Dancing Spirit

Jamison has long been one of America's outstanding dancers, well-known for her dramatic, graceful, sinewy presence as a soloist (especially in the solo Cry ) in the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and as the company's artistic director since Ailey's death in 1989. Working in collaboration with freelance writer Kaplan, Jamison tells her life story, and it is engaging. She describes growing up in Philadelphia, and entering a profession--dancing--that is less than welcoming, even now, to African Americans. Yet she does more than tell her own story; Jamison also invites us into the Ailey company, and gives access to the many gifted dancers who have filled it, from Carmen DeLavallade to Donna Wood. Above all, her portrait of the complicated Ailey himself is of interest: ``Alvin and I were like two limbs of a tree, growing and climbing.''136 Welcoming, intelligent and chatty--sometimes, too chatty--she also brings down to earth the experience of performing. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)