Dance, Dance Revelation: Alvin Ailey's Alicia Graf

ALICIA GRAF WAS eight or nine when she first encountered Alvin Ailey's "Revelations," the choreographer's soul-stirring tribute to his Texas-born "blood memories." Graf's friend had a videotape of the masterpiece, and together, they watched it over and over again, mimicking the dancers' graceful moves.

For Graf, who is biracial, the Ailey classic immediately struck a chord.

"I think it's really interesting the way you can identify with something even though you don't know anything about it," says the Columbia, Md., native. "I had rarely seen professional black dancers. ... Something about it was really close and special to me."

One day, her father took her to the Kennedy Center to see the company perform, and she was moved — by the performance and the theater itself.

"I think the Kennedy Center is one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world," she says. "I walk in and I feel like it's definitely a place that houses great dance, music and art."

From Feb. 19-24, Graf, 29, will perform on that theater's storied stage with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. On Thursday and Saturday she'll arc her arms heavenward in "Revelations'" prayerful duet "Fix Me, Jesus."

"It's kind of like a meditation," she says, "like a woman talking to God about her troubles."

It's a fitting role for the young star whose talents thrust her into the spotlight at a young age before an injury appeared to end her career forever.

Graf was born dancing, at least that's what her mother says, and she began taking classes when she was still in diapers.

"My mom had a modeling school in Columbia and, in the same building, there was a dance school. When she was teaching, I would stand in the window and watch the girls take class," Graf remembers. "Finally, the teacher said, 'It's OK. She can come in.'"

Graf was two and a half years old at the time.

A few years later, she started lessons at a school called Kinetics Dance Theatre in Ellicott City that introduced her to jazz and modern dance as well as ballet. She was passionate about it, and her talents were instantly apparent. When she was 13, she auditioned for a special program, where "if you were chosen, you got to take a master class with every company that came through the Kennedy Center," she says.

She got in, and during one of those classes, Dance Theatre of Harlem founder Arthur Mitchell spotted her.

"He said, 'Oh, you're such a talented little dancer,'" she remembers.

She didn't think much of it, but when she was a senior in high school, Mitchell offered her a job with his company. So at 17, Graf left her Maryland home for New York City and began dancing full time. She was a sensation. In 1998, the New York Times called her "the discovery of the season," and in 1999, posters of Graf papered the subways.

But by then, Graf's knee had become mysteriously swollen and she was nearly crippled with pain.

"Nobody could figure out what was wrong," she says. She visited countless doctors, and underwent surgery, but the real cause — arthritis — eluded the specialists, who doubted the condition could afflict someone so young.

Graf tried to dance through the pain, but at some point, it became too much. During her third year with the Dance Theatre of Harlem, she stopped dancing altogether. It was a heart-breaking decision. She remembers riding the subway to doctors' appointments and staring up at her photograph.

"It was like someone was laughing in my face," she says. "I grew up thinking I was going to be one thing, and then the moment I started doing well, it came crashing down."

One night, she went to bed depressed and hopeless. "The next morning," she remembers, "I woke up, and I thought, 'You know what, I don't even feel like dancing anymore.'"

It was a breakthrough.

"It sounds so cliche, but the moment you're able to let something go is the moment you're able to grow," she says.

Graf decided to take classes at City College and challenged herself to be totally normal. "I tried to put myself in situations where I was completely out of my element," she says, "like being in school and not being a dancer."

She transferred to Columbia University, and threw herself into student life. She wrote her thesis on the history of the Dance Theatre of Harlem and participated in a "praise dancing" group that performed at local churches.

Eventually, her body began to feel healthy again, and by her senior year, she started taking classes at an Upper West Side dance studio. Her teacher, Milton Myers, was a resident instructor for The Ailey School. After class one afternoon, he approached her and asked her if she ever thought of a career as a professional dancer.

"I kind of laughed, and said, 'Yeah, I'm not really interested.'" She explained her history and told him that, after graduation, she planned to start a job at J.P. Morgan Chase, where she had interned over the summer. He urged her to reconsider.

She did.

"I thought I didn't want to take a desk job if I'm going to be working at a desk for the rest of my life," she says.

She spent the summer dancing with a troupe called Complexions, and realized she wasn't ready to give up. She promised herself one more year as a dancer, and if her body wasn't up to it, she'd quit for good. She returned to the Dance Theatre of Harlem, and in 2005, Judith Jamison, artistic director for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, invited her to join the company.

From day one, she knew she was part of something special.

"My first performance [with Ailey], I danced in St. Petersburg at the Mariinsky Theatre, and that's amazing because whenever you think of the origins of ballet, you think of the Mariinsky Theatre and the Kirov," she says.

Although the schedule is grueling — the company travels 70 percent of the year, dancers often perform twice a day and they only have one day off per week — dancing with the world famous group has allowed Graf to grow "in so many ways," she says. "One day you could be acting, the next day, [doing] African dance, then hip-hop, and of course, 'Revelations,' which is inspiring whether you're dancing it or watching it."

When her body gets tired, Graf thinks about the joy she brings to audiences on a daily basis.

"One of the things Ailey always said was, 'Dance came from the people and it should be delivered back to the people.' I know when people leave the theater, they leave feeling uplifted, and that helps me get through the day when the days are difficult."

Plus, she says, experience has taught her to be grateful.

"I try to remind myself to appreciate each day, because it's not promised, and I definitely know that much. So I try to really take each day and frame it."

» Kennedy Center, Opera House, 2700 F St. NW; Feb. 19-24, $40-$85; 202-724-5613. (Foggy Bottom)

Written by Express contributor Jessica Gould
Photos courtesy Alicia Graf & Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Posted By Express at 8:15 AM on February 19, 2008 Tagged in Arts & Events , Music , Stage , The District , Top Stories , U Street-Cardozo

Your Station:Select Your Station

Comments (28) | Archive