Dancer, choreographer, and beloved longtime artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Judith Jamison passed away November 9 "after a brief illness," The New York Times reports. She was 81.

Ms. Jamison was born May 10, 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Tessie Brown Jamison and John Jamison, Sr. She began taking ballet lessons at the Judimar School of Dance at age six. After graduating from Germantown High School, Ms. Jamison enrolled at Fisk University. She eventually left Fisk to study dance and kinesiology at the Philadelphia Dance Academy.

Alvin Ailey invited Ms. Jamison to join the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1965. She performed as an Ailey dancer for 15 years, with celebrated performances in works including Cry, Blues Suite, Revelations, and more. Ailey wrote Cry specifically for Ms. Jamison. She also appeared as a guest performer with the San Francisco Ballet, the Swedish Royal Ballet, the Cullberg Ballet, and the Vienna State Ballet.

In 1979, Ms. Jamison made her Broadway debut as "Le Spectre de la Rose" Dancer in Béjart: Ballet of the Twentieth Century. In 1981, she appeared in the Duke Ellington musical revue Sophisticated Ladies, which also starred Gregory Hines.

Ms. Jamison began working as a choreographer in 1980. Her first ballet, Divining, premiered in 1984 with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, with numerous other works to follow, including Forgotten Time, Rift, and more. In 1988, wanting to oversee her own group of dancers, Ms. Jamison founded The Jamison Project Dance Company. The company's performances included Ms. Jamison's last solo of her performing career. Then, in 1989, Ms. Jamison took over as artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater upon Ailey's death. In 1993, she choreographed Hymn, a tribute to Ailey.

While serving as artistic director, Ms. Jamison led the theatre to numerous achievements, including the establishment of its permanent home, the Joan Weill Center for Dance in Manhattan's West 55th Street; a 50th anniversary world tour to 50 cities; a partnership with Fordham University to offer a joint Bachelor of Fine Arts program; and more.

Ms. Jamison began serving as artistic director emeritus in 2011, personally selecting Robert Battle to succeed her as artistic director.

Throughout her career, Ms. Jamison received numerous accolades, including an Emmy Award, an American Choreography Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, a National Medal of Arts, a Bessie Award, the Phoenix Award, and the Handel Medallion. In 2010, she was honored by former First Lady Michelle Obama at the first White House Dance Series event. In 2015, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Dance. Her memoir, Dancing Spirit, edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, was published in 1993.

According to the Times, Ms. Jamison has no immediate surviving family members.