born May 10, 1943, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.
U.S. dancer and choreographer.
In 1965 she joined Alvin Ailey 's American Dance Theater; she became celebrated for her energetic grace and riveting stage presence and inspired many of Ailey's new dances, most notably Cry (1971). She left the company in 1980 to star in the Broadway musical Sophisticated Ladies . She toured worldwide in the 1980s and choreographed for various companies. In 1988 she founded her own troupe, the Jamison Project, but, after Ailey's death in 1989, she returned to the Ailey troupe as artistic director, becoming the first African American woman to direct a major modern dance company.