Judith Jamison and her passion for dance

Judith Jamison, will be the visiting guest lecturer at Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts in March; sharing her passion for dance in a public lecture for the college. “A Conversation with Judith Jamison” will see Jamison talk about her life as a dancer and with the inaugural Alvin Ailey and his prestigious dance company. Her dedication and passion will inspire the college community to celebrate and affirm the revitalising nature and power of dance and the arts through her experience in the industry. In addition to work with Alvin Ailey and similar, Jamison’s dancing is the pure embodiment of life in all of the dimensions of the human experience which was and still is the backbone of Ailey's work. His 'blood memories' of his life growing up in Texas informed and inspired his choreographic work for the company and worked towards creating perhaps his most iconic, autobiographical works 'Revelations.' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwj0x0vPpAw A native of Philadelphia trained in classical ballet, Jamison studied with Marion Cuyjet and was discovered by Agnes de Mille and made her New York debut with American Ballet Theatre in 1964. She became a member of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1965 and danced with the company for 15 years to great acclaim. The Ailey company has performed for an estimated 23 million people at theaters in 48 states and 71 countries on six continents, as a vital American cultural ambassador which celebrates the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience and the preservation and enrichment of the American modern dance heritage. Before his death, Ailey designated Judith Jamison as his successor and over the next 21 years she brought the Company to unprecedented success. In July 2011, Jamison passed this great responsibility to Robert Battle as Artistic Director. The event, sponsored by the Lesley University Strauch-Mosse Visiting Artist Lecture Series is free and open to the public.