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Judith Jamison

Judith Ann Jamison (born May 10, 1943) is an American dancer and choreographer. She is the artistic director emerita of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Judith Jamison was born in 1943 to Tessie Brown Jamison and John Jamison Sr. and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with her parents and older brother. Her father taught her to play the piano, and violin. She was exposed to the prominent art culture in Philadelphia from a very early age. At the age of six, she began her dance training at Judimar School of Dance. There she studied with Marion Cuyjet who became one of Jamison's early mentors. Under Cuyjet's tutelage, Jamison studied classical ballet, and modern dance. The Judimar studios were treated as a "holy place" and there was always a sense of performance and theatricality in Cuyjet's classes. By the age of eight, Jamison began dancing on pointe and started taking classes in tap, acrobatics, and Dunham technique (which was referred to as "primitive"). A few years later, Cuyjet began sending Jamison to other teachers to advance her dance education. She learned the Cechetti method from Antony Tudor, founder of the Philadelphia Ballet Guild, and studied with Delores Brown Abelson, a graduate of Judimar who pursued a performance career in New York City before returning to Philadelphia to teach. Throughout high school, Jamison was also member of numerous sports organizations, the Glee Club, and the Philadelphia String Ensemble. She studied Dalcroze Eurhythmics, a system that teaches rhythm through movement. At the age of 17, Jamison graduated from Judimar and began her collegiate studies at Fisk University. After three semesters there, she transferred to the Philadelphia Dance Academy (now the University of the Arts) where she studied dance with James Jamieson, Nadia Chilkovsky, and Yuri Gottschalk. In addition to her technique classes, she took courses in Labanotation, kinesiology, and other dance studies. During this time, she also learned the Horton technique from Joan Kerr, which required great strength, balance, and concentration. In 1992, Jamison was inducted into Delta Sigma Theta sorority as an honorary member. In 1964, after seeing Jamison in a master class, Agnes de Mille invited her to come to New York to perform in a new work that she was choreographing for American Ballet Theatre, The Four Marys. Jamison immediately accepted the offer and spent the next few months working with the company. When the performances ended and she found herself in New York without a job, Jamison attended an audition held by Donald McKayle. She felt that she performed very poorly in the audition and claimed, "I felt as if I had two left feet." However, a few days later, a friend of McKayle's, Alvin Ailey, called Jamison to offer her a place in his company – Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. ... Source: Article "Judith Jamison" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.


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Born:
May 10, 1943 In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Movie/TV Credits:
13
First Appeared:
In the movie Batouk 1968-01-31
Latest Project:
Movie Ailey 2021-07-23
Known For
Poster of A Tribute to Alvin Ailey
Poster of An Evening with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Poster of Alvin Ailey: Memories and Visions
Poster of Batouk
Filmography
Movie Ailey Self 2021-07-23
Series Tamron Hall Self - Guest 2019-09-09
Series Trailblazer Honors Self 2014-06-27
Movie Richard Strauss - Josephs Legende 2007-07-10
Movie A Tribute to Alvin Ailey Presenter 1990-01-01
Movie An Evening with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Self 1986-05-01
Series American Masters Self 1986-06-23
Series The Cosby Show Unknown 1984-09-20
Movie Night of 100 Stars Self 1982-03-08
Series The Kennedy Center Honors Self 1978-12-28
Series Numéro un Self 1975-04-05
Movie Alvin Ailey: Memories and Visions Self 1974-05-06
Movie Batouk Self 1968-01-31