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Sylvia Waters
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Born: January 22, 1940
Occupation: dancer, artistic director
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Born and raised in New York City, Waters began modern dance
study in junior high school, continued formal training at the New Dance
Group of New York City, and in 1962 graduated from the dance department of
the prestigious Juilliard School. In the early 1960s Waters performed with
Donald McKayle's dance company, and received a scholarship to study at the
Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. In 1964 she embarked on a
seven-month European tour dancing in Langston Hughes' musical "Black
Nativity." She settled in Paris for three years, where she worked on
television and with Michel Descombey of the Paris Opera Ballet. Living in
Europe made her "homesick for modern dance," and after dancing at the 1968
Olympics in Mexico City with Maurice Béjart's "Ballet of the Twentieth
Century," Waters returned to the United States. She joined the Alvin Ailey
American Dance Theater in 1968 and remained a company member until 1975,
at which time she took over directorship of the Alvin Ailey Repertory
Ensemble. Under Waters' direction, the ensemble, a junior performance
group created to provide an introduction to dance through lecture
demonstrations and master classes, garnered significant recognition from
the dance press and the public by performing the works of experimental
choreographers Donald Byrd, Ulysses Dove, Ralph Lemon, Bebe Miller, Kevin
Wynn, and classic works by Ailey.
-- Thomas F. DeFrantz
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Johnson, Robert. "Alvin Ailey Repertory
Ensemble Carries on Without Ailey." DANCE MAGAZINE (February 1990):
20.
Source Citation: "Sylvia
Waters." ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN CULTURE AND HISTORY. 5
vols. Macmillan, 1996. Reprinted by permission of Gale Group.
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