Judith Jamison / Cry Tribute with Panel Discussion

Floor 3, Theater

For all Black women everywhere – especially our mothers.

In 1971, Alvin Ailey choreographed Cry as a birthday present for his mother. Created with the legendary Judith Jamison in mind, it went on to become an enduring work of American art.

Join us as we engage in conversation with preeminent artists who performed Cry during their tenure in the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater under the artistic guidance of Alvin Ailey and Judith Jamison. Listen to their experiences and memories of learning the work from Jamison who originated the role to legendary status. Hear about the process and profound impact of performing such a legacy work worldwide, the art of embodying this archetypal figure, and why the piece continues to stand out as an iconic work of art.

Excerpt from Cry
1971
Choreography by Alvin Ailey
Music by Alice Coltrane, Laura Nyro & Chuck Griffin
Costume by A. Christina Giannini
Lighting by Chenault Spence

“Something About John Coltrane” written by Alice Coltrane, published by Jawcol Music.

Cast:
Jacquelin Harris (Jan 24, 26)

Panelists:
Renee Robinson, Nasha Thomas (Jan 24)
Donna Wood-Sanders (Jan 26)
Moderator: Lakey Evans-Peña (Jan 24, Jan 26)

Renee Robinson began her training in classical ballet at the Jones-Haywood School of Ballet. She was the recipient of two Ford Foundation scholarships to the School of American Ballet and was awarded full scholarships to the Dance Theatre of Harlem School and The Ailey School, where she danced as a member of Ailey II. Robinson was a member of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 1981 to 2012 during which time she performed principal roles in several of Ailey’s ballets including Revelations, Cry, Memoria, Blue Suite, and others. She danced in works choreographed by renowned choreographers such as Robert Battle, Judith Jamison, Lar Lubovitch, Ulysses Dove, Talley Beatty, Garth Fagan, Kyle Abraham, Ronald K. Brown, Elisa Monte, and Matthew Rushing. She is a Master Teaching Artist with Ailey Arts in Education and is a faculty member at Yale University teaching under the Dancer Studies Curriculum.

Nasha Thomas oversees AileyCamp and designs the national outreach for Ailey’s Arts In Education & Community Programs. As a primary liaison between the Ailey organization and the national arts-in-education community, she plays a central role in working with local communities to develop and run AileyCamp in cities across the U.S., as well as managing national residencies, leading workshops, and teaching master classes, helping Arts In Education reach over 100,000 people each year through education and community initiatives. A graduate of New York’s High School of the Performing Arts and Southern Methodist University, she received the prestigious Presidential Scholar of the Arts award. At the invitation of Alvin Ailey and later under the direction of Judith Jamison, Ms. Thomas danced with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 1986 to 1998.  

Highlighted as one of Good Housekeeping’s “Humanitarians Who Are Our Heroes,” Ms. Thomas combines her passion for inspiring the next generation and personal experiences as a performer and Master Teacher to lead Ailey Arts In Education programs in public school classrooms across the country to the Lincoln Center Plaza and from Gracie Mansion to the White House, and more. In 2020, Ms. Thomas reached students across the world virtually as she helped kicked off the 60th anniversary of Alvin Ailey’s iconic Revelations with a social-distanced workshop streamed from the Rockefeller Center rooftop, with virtual programs for TED Discovery Series and Facebook, and was the lead instructor for the Revelations Virtual Dance Workshop Series, designed for middle school students blending dance with poetry, history, and music, which builds a foundation of artistic exploration that will enhance any students’ academic experience.

Born in New York City as the middle child of seven children, Donna Wood was raised in Dayton, Ohio, where she began studying dance with the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company at the age of five. She trained extensively in ballet under Josephine Schwartz of the Dayton Ballet. Wood moved to New York in 1972 and joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in September of that year. Five years later, she became a leading dancer with the company, noted for her lyrical musicality, supple extensions, and strong, graceful jumps. Wood's performances in Ailey's "Memoria" (1979) and Todd Bolender's "The Still Point" (1954, revived 1980) propelled her to international recognition as a significant interpreter of dramatic dance roles. Her artistry was underscored by a quiet simplicity in performance, and in 1980 she told the New York Times, "I have learned never to force a movement, but to arrive at it naturally."

During the early 1980s Wood guest-starred with the Hamburg Ballet, the Vienna State Opera, and the Royal Danish Ballet. In 1985 she left the Ailey company, and took a two-year faculty appointment at CalArts of Valencia, Calif. In 1987 she starred in a production of "Sophisticated Ladies," which toured the Soviet Union and Japan. Three years later Wood retired from performing and married attorney Peter Michael Sanders. In 1991 she and Sanders created the Donna Wood Foundation, "to assist young dancers as they are embarking on careers, giving advice on additional education and skill development" necessary to survival in the dance world.

Lakey Evans-Peña is an educator, director, and creative leader. Currently she serves as the Associate Director of the Ailey Horton Teacher Certification program. In this role, she integrates her professional performance, teaching and artistic practice in co-authoring the new 32-week Ailey Teacher Certification Program: Ailey Horton Technique.

Evans-Peña received her BFA from the University of the Arts, her MFA from Montclair State University, and was a scholarship recipient at The Ailey School. As a pedagogue and movement maker, Evans-Peña centers individual and collective empowerment through her teaching and creative practices. Her thesis work, Lineage and Legacy of Horton Through The Ailey Lens, Then and Now, examines the ideologies of cultural relevance, equity, and inclusion through the Horton/Ailey lineage, as well as exploring the historical and contextual framework of the Horton technique at The Ailey School. In 2020 she restaged and performed Lester Horton’s The Beloved in Roots & Routes, her self-produced evening length work. In addition to her recent writing work, she moderated a panel for the Library of Congress "Anna Sokolow and the Reimagined Roots of Antifascist Dance" and co-presented an experiential workshop at the National Dance Education Organization's conference in Bellevue, WA.

As an artistic coach and creative leader, she served as assistant to Ronni Favors for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s New York City Center production of Memoria, as well as for the American Dance Festival. In her role as Ailey II’s rehearsal director, she has overseen works by Alvin Ailey, William Forsythe, Francesca Harper, Andrea Miller, Robert Battle, Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish, and Yannick LeBrun. For more than a decade she has served as an adjudicator for the Ailey/Fordham BFA program, the Certificate Program, and the Summer Intensive.

Ms. Evans-Peña founded and served as the executive and artistic director of the Williamsburg Movement & Arts Center in Brooklyn from 2009-21. In 2015, she co-curated, co-produced, and presented a performance series providing rehearsal and performance space for choreographers at different stages of their careers to present their work. Expanding additional opportunities for equitable arts education, Evans-Peña additionally founded WMAAC Residencies (now renamed WRArts), a 501(c)3 organization which continues to offer a rich array of creative arts community programming. She served as president until 2017.