Jacqueline Green

Jacqueline Green (born 26 December 1989) is an American ballet dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York. She is noted for her elegant and commanding presence on stage as well as her unusually rapid ascent in being recognized as a great and powerful dancer.[1][2][3]

Jacqueline Green
BornDecember 26, 1989
Baltimore
NationalityAmerican
EducationBaltimore School for the Arts 2007 Fordham University 2011
OccupationBallet dancer
EmployerAlvin Ailey American Dance Theater
AwardsPrincess Grace Dance Fellowship Award 2014

Early life and education

Green is originally from Baltimore and began her dance training at age 13 at the Baltimore School for the Arts.[2][4] The audition she completed to gain entrance to the school marked both her first audition and ballet class.[2] During Green's second year of dance, she met respected Ailey alumni dancer Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell who was then actively dancing with the company.[5][2] Green credits this meeting as pivotal and inspiring, as Fisher-Harrell was another woman of color from Baltimore.[2][4] Fisher-Harrell encouraged Green and further introduced her to the world of professional dance.[2][4] Green graduated from the Baltimore School for the Arts in 2007.[6] She continued her studies and went on to attend the Ailey/Fordham University BFA program with Denise Jefferson, graduating in 2011.[2] Green states that, during summer ballet programs she attended, she was often the only or one of very few Black students and found dealing with white staff and students' expectations of Black bodies challenging.[7][8]

Career

Green impressed the Ailey American Dance Theater’s incoming artistic director, Robert Battle, when she performed with Ailey II in Shards by the esteemed Seattle choreographer Donald Byrd.[9] She auditioned for and was invited to join the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2011.[10]

Green received a dance fellowship award from the Princess Grace Foundation in 2014.[11][12] She has been granted prominent roles in many productions at Ailey including one in Pas de Duke and the key "umbrella" role in Revelations, both by artistic director Judith Jamison.[11] She also worked with Jamison in 2018 on Cry.[4]

In 2019, Green was recognized for her strong stage presence when performing in Donald Byrd’s "Greenwood", a dance production centered around the 1921 Tulsa race massacre.[9]

Green performed in Ode, a work by the Miami-born choreographer Jamar Roberts that premiered in 2019 and whose subject matter was gun violence and its effects.[2][13] The Observer praised both Roberts and Green for Ode, stating that the work was "strengthened by the presence of Jacqueline Green in the central role—tall, strong, commanding yet modest, she has emerged as the company’s star. You can't keep your eyes off her, and you find yourself speculating on how she can expand her range."[14] A reviewer at the Financial Times also lauded Roberts' Ode and described Green as "bewitching".[15]

Considered a powerful talent and regarded as unusual for ascending so quickly despite a late start in her dance training, Green continues to impress critics with her abilities. She credits her success to the late Alvin Ailey, founder of the Ailey Dance Theater and a celebrated cultural leader and recipient of numerous awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom.[16]

Personal life

It was reported in 2019 that Preston Miller is Green's fiancé.[2]

References
  1. Greskovik, Robert (24 December 2019). "'Ailey Revealed' Review: Dancing in New Directions". Washington Post. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  2. Kourlas, Gia (24 December 2019). "That Goddess Quality? This Ailey Dancer's Got It". New York Times. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  3. Gottlieb, Robert (7 January 2020). "Superb Dancing Makes Up for What Choreography Lacks at Alvin Ailey". Observer. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  4. Lyn Pesce, Nicole (21 September 2018). "Alvin Ailey's muse tells a young artist what it's like to dance in her shoes". Market Watch. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  5. Brannigan, Maura (2013-11-18). "Alvin Ailey's Powerhouse". Marie Claire. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  6. "Jacqueline Green '07 Performs at BET's 'Black Girls Rock'". Baltimore School for the Arts. 2018-09-09. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  7. Ford, Thomas (24 September 2020). "5 Black Women on the Obstacles of Dancing While Black". Dance Spirit. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  8. "Jacqueline Green on the Power of Dance, Braids, and Diversity". Black Excellence. June 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  9. Burke, Siobhan (2019-11-28). "Can Dance Make a More Just America? Donald Byrd Is Working on It". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  10. "See world premeires [sic] and internationally renowned dancers at Vail Dance Festival's International Evenings of Dance I & II this weekend" (Press release). Vail Daily. 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  11. "The Accidental Star: Ailey's Jacqueline Green". Dance Magazine. 2015-08-01. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  12. "Award Winners". grants.pgfusa.org. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  13. Kourlas, Gia (2019-12-09). "At Alvin Ailey, a Quiet Disrupter With No Time for Tears". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  14. "Superb Dancing Makes Up for What Choreography Lacks at Alvin Ailey". Observer. 2020-01-07. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  15. Scherr, Apollinaire (December 13, 2019). "Hope mingles with misery in Jamar Roberts's Ode, danced by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theate". Financial Times. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  16. "President Obama Names Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom". whitehouse.gov. 2014-11-10. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
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