Anna Deavere Smith Joins Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on Stage for Performances of Judith Jamison's HYMN

For four performances only, Obie award-winning actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith will join the acclaimed dancers of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on-stage for a new production of Hymn, the unique collaborative work choreographed by Judith Jamison with libretto written by Anna Deavere Smith; celebrating Alvin Ailey. In 1993, Deavere Smith gathered personal vignettes from Ailey dancers for Hymn, she'll read their stories as a new generation of dancers performs-- marking the first time in 15 years Deavere Smith and the Ailey dancers have shared the same stage. Deavere Smith paused performances of her critically acclaimed one woman show "Let Me Down Easy" to perform with Ailey on the special occasion of Judith Jamison's 20th year as artistic director.

Hymn with Anna Deavere Smith will be performed during Ailey's New York City Center Season Celebrating Judith Jamison's 20th year as artistic director on the following dates:

December 16th 8pm
December 18th 8pm
December 19th 8pm
December 20th 3pm

To purchase tickets for Ailey's Season running through January 3rd, visit www.alvinailey.org, nycitycenter.org or call 212-581-1212

Hymn is a unique collaboration between two extraordinary talents from the world of dance and theater--Judith Jamison and Anna Deavere Smith. Ms. Jamison conceived Hymn, a dance that would be a dialogue among herself, the dancers and Alvin Ailey, who had died four years earlier. "I believe in spirit," repeats a line from the text of Hymn. "And then I believe a manifestation of spirit is dance."

Ms. Jamison's tribute to Alvin Ailey is a choreographic tapestry featuring the entire Company while Smith as actress/raconteuse has gathered personal vignettes of the dancers and interspersed them throughout the work, creating a picture-biography of Mr. Ailey's loving legacy. In 1999, A Hymn for Alvin Ailey became a television special as part of PBS' "Great Performances: Dance in America" and received an Emmy award for Ms. Jamison's choreography.

This season, a new generation of dancers will interpret Hymn, bringing their own experiences and their own spirit to this celebration of the man and the legacy that Ms. Jamison proudly carries forward.

Anna Deavere Smith has written and performed for theater, film, and television. Her acclaimed one-woman play Fires in the Mirror, a compelling look at societal conflict inflamed by racial and cultural differences, won an Obie Award, a Drama Desk Award and was a finalist for the 1993 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Ms. Deavere Smith's piece about social unrest, Twilight, Los Angeles 1992, premiered at the Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, ran on Broadway in 1994 and received two Tony nominations. Ms. Deavere Smith, a recipient of a MacArthur Award, was also named the first Artist in Residence of The Ford Foundation in 1996.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Judith Jamison's Hymn. Photo by Andrew Eccles.
"...Judith Jamison's Hymn, an eloquent evocation of Ailey that is on its way to being another classic."

Photo credit: Walter McBride

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