Alicia Graf Mack reflects on leading the legendary Alvin Ailey dance company

Geoff Bennett:

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has just launched a 20-city U.S. tour under its new artistic director, Alicia Graf Mack. She's a renowned former Ailey dancer herself and an educator who is now fusing those roles to lead the modern dance troupe which started back in 1958.

She joined me in the studio this week as part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

Alicia Graf Mack, welcome to the "News Hour."

Alicia Graf Mack, Artistic Director, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater:

Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.

Geoff Bennett:

You're only the fourth artistic director in the 70-year history of Alvin Ailey, and you're launching your first season by opening a national tour here in Washington.

When you step into rehearsal now or even a performance, what feels most different from the last time, when you danced with the company?

Alicia Graf Mack:

It does feel like a wonderful homecoming to return to the company now in this role, as I had danced with the company for six years.

I have a great responsibility to hold this very important organization in my hands. I am so supported by the artistic team, by our administration, by our audience, by the community in this work. And it feels like nothing short of a blessing.

Geoff Bennett:

I saw where you said previously that the organization is really rooted in Alvin Ailey's big dream.

How do you honor the specificity of his vision and the tradition of Ailey, while still making space for new voices and new pieces, new choreography?

Alicia Graf Mack:

Mr. Ailey set the blueprint so many years ago.

When he founded the company, he not only wanted to highlight his own choreographic voice and create the works that he made, as he said, from his blood memories of growing up in rural South, in Texas, but also that he wanted to provide a platform for emerging choreographers, for new voices and specifically for choreographers of color, as there was not that many platforms for those artists to share their work.

And so this is the blueprint that I follow even now, in 2026, that we honor his voice, and we always perform his works, including "Revelations," which is a work that is seen by more people around the world than any other modern dance work, also that we find voices that reflect what we are going through today, voices who will bring their authentic truth and identities to the stage.

Geoff Bennett:

To your point, I mean you've emphasized that Ailey is for everyone. It's not in elitist art form. In practical terms, what does that accessibility look like?

Alicia Graf Mack:

The Ailey organization is all about accessibility. The dancers, of course, are elite artists. They are world-class dancers, but we are open for everyone.

We have an extensive school that offers dance education for everyone and we also have an arts and education and community outreach program that touches students around the country from curriculum in the school systems to free performances for children.

Geoff Bennett:

What did teaching dance reveal to you about where the art form is versus where you want it to go?

Alicia Graf Mack:

Part of the work is to empower the artist, the student, the dancer to know their own story, their own identity and to be able to let that shine on stage and just watch them reach their -- what I call their moving moments on stage, these very high points that artists on a very high level reach sometimes.

It's the high that you get when everything comes together, the music, the movement, the idea. There's nothing like it.

Geoff Bennett:

Let's talk more about that, because you first experienced the magic of Alvin Ailey as a young dancer with big dreams. Now you're launching your tour here in your hometown, Washington, D.C.

What does that full circle moment, what does that mean to you?

Alicia Graf Mack:

It's everything. I can recall Ailey being my North Star from the time I was a child.

And my parents -- I grew up in Columbia, Maryland. They would expose me to dance both in Baltimore and Washington and all around. Being a young person and seeing your dream on stage and seeing people who look like you, that the idea that representation matters is real, that work is so important.

And it's so important that we keep the arts alive, especially in the environment and culture that we're living in today.

Geoff Bennett:

A new sense of hope, and there are also new works on stage that people will see. They pull from popular music, folklore, spirituality, ancestry.

What connects the work thematically?

Alicia Graf Mack:

All the works that we perform are visceral.

When the dancers move, the audience will feel affected by what they're doing. We're all about spirit, humanity, and truth. There's also an idea that the work is not so elite or heady. You can sit and enjoy it and feel something, and I think that's really important.

Geoff Bennett:

You have worked under Judith Jamison. You've worked under Robert Battle. Your experience really embodies the legacy of Ailey. How do you bring all of that to bear in your current role?

Alicia Graf Mack:

That is so correct.

I was hired by Judith Jamison when I first started in 2005. And she is someone that I've looked up to forever, as she was a very tall Black woman. I myself am quite tall. And to know that she saw my gifts and my instrument as an asset to the company is one of the many ways in which the Ailey organization has changed the climate and the field in itself, that we look for artists who are unique in every way.

And all that Robert Battle brought, especially in his sense of curation and bringing different voices to the table. I take all of that with me.

Geoff Bennett:

When audiences encounter this tour, when they leave the theater, what do you want them to walk away with?

Alicia Graf Mack:

I want them to understand that, in the present moment, that we are boldly presenting our work and that we are bravely standing on that stage all over the world.

But I also want them to have a sense of the history from where we come and the legacy that Alvin Ailey set forth, which required so much bravery, so much courage in 1958. And if Mr. Ailey could do that in 1958, I certainly can do that in 2026.

Geoff Bennett:

Alicia Graf Mack, a real pleasure to speak with you. Thank you.

Alicia Graf Mack:

Thank you.