Francesca Harper

Francesca Harper assumed the role of Ailey II artistic director in 2021. She began her professional dance career with Dance Theatre of Harlem. After having performed at the White House as a young Presidential Scholar in the Arts, she subsequently danced with Ballett Frankfurt from 1991–99 under the direction of William Forsythe. In Europe, she was chosen to perform with designers Issey Miyake and Gianni Versace and to perform in the film Dancing Pleats that was a 30-year retrospective of Miyake’s design work in Japan. She also performed in Miyake's and Versace’s fashion shows in Paris and Milan. Following a vocal performance in Frankfurt, she was invited to record her first single, Slow Groove, which was produced on a compilation album and distributed in Europe and the UK. In 2006, she self-produced her own album, Modo Fusion, currently available on iTunes. Her first full-length evening of work as a choreographer, Dark Violet Light Stone, was commissioned by the Holland Dance Festival while she was still a member of Ballett Frankfurt.  

Ms. Harper has performed in Broadway productions including Fosse, All Shook Up, and The Color Purple. She also starred as Helene opposite Molly Ringwald in a national tour of Sweet Charity (2007) and in Judith Jamison’s role in a revival of Sophisticated Ladies (2009). She created her first play, 50 minutes with Harriet and Phillis, for the Cherry Lane Theater in New York, produced by Anna Deavere Smith, with her aunt, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Margo Jefferson, and Paul Miller, a.k.a. DJ Spooky. She debuted her critically acclaimed one-woman show, The Look of Feeling, as a writer, actor, dancer, and vocalist in 2014 in New York City. She was invited to develop a new character, jazz vocalist Cecilia Robertson (a.k.a. Ceci), for Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More, as well as several other roles in the immersive production. In 2018, Ms. Harper was nominated for Best Actress in a Musical by Broadway.com for her role as Billie Holiday in a production of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.       

Her television appearances include Boardwalk Empire, Late Night with David Letterman, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. She also served as ballet consultant for the feature film Black Swan (2010), directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, who won an Oscar for her performance. Ms. Harper was also a featured performer in Zinnias–The Life of Clementine Hunter, directed by Robert Wilson, touring internationally with the production. She received a Living History Award in 2013 during Black History Month from Long Island University and the Innovation and Technology Award for her choreography for Fashion Week with designer Louis Vuitton. She is the writer, producer, composer, and narrator of the documentary film To Lillian (2021).  

Ms. Harper has choreographed works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Hubbard Street II, Tanz Graz, and many more companies, including her own, the Francesca Harper Project, which she founded in 2005. The Francesca Harper Project has performed at venues including La Biennale di Venezia, Holland Dance Festival, Harkness Dance Festival, the Colors Festival in Stuttgart, Central Park SummerStage, New York City Center, Harlem Stage, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Joyce Theater. Ms. Harper served as movement director for Nick Cave’s The Let Go, commissioned by the Park Avenue Armory, which received a Bessie Award for Outstanding Production. She is a long-time artistic collaborator with MacArthur Foundation “genius award” recipient and visual artist Carrie Mae Weems, rock star Nona Hendryx, multimedia artist Carl Hancock Rux, and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Margo Jefferson. Ms. Harper was awarded a two-year choreographic fellowship with Urban Bush Women, providing support toward her dance-theater work An Unapologetic Body and a Fellowship at the Ballet Center at NYU. Other engagements include serving as co-director and choreographer for the musical Rose’s War and as movement director for Tommy Hilfiger and Zendaya for their fashion show at the Apollo Theater in fall 2019. 

During quarantine, Ms. Harper was the creator and directorial consultant for 16 world premiere virtual films. Her latest works include a new creation for Wendy Whelan, associate artistic director of New York City Ballet, and renowned poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph. She is currently engaged as executive producer with Sony Pictures on a series in development. 

As an educator, Ms. Harper has served as a professor at the Juilliard School, an adjunct professor at New York University, an associate professor at Barnard College, and a professor in the Ailey/Fordham BFA in Dance program. She received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Goddard College in 2023.