Denise Adele Jefferson (November 1, 1944 – July 17, 2010) was an American dance educator who served as the director of the Ailey School of the

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) is a modern dance company based in New York City. It was founded in 1958 by choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey. It is made up of 32 dancers, led by artistic director Robert Battle and associate a ...

from 1984 until her death. Jefferson was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and began studying ballet as an eight-year-old. Despite her skills as a dancer, she didn't pursue a career in ballet because she "had never seen anyone who wasn't white in a ballet company". She majored in college in

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in ...

, earning her undergraduate degree at

Wheaton College Wheaton College may refer to: * Wheaton College (Illinois), a private Christian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois * Wheaton College (Massachusetts) Wheaton College is a private liberal arts college in Norton, Massachus ...

Norton, Massachusetts Norton is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, and contains the villages of Norton Center and Chartley. The population was 19,202 at the 2020 census. Home of Wheaton College, Norton hosts the Dell Technologies Championship, a ...

and a master's degree from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

. She was awarded a scholarship to attend the

Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance is located in New York City and is the headquarters to the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and the Martha Graham Dance Company, which is the oldest continually performing dance company in the ...

and began her professional dance career with

Pearl Lang Pearl Lang (May 29, 1921 – February 24, 2009) was an American dancer, choreographer and teacher renowned as an interpreter and propagator of the choreography style of Martha Graham, and also for her own longtime dance company, the Pearl Lang ...

's Dance Theater.Fox, Margalit
"Denise Jefferson, 65, Director of the Ailey School, Is Dead"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', July 20, 2010. Accessed July 21, 2010. She was the mother of singer, dancer, and choreographer, Francesca Harper and sister of Pulitzer Prize winning writer

Margo Jefferson Margo Lillian Jefferson (born October 17, 1947) is an American writer and academic. Biography Jefferson received her B.A. from Brandeis University, where she graduated ''cum laude'', and her M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of ...

, a former theatre critic for ''

''. Hired by the Ailey School of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1974, Denise Jefferson was named as the school's director in 1984, having been selected by

Alvin Ailey Alvin Ailey Jr. (January 5, 1931 – December 1, 1989) was an American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). He created AAADT and its affiliated Alvin Ailey American Dance Cente ...

himself. She held the position as director until her death in 2010, overseeing a school that grew to a student body of 3,500 dancers with 75 instructors, teaching styles including

classical ballet Classical ballet is any of the traditional, formal styles of ballet that exclusively employ classical ballet technique. It is known for its aesthetics and rigorous technique (such as pointe work, turnout of the legs, and high extensions), its f ...

jazz dance Jazz dance is a performance dance and style that arose in the United States in the mid 20th century. Jazz dance may allude to vernacular jazz about to Broadway or dramatic jazz. The two types expand on African American vernacular styles of danc ...

and

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

. Jefferson established a joint degree program with

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

in which students receive dance training and traditional liberal arts course, earning a bachelor of fine arts degree from Fordham upon completion. Of the approximately 140 credits needed to earn the combined degree, half would be at the Ailey School in choreography, technique and other dance-related courses, with the balance being in traditional liberal arts courses at Fordham.

Death

A resident of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

, she died there, aged 65, on July 17, 2010, from

ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different ...

. She was survived by her daughter, Francesca Harper.Copage, Eric V
"Francesca Harper and Eric Cohen"
''

'', April 6, 2008. Accessed July 18, 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferson, Denise 1944 births 2010 deaths African-American female dancers American female dancers Dancers from Illinois Dancers from New York (state) African-American dancers Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Deaths from ovarian cancer New York University alumni People from Chicago People from Manhattan Wheaton College (Massachusetts) alumni 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American women