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Group of dancers with heads tilted up

Repertory

Hymn

COMPANIES

  • Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

CHOREOGRAPHER

  • Judith Jamison

WORLD PREMIERE

New York City Center, 1993

RESTAGING

Masazumi Chaya

MUSIC

Robert Ruggieri

ORIGNAL COSTUMES

Toyce Anderson

COSTUMES

Redesigned by Jon Taylor

LIGHTING

Timothy Hunter

LIBRETTO AND TEXT

Anna Deavere Smith

SET

Timothy Hunter, Daniel Bonitsky, and Donald J. Oberpriller

RUN TIME

37 Minutes

Hymn, the stunning, Emmy Award-winning 1993 tribute to Alvin Ailey, is a unique collaboration between two highly acclaimed talents from the worlds of dance and theater. Judith Jamison’s choreography uses explosive ensemble dances and quiet solos to dramatize Mr. Ailey’s humanity and the dancers’ unique qualities. Anna Deavere Smith’s narrative employs text derived from interviews with the dancers and Mr. Ailey’s own words to create a love letter to an extraordinary man. Words and dancing illuminate each other, and the audience is taken on an episodic exploration of Mr. Ailey’s incredible contributions to dance and humanity. 

A large group of silhouettes extending their arms in the air

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Judith Jamison's Hymn Photo by Paul Kolnik

A group of dancers huddled together with the light focused on them. Two other groups are also close together, but not in the light

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Judith Jamison's Hymn Photo by Nan Melville

All of the dancers in a circle walking away from each other

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Judith Jamison's Hymn Photo by Paul Kolnik

Every Dancer with kneeling with their head down and their arms exentended outwards and down

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Judith Jamison's Hymn Photo by Nan Melville

A group of dancers in flesh tone dresses look up and reach their hands to the sky

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