AAADT dancer Linda Celeste Sims; photo by Andrew Eccles

On March 12, 1968, dancing Reflections in D on the Gano Chapel stage, soloist Judith Jamison gave William Jewell students and Kansas City area audience members a first glimpse into choreographer Alvin Ailey’s unparalleled genius.

The transcendent artistry on stage that night offered messages of hope and strength during a socially volatile time for the country—Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated and the Civil Rights Act was signed within weeks of that first Ailey company appearance on Jewell’s campus.

Now, 40 years later, the company returns to the Harriman-Jewell Series under the artistic direction of Judith Jamison, in cooperation with Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey, to recognize the Series’ formative role that led to an alliance between Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Kansas Citians.

The performance on Thursday, November 13, at 7:30 p.m., will be held in the newly renovated Midland by AMC (formerly known as the Midland Theatre) at 1228 Main St.  in downtown Kansas City. For tickets call 816-415-5025 (be sure to ask for your Jewell alumni discount) or visit www.harriman-jewell.org to select your seats online.

The Harriman-Jewell Series presented Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, and jointly with Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey in 1984, 1986 and 2004.

Gaye McCarty Stevick ’75, a devoted supporter of the Series, tells a favorite story from when she was a student:  “During my junior year in France, I was invited by generous, well-meaning New York friends to come with them from Tours where we were studying to Paris for the weekend. ‘You’re from the Midwest and you won’t have heard of this group, but they’re one of the hottest new dance ensembles around. We’ve never been able to get tickets in New York, but we’ve been able to get them here. They’re called Alvin Ailey.’ My nonchalant reply was ‘Well, thank you, but I’ve seen them twice through William Jewell’s Fine Arts Program.’”

The Ailey company celebrates its 50th anniversary this season and, for this legacy performance, the program features excerpts from many of Alvin Ailey’s most popular and beloved ballets. Spanning each decade of Ailey’s phenomenal career, from Blues Suite, the dance that launched the company in 1958, to Opus McShann, his final piece thirty years later, this stunning retrospective demonstrates the tremendous range and resonance of one man’s vision.