Judith Jamison dead at 81: Dancer and choreographer won an Emmy in 1999
Judith Jamison was born on May 10, 1943, in Philadelphia and passed away on Nov. 9, 2024, in New York City. The American dancer and choreographer is dead at age 81 following a brief illness. May her memory be a blessing.
Jamison prevailed at the 1999 Emmy Awards in the Best Choreography category for “Dance in America: A Hymn for Alvin Ailey,” an episode of PBS’s “Great Performances” anthology series that focuses on the performing arts. For that same project, she also won a trophy at the 1999 American Choreography Awards.
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She received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors in 1999 (alongside Victor Borge, Sean Connery, Jason Robards, and Stevie Wonder), and the National Medal of Arts in 2001. Jamison’s most recent accolade came in 2018 for BET’s “Black Girls Rock” in the category of Living Legend Award.
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After receiving an education at Fisk University in Nashville and University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Jamison made her Broadway debut in 1979 as a dancer in “Béjart: Ballet of the Twentieth Century.”
Jamison later served as the artistic director for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, following the death of its activist-dancer-choreographer Alvin Ailey in 1989. Following her retirement in 2011, she named Robert Battle as her successor, and she remained as the artistic director emerita. The theater released a statement on Sunday announcing, “We remember and are grateful for her artistry, humanity, and incredible light, which inspired us all.”
Through her profession as a choreographer, Jamison worked on projects like “Divining” (1984), “Forgotten Time” (1989), “Double Exposure” (2000), and “Reminiscin'” (2005). She also had acting credits on three different TV programs: “Sophisticated Ladies” (1982), “The Cosby Show” (1985) as Marie, and “A Tribute to Alvin Ailey” (1990).
In 1988, The Jamison Project made its debut at the Joyce Theater in New York City as a way for her to honor young choreographers who had a desire to learn more about the field. It was Jamison’s own way of continuing her dream of dancing and performing, while helping to teach others at the same time.
Here is the video of Judith Jamison receiving her Kennedy Center Honors from presenter Morgan Freeman:
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