Dancing Spirit

by Judith Jamison

Judith Jamison is, in every sense, a towering figure. Her commanding physical presence and extraordinary technique have made her not only a superstar of American dance and an innovator in her field but also an inspiration to African Americans, to women, and to people of all origins around the world. Last November, Doubleday published Dancing Spirit, this remarkable woman's autobiography. Now, with Anchor's paperback publication, an even wider audience can trace the steps of her career: her early years in Philadelphia, where she began studying dance at the age of six, her discovery by Agnes de Mille; years of frustration and struggle in a field that favored petite, fair, White women; her legendary collaboration with Alvin Ailey; her work on Broadway in the musical Sophisticated Ladies; the formation of her own company, the Jamison Project, and her return to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater as artistic director after its founder's death in 1989. Dancing Spirit contains vivid portraits of many artists Jamison has worked with, including Agnes de Mille, Alvin Ailey, Jessye Norman, Geoffrey Holder, Carmen de Lavallade, and Mikhail Baryshnikov, to name only a few. And Jamison talks frankly about the price exacted by a dancer's nomadic life--rootlessness, fleeting relationships, the obsession with physical beauty. Illustrated with sixty photographs, Dancing Spirit is a candid and immediate self-portrait of a unique American artist whose work has left an indelible mark on the world of dance.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

272 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1993

About the author

Judith Ann Jamison was an American dancer and choreographer. She was the artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 1989 until 2011 and then its artistic director emerita.

Reviews

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

HONEST SPIRIT

It is unusual to have a book reduce one to tears. That is usually reserved for a live performance and it is unusual, humbling and not a little frightening. I first read Judith Jamison's autobiography in 1995, and every time I re-read it, the effect is the same! The final pages summarize her philosophy concisely and with such power you can almost hear bells ringing in her voice. Your shoulders instinctively drop, your chin lifts and that strange core of yourself resonates along with her; along with her extraordinary vitality. Would that I could see her perform LIVE! Her words will have to be enough, and combined with the fine work she is still producing, they are! Ms. Jamison became the artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1989, after the founder's death. It is a visionary company and a powerful force in dance, and her promotion seems to be a logical and natural progression. "I don't feel as though I'm standing in anyone's shoes. I'm standing on Alvin's shoulders. The horizons become broader...." The book chronicles Ms. Jamison's dancing role in the company along with earlier personal factors in her life that are her story. Faith, discipline and an extraordinary amount of love and guidance, ethnocentrism and family meld in this woman of great strength and purpose. Her clarity and focus are to be emulated and admired and her attitude toward dance and dancers is precise. She seems truly gracious in all her writing. Her respect for those who came before is profound. Many personal photos are interspersed with studio shots and snippets of insight on life and dance nail down her philosophy. Ms. Jamison's great spirit and intelligence permeate. Stark recognition of her great dance ability is always tempered with humility and truth. Often written with a gutsy awareness of their Afro-American heritage (along with writer and poet Howard Kaplan) the vernacular is often set inside quotation marks, lending humor to this woman who is so many things, most formidably a professional. The word Goddess surely applies. How shocking it was to see this book translated into dance a few season's back! And again, greatly humbling at the artistry that so completely transposed the written word into a dance of great beauty and feeling. "Dance from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet....even when you're stationary you must be moving and alive...." Read this book and feel alive-full of spirit and GIVE it to any young dancer you encounter!

[Ariya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sigh...this was a bit better written than Alvin Ailey's autobiography. There were sections that wonderfully expressed many of the technical aspects of Judith Jamison's dance career. But, the chapters were divided in a seemingly incoherent manner. And, what I would've loved to read was more about her life. Often, she mentioned events or people in passing without the narrative context of how these events/people fit in her life (and the lack of dates or years or even a coinciding cultural event detracted from the storytelling). It is a slim book but it took me forever to finish it.

[Tim Pieraccini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wavered between awarding three and four stars, because the style here can be very disjointed and some digressions seem to lack a point (due, I suspect, to her co-writer simply writing down what Jamison said and then trying to shape it) - but when Jamison talks in the abstract (and the concrete) about dancing, her words take flight. This, and the sense of strict honesty that the narrative conveys, merit the extra star.

[Lisa McMillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a dancer, this book is a must read. Judith was personally aquainted with so many artisted that are well known and respected. She carried forth the vison of Alvin Ailey and has left a legacy of her own as well. Judith tranistioned to the Heavens on 11-29-24. Her life ws such an dventure . She knows the heart and the mind of a dancer, choreographer and a leader. Hers was a life well lived. In her book she stats " Dance is the closes you will get to God, until he takes you home".

[Liralen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not the book of a seasoned writer. It lacks, in places, polish and finesse, and had I not been so interested in the author, I'm not sure how far I would have gotten.

And yet - the book doesn't need polish or finesse. Jamison's talent doesn't lie in writing, but in dance, and her knowledge of dance spills over into the pages in what is often beautiful prose. Although the prose is often raw, it brings the author's world to life.

[Beth]

Interesting, candid look into a dancer's life with some good life lessons woven in. Includes lots of history on the Alvin Ailey dance company as well. The telling is non-linear. The book is filled with great photographs.