’s visionary leadership. And as a result of her singular and exceptional work—her choreography, her artistic guidance, her investment in the Ailey company and dancers of the present and future—we can see a real human impact.

Ms. Lindsey said, ”She was such an interesting and delightful person to know. A no-nonsense person; a genuine, for-real person. She has left a legacy, and especially for all young Black women—and for all women, period.”

Though Cal Performances’ current Executive and Artistic Director Jeremy Geffen did not know Ms. Jamison personally, he has been touched by the legacy she has left at Cal Performances and beyond, and the ways that she has supported the healing power of the arts for decades. Giving voice to the sentiments that many admirers of the icon have shared since her passing, Mr. Geffen shared, “To say that Judith Jamison was a trailblazer is an understatement. A role model for generations of dancers, an inspiration for audiences, and a beacon of light in an often dark world, she made us all better through the brilliance of her talent, leadership, and strength of character. Cal Performances will always view her as part of our family, and she will continue to inspire us for decades to come.”

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has dedicated its entire current season to Ms. Jamison, and Cal Performances is dedicating April 2025 Ailey Week and AileyCamp to her legacy as well.