The world lost an ethereal talent on Nov. 9, 2024 when Judith Jamison passed into the next realm. She was Alvin Ailey’s muse and after 15 years of dancing with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) at his personal request, and eventually took over the role of director of AAADT when Ailey died in 1989. Before her years at Ailey, she was invited by Agnes de Mille to perform with the American Ballet Theater (ABT), though the dancing roles were not plentiful for tall, Black ballet dancers in the 1960s.
The Alvin Ailey dancers may understandably be considered quintessentially New York: the company originated there, with its first performance at the 92nd Street YM-YWHA; Alvin Ailey Place is a street in Manhattan; and The Joan Weill Center for Dance in midtown Manhattan is home to AAADT, Ailey II, The Ailey School, Ailey Extension, and Ailey Arts in Education and Community Programs.
Judith Jamison, however, had considerable and rippling impact on dancers in Baltimore. Some have had the opportunity to study with her, interview her, and benefit from her philosophy and generosity without even having met her.
Charles Robinson, senior political reporter at Maryland Public Television (MPT), first met Jamison when he was news director at WEAA-FM radio in the early 1990s. She was teaching a summer class at Morgan State University, an HBCU in Baltimore City, coordinated by the late Dr. Iantha Tucker. It was a class to which young dancers must apply and be accepted.
Robinson wanted to create a radio documentary on Jamison and the summer program, which was created through a partnership with Baltimore City. He spent two days watching classes and interviewing Jamison after the morning sessions in the dance studios.
“After each session she toweled down as sweat continued to pour,” Robinson recalled in an email to Fishbowl. “We talked a lot about why she returned to Alvin Ailey Troupe. It always came back to ‘dedication to the concept.’”
Robinson remembers at least three sessions that he watched and recorded, though his conversations with Jamison began without him recording. During their last interview, he told her about a black-and-white poster he had of her performing “Cry,” the dance choreographed by Alvin Ailey and first danced by Jamison.
“It was rare to find how it captured both the complexity and simplicity of body movement. I bought the poster and a pair of dance shoes,” Robinson said, at a store near the studios where he worked as a TV news reporter in Cincinnati at the time.
Unfortunately, the work he did record with and about Jamison has been lost. Robinson did finish the radio documentary, which aired on WEAA-FM and was on reel-to-reel tape.
“I made two copies on cassette,” he wrote. “[I] gave one to Dr. Iantha Tucker (she is deceased). The other was in my possession…lost in my endless collections of materials saved from school and various jobs.”
His fascination with dance and dancers has been lifelong, however. Not a dancer himself, he has long been a fan of classical to modern dance, drawn to its variety of interpretations. He has dated several dancers, including the late Danita Rideout from Baltimore. Rideout was also a principal dancer in the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and performed “Cry.”
He married his wife Robbie Dobson (Robinson), who is a speech pathologist, but also shares a passion for dance. She studied with Cheryl Goodman of Dance Baltimore and Maria Broom and is still dancing at 60-plus years old.
Dr. Aminta Breaux, president of Bowie State University since 2018, an HBCU in Prince George’s County, met Jamison during Breaux’s Inauguration week. Breaux had shared her passion and love for dance and the performing arts with the Inauguration Planning Committee, and the wheels began turning to make it happen.
“It was an exciting and rather surreal experience to meet the legend I had admired for many years; but you only needed to be in her presence for a short time to be touched by her brilliant and powerful presence as well as her humble spirit,” wrote Breaux in an email to Fishbowl.
While at Bowie State, Jamison met with students, attended a performance in the BSU Fine and Performing Arts Center, and held a master class for students Breaux described as the most amazing she’d ever seen.
She credits Paula Brown, founder of the Paula Brown Performing Arts Center and a former dancer with Alvin Ailey, with bringing Jamison to campus for the Inauguration festivities. Brown’s students also had the honor of performing for Jamison, and of participating in a master class by Jamison.
“Having the privilege to watch Ms. Jamison direct the dancers in that class is an experience I will always remember,” wrote Breaux. “The class was only supposed to be for one-hour; yet 1½ hours later she was leaning forward pouring into each dancer her passion and commitment to dance.”
Breaux developed her own interest in dance as a child growing up in Philadelphia in the 1970s, watching her cousin perform in the Philadelphia Civic Ballet. Seeing Jamison cemented that passion.
“I saw Ms. Jamison as a beacon of inspiration, especially for girls of color who weren’t used to seeing many who looked like us performing on stage,” Breaux wrote. “It was awe-inspiring to see her commanding presence take to the stage in soulful and moving performances in ‘Cry’ and ‘Revelations.’”
In her teen years and in college Breaux studied dance, including ballet and other forms of dance. She focused on psychology in her academic studies, eventually, and has had a long career in higher education. Her love of dance and the fine and performing arts, however, infuses her role as president of Bowie State University every day. She cites the growth of their fine and performing arts programs evidenced in their University Choir, the University Concert Band and our Theatre Arts program including dance.
Remembering Jamison saying “Once you’ve danced, you always dance. You can’t deny the gifts that God sends your way” helps Breaux channel that wisdom into the next generation. Breaux encourages young people to cultivate a sense of duty to share their talents with the world.
“Her words remind the next generation to nurture their abilities, stay true to who they are, and to honor the impact their gifts can have on others,” Breaux wrote. “By encouraging the next generation to accept and develop their own ‘dance,’ we empower them to live with purpose.”
“It is our hope to empower our students to find within themselves those gifts that only they possess to make this place better than they found it. And so, the words of Ms. Jamison will stay with me along with the images of her teaching, guiding and inspiring the students at Bowie State University,” Breaux wrote, reflecting on how fortunate she felt to have had the opportunity to tell Jamison how inspirational she was to her personally, and to thank her for helping inspire the next generation.