His death followed a brief illness, according to a post on the company’s Instagram page.

Jamison grew up in Philadelphia and started dancing at age six, she said in a 2019 TED Talk. She joined Ailey’s Modern Dance Company in 1965, when few black women were prominent in American dance, and performed there for 15 years.

In 1971, she premiered the 17-minute single “Cry”, which Ailey dedicated to “all black women everywhere—especially our mothers” and which became her signature song, according to the company’s website.

Allie said of Jameson in her 1995 autobiography that “With ‘Cry’ she became herself. Once she got this connection, this release, she poured her being into everyone who came to see her perform. Was.”

Jamison performed on Broadway and formed her own dance company before returning to serve as artistic director for the Ailey troupe from 1989 to 2011.

“I felt ready to move on. Alvin and I were like parts of the same tree. He, the roots and the trunk, and we were the branches. I was his inspiration. We were all his inspiration,” she told TED. Said. to talk.

Jamison received the Kennedy Center Honor, the National Medal of Arts, and many other awards.

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