Katherine Dunham sitting with former student Alvin Ailey, ca. 1986.
In 1969, Ailey formed the
Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in Brooklyn,
New York. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
moved to its current
location in Manhattan in 2004. Ailey, a world-renowned choreographer,
died in 1989. In a recent interview with the New York Times, Miss
Dunham refused to take credit
for Ailey’s success, stating, “Everything
Alvin achieved he achieved on his own.”
Missouri Historical Society
Photographs and Prints Collection.
