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Alvin Ailey Dance Director Comes Home To Miami

Carl Juste
/
Miami Herald

On an icy night in late December, Miami native Robert Battle, the new artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, saw his past and future come together in the heart of New York City.

After a year and a half of public grooming, of working alongside his towering predecessor, Judith Jamison, Battle was finally at the head of modern dance's most famous company, and in programming the troupe's annual five-week season at City Center Theatre, a major event in the New York dance world, he had made his real debut as director.

Battle, 39, grew up in Liberty City and studied dance at Miami Northwestern Senior High and New World School of the Arts before heading to New York’s Juilliard School in 1990.

 
Visit Miami Herald photo gallery: Students learn dance with Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre

Jordan Levin has been an arts and entertainment reporter and critic at the Miami Herald since 1999, covering dance and performance, Latin and pop music, and cultural features. Since 2010 she has been writing and producing radio features for WLRN-Miami Herald News, two of which aired on NPR. As a freelancer, she has written for the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Latina, Billboard and Ocean Drive magazines, among others. Before turning to journalism, she was a dancer/performer in New York City and an arts presenter in Miami.
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