Renee Robinson is a retired American dancer from

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, who performed as a Principal Dancer of the

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Founded in 1958, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) is the largest modern dance company in the United States.Dance Data Project (October 2024) 2024 Largest Contemporary and Modern Companies Report Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater ...

.Transcript.
/ref> She began her dance training in classical ballet at the Jones-Haywood School of Ballet. She also attended the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional voc ...

, the

Dance Theatre of Harlem Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) is an American professional ballet company and school based in Harlem, New York City. It was founded in 1969 under the directorship of Arthur Mitchell and later partnered with Karel Shook. Milton Rosenstock served ...

and The Ailey School. Robinson was a member of the Alvin Ailey II, before becoming a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1981. Before joining AAADT, Robinson was a student at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, majoring in dance and minoring in economics. She was torn between becoming a professional dancer or an attorney specializing in the arts. She has worked with many renowned choreographers, such as

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 Cent ...

Lar Lubovitch Lar Lubovitch (born April 9, 1943) is an American choreographer. He founded his own dance company, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company in 1968. Based in New York City, the company has performed in all 50 American states as well as in more than 30 co ...

Donald McKayle Donald McKayle (July 6, 1930 – April 6, 2018) was an American modern dancer, choreographer, teacher, director and writer best known for creating socially conscious concert works during the 1950s and '60s that focus on expressing the human con ...

Judith Jamison Judith Ann Jamison (; May 10, 1943 – November 9, 2024) was an American dancer and choreographer. She danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 1965 to 1980 and was Ailey's muse. She later returned to be the company's artistic di ...

Ulysses Dove Ulysses Dove (January 17, 1947 in Columbia, South Carolina – June 11, 1996 in Manhattan) was a choreographer. Dove began his dance training at Boggs Academy in Georgia. Dove gave up his premedical studies at Howard University to transfer t ...

Jerome Robbins Jerome Robbins (born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. Among his nu ...

Bill T. Jones William Tass Jones, known as Bill T. Jones (born February 15, 1952), is an American Choreography, choreographer, director, author and dancer. He is the co-founder of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. The company's home in Manhattan. J ...

, Garth Fagan,

Katherine Dunham Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 – May 21, 2006) was an African American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century and directed her own dance compan ...

Hans van Manen Hans Arthur Gerard van Manen (; born 11 July 1932) is a Dutch ballet dancer, choreographer and photographer. He studied under Sonia Gaskell and Françoise Adret. Van Manen wrote many ballets. He worked for the Dutch National Ballet from 1973 to ...

and Carmen de Lavallade. Robinson has also performed at the televised Kennedy Center Awards. Other televised appearances include performing at President Clinton's first inauguration,

American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...

advertisements, the

Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American retired comedian, actor, and media personality. Often cited as a trailblazer for African Americans in the entertainment industry, Cosby was a film, television, and stand-up comedy ...

Special on Alvin Ailey and on the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

special "A Hymn for Alvin Ailey". In 2003, she performed at the White House State Dinner in honor of the President of Kenya,

Mwai Kibaki Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki (15 November 1931 – 21 April 2022) was a Kenyan politician who served as the third President of Kenya from December 2002 until April 2013. He served in various leadership positions in Kenya's government including ...

. In 2008, while performing in the

East Room The East Room is an event and reception room in the Executive Residence of the White House complex, the home of the president of the United States. The East Room is the largest room in the Executive Residence; it is used for dances, receptions, p ...

of the White House during the first dance event hosted by

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama ( Robinson; born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, being married to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United Stat ...

, Robinson hit one of the

chandeliers A chandelier () is an ornamental lighting device, typically with spreading branched supports for multiple lights, designed to be hung from the ceiling. Chandeliers are often ornate, and they were originally designed to hold candles, but now in ...

while performing. In their 2006 season, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater celebrated Robinson's 25th year with the company; her tenure is the longest of any female dancer in the company's history. Upon her retirement (with her final performance with the company on December 9, 2012), she was the last company member to have worked with its founder, Alvin Ailey, as well as being the only dancer to have performed with all three of the company's artistic directors (inclusive of artistic director emerita Judith Jamison and Jamison's successor,

Robert Battle Robert Battle (born August 28, 1972) is a dancer, choreographer, and the former Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Early life and education Robert Battle was born on August 28, 1972 in Jacksonville, Florida. Originally fr ...

Select performance pieces

(Choreographer, Title) *Alvin Ailey, ''Blues Suite'' *Alvin Ailey, '' Revelations'' *Alvin Ailey, ''Maskela Langage'' *Alvin Ailey, ''Cry'' *Donald McKayle, ''Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder'' *Alvin Ailey, ''Night Creature'' *

George Faison George W. Faison (born December 21, 1945) is an American dancer, choreographer, teacher, and theater producer, and winner of a 1975 Tony, a Drama Desk Award, and a 1991 nominee for the Emmy Award for choreography. He was a featured dancer with ...

, ''Suite Otis'' *Ulysses Dove, ''Bad Blood'' *Ulysses Dove, ''Vespers'' *Ulysses Dove, ''Episodes'' *Judith Jamison, ''Forgotten Time'' *Billy Wilson, ''The Winter of Lisbon'' *Judith Jamison, ''Hymn'' *Ronald K. Brown, ''Grace'' *Carmen de Lavallade, ''Sweet Bitter Love''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Renee American dancers American female dancers Dance Theatre of Harlem dancers Living people New York University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)