![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Alvin-Ailey-American-Dance-Theaters-Ashley-Kaylynn-Green-and-Jacquelin-Harris-Photo-by-Andrew-Eccles.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nAlicia Graf Mack<\/p>\n
By Kharisma McIlwaine<\/p>\n
When Alicia Graf Mack was a toddler with dreams of becoming a dancer, her parents hung a picture of Judith Jamison on her bedroom wall \u2014 a vision of possibility in a tall, graceful Black woman who had risen to become a legendary principal dancer, choreographer and the artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Two decades later, that vision fulfilled a manifestation.<\/p>\n
In July 2025, Graf Mack formally assumed the role of the company\u2019s fourth artistic director, succeeding not only her childhood idol Jamison, but also founder Alvin Ailey and Robert Battle. The artistic leadership of Ailey\u2019s legacy spans nearly seven decades.<\/p>\n
A former principal dancer with Ailey from 2005 to 2014 and most recently the dean and director of dance at The Juilliard School, Graf Mack now leads an expansive organization that includes the professional company, Ailey II, The Ailey School, and extensive community programs.<\/p>\n
Graf Mack spoke with the SUN about her incredible journey to fulfilling a lifelong dream ahead of the company\u2019s Philadelphia engagement.<\/p>\n
Graf Mack reflected on the posters that inspired her in her childhood bedroom and traced the arc of her dream.<\/p>\n
\u201cI dreamed of being a dancer from the time I was a toddler,\u201d she said. My parents exposed me to dance just knowing that it was my passion.<\/p>\n
They would hang pictures of the greats in my room including Judith Jamison, because it was very clear from a very young age that I would be tall. By the time I knew that I wanted to make dance my profession, maybe around 11 years old, that\u2019s when I really started to train very rigorously. She was not only my director, and became a mentor and friend later, but she was my idol growing up. So to step into your dreams with such an incredible person lighting the path and then stepping into her footsteps really has been an honor beyond anything I could have ever dreamed of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout her career, Graf Mack has stood on the shoulders of titans, guided by the very legends who continue to inspire her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been very lucky in that sense,\u201d she said. \u201cI never met Mr. Ailey, however, because I\u2019ve performed his works so intimately, of course, with his masterpiece \u201cRevelations,\u201d but also being a dancer within his organization that is so committed to his values and his vision to continue to amplify his artistry, I feel like I do kind of know him a little now being in this role. I\u2019ve had so many awesome mentors to guide my path.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater\u2019s Ashley Kaylynn Green and Jacquelin Harris
Photo by Andrew Eccles<\/p>\n
For Graf Mack, the transition from principal dancer to Ailey\u2019s fourth artistic director was not sudden \u2014 instead, it was a path she paved with intention for years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been quite an incredible journey. I think because the work of an Ailey dancer is so public, you spend your career on stage,\u201d she said \u201cThere were several years where I did not spend time on stage, and I was developing my love for administration, leadership, and specifically in higher education. As you mentioned, I danced with the company from 2005-2014. I had a three-year break in the middle of that period where I received a master\u2019s degree from Washington University in St. Louis, and I studied nonprofit management. Then I started my kind of parallel passion for higher education, teaching in higher education. I became a professor at Webster University for a year full time before I returned to the company.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen in 2014, when I effectively retired for real, I then went back to Webster University,\u201d Graf Mack continued. \u201cI taught there for about three and a half more years. Then I transitioned and became the dean and director of dance at the Juilliard School in New York City. So, this really set me up for the type of experiences that are so necessary to lead an organization like Ailey as we are a professional company, but we are also an expansive organization that includes a second company, a school, our community, arts, and outreach. There are so many facets that excite me, but mostly that I get to stay in touch with artists and dancers in the studio. That\u2019s where I thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ahead of the company\u2019s highly anticipated return to Philadelphia, Graf Mack offered a glimpse into what audiences can expect from this year\u2019s engagement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re so excited to bring our company back to the Philadelphia community, and because we do perform there so often, that\u2019s exactly what it feels like,\u201d Graf Mack said, \u201cWe are very familiar with the theater. We so enjoy the audience that comes to experience the magic of Ailey. We are bringing new works so that those who come year after year can experience something new. We are bringing works that have been curated by myself and by our associate artistic director, Matthew Rushing, but also, they\u2019ll enjoy our classic works. We\u2019ll end every evening with \u201cRevelations\u201d and we\u2019re also highlighting the voice of Judith Jamison this year. We\u2019ll be performing her duet \u201cA Case of You,\u201d which she choreographed in 2004.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additionally, some of the new pieces featured in the upcoming Ailey engagement in Philadelphia will highlight more theatrical elements.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo of my favorites are a new work called \u201cJazz Island,\u201d and that is choreographed by Maija Garcia,\u201d Graf Mack said, \u201cWe always want to recognize the artistic voices of female choreographers. Her work was inspired by Geoffrey Holder and Carmen de Lavallade. As you know, we lost Carmen just this December. So, it\u2019s timely that we are performing this work. One of the reasons why I love it is because it\u2019s highly theatricalized, where there\u2019s a story being told that\u2019s based on a story that Geoffrey Holder wrote many years ago called \u201cBlack Gods, Green Islands.\u201d Each dancer has a character and has to develop their character and tell a story to the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I think that\u2019s exciting, and I think it defines again what Mr. Ailey set forth so many years ago, which was that we are Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater,\u201d she said. \u201cWe always perform very abstracted works of dance, sometimes without any meaning, or meaning that you can kind of interpret on your own, and sometimes we get to perform actual stories, like classical ballet companies who perform \u201cSwan Lake\u201d and \u201cNutcracker\u201d and [all] these classic fairy tales. We have our own stories to tell. This story is built in the tradition of Caribbean culture and the West Indies. So, we\u2019re very excited to bring that to the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we have a work called \u201cDifference Between,\u201d and that is choreographed by Matthew Neenan, who actually lives and works in the Philadelphia area,\u201d Graf Mack continued. \u201cHe is a longtime collaborator of Ballet X in Philadelphia and someone who I\u2019ve worked with quite extensively over the years. He has a work called \u201cDifference Between,\u201d and this piece is really guided by the incredible music by Heather Christian, who just recently won a MacArthur Genius Award. It\u2019s really about his interpretation of the music. So, lots of new things that we\u2019re bringing, but I would highlight the work of those two because of their connection to Geoffrey, Carmen and to Philadelphia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond the stage, Graf Mack continues to expand Ailey\u2019s reach through storytelling in a new medium.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started a podcast \u201cMoving Moments\u201d coming out of the pandemic and realizing how I feel so blessed to be able to have friendships and connections with so many groundbreaking artists in our field,\u201d she said. \u201dSo, I wanted to create the podcast to share their incredible stories on how they created moving moments for all of us as audience members and supporters of the performing arts. Now that I\u2019m at Ailey, I am transitioning and now working with Ailey towards a new podcast called \u201cLegacy in Motion with Ailey.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information about Ailey\u2019s touring schedule, about the offerings in the school, podcasts and the PBS documentary on Alvin Ailey\u2019s life called \u201cPortrait of Ailey,\u201d visit: ailey.org. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to the Academy of Music, February 27 \u2013 March 1, 2026. Visit ensembleartsphilly.org for more details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alicia Graf Mack By Kharisma McIlwaine When Alicia Graf Mack was a toddler with dreams of becoming a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-135103","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manhattan","8":"tag-manhattan","9":"tag-manhattan-headlines","10":"tag-manhattan-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}