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Juilliard’s New Dance Director Comes From Ailey and Ballet
Alicia Graf Mack, an educator and former performer with Dance Theater of Harlem and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, will become the director of the dance division at Juilliard, the school announced on Tuesday.
She will begin in July, when Damian Woetzel, the former New York City Ballet principal, takes over as Juilliard’s president.
“Juilliard trains students to be dancers of the moment,” Mr. Woetzel said in an interview, “and Alicia has embodied that in her own work as a dancer and as a teacher.”
Ms. Graf Mack, 39, has straddled the worlds of ballet and modern dance throughout her career. Under Arthur Mitchell at Dance Theater of Harlem, she performed the role of the Siren in George Balanchine’s “Prodigal Son”; later, she took on Ailey’s diverse repertory under Judith Jamison. But she has also made guest appearances with other companies, and danced for pop stars like Beyoncé, John Legend and Alicia Keys.
“She has a face that can register joy and pain,” John Rockwell wrote in The New York Times following her Ailey debut. “Her body is lissome, almost lanky, though always in exquisite control. She has remarkable arms and hands, effortless extensions and wonderful feet.”
In an interview, Ms. Graf Mack said: “I think what’s exciting about my role is that I am not so far from the field. I’m well connected, and these students want to be connected with what’s happening in their world.”
She has also made a career in higher education. Ms. Graf Mack, who graduated from Columbia University and earned a master’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis, is on the dance faculty at the University of Houston and is a visiting professor at Webster University. At Juilliard, she said, she hopes to make the school a champion of diversity — both in its students and in choreographers.
“Even by hiring me, they are sending a signal,” said Ms. Graf Mack, who is biracial. “It’s important that each person is seen as an individual. There’s no cookie cutter look for a concert dancer.”
She said she also wants to help students navigate the world of professional dance, in which career positions at large companies are increasingly rare.
“I am going to be committed to empowering young artists to know that they are the thought leaders and trendsetters now,” Ms. Graf Mack said. “They can go on to commercial dance careers and opportunities that we don’t even know about yet.”
As an educator, Mr. Woetzel said, she is “thoughtful and direct.”
“She has built her opinions in the fire, as it were,” he added. “They come from a level of experience, but she has such a sense of humility. When I think about this possibility for her, I think of her clarity and her intelligence and her commitment. And we get to have that for future dancers at Juilliard.”
Follow Joshua Barone on Twitter: @joshbarone
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