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Living the dream: how Ailey went from revelation to institution.

Article Excerpt
When asked where the Alvin Ailey American Dunce Theater is heading in the 21st century, Judith Jamison lets out a roar of a belly laugh. Then she pauses. "To all those nooks and crannies we haven't been to yet," she answers with a glint of wisdom in her eye, recognizable in anyone with a keen sense of direction. * The success of the Ailey company, both artistically and commercially, reads like on improbable story, given Alvin Ailey's premature death 15 years ago, preceded by a period when the company spun its wheels in a creek of red ink. But when Jamison accepted the post of artistic director in 1989, she not only concocted ways to continue Ailey's vision, but also enlarged upon it, making it relevant to an ever changing dance scene.

"Look at this--46 years of our history," says Jamison, motioning with a wide, circular port de bras around the cramped little library/office on West 61st Street that will soon be superceded by a glamorously spacious building, full of sunlit studios and conference rooms, on West 55th Street (see "At Home in the World," page 42). She speaks as if Ailey himself remains by her side: "Alvin's vision of making available a platform for his peers, for new choreography, for traditional repertoire, for everybody who's talented to come in, be seen, titillate, inspire, and go farther--I think that's brilliant."

During her tenure, Jamison...

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