Sad News from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Can everyone please just stop retiring? This spring alone, we’ve seen the company departures of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Carla Körbes and American Ballet Theatre’s Paloma Herrera and Xiomara Reyes. On Saturday night, Julie Kent will also take her final bow with ABT.

And now comes the news that not one, not two, but three Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater stars will leave the company after this season? I can’t. #Allofthefeels.

Back in April, it was announced that husbands Kirven and Antonio Douthit-Boyd would be heading to St. Louis, MO, to direct the Center of Creative Arts, where Antonio trained growing up. They’ll take their last bows with AAADT this July in Paris.

These two, amirite? (From left: Antonio and Kirven Douthit-Boyd; photo by Andrew Eccles, courtesy AAADT)

And we just heard that on Sunday night, the goddess that is Alicia Graf Mack will say farewell to AAADT, too, dancing in Alvin Ailey’s Revelations at NYC’s Lincoln Center.

We’ll miss those legs. And feet. And everything. (Photo by Richard Calmes, courtesy AAADT)

I know what you’re thinking: How can Graf Mack be retiring right now?? Especially since she just returned from a leave of absence, which she took to recover from an injury and give birth to her adorable son. But there’s a silver lining here: Like the Douthit-Boyds, Graf Mack isn’t truly leaving the dance world behind. In addition to leading one-day intensives with her sister Diasha and the D(n)A Arts Collective, she’s joining the faculties of both Webster University and Washington University in St. Louis.

We’ll miss you Antonio, Kirven and Alicia!

Please don’t ever leave us (again), Jamar! (From left: Antonio Douthit-Boyd, Alicia Graf Mack, Jamar Roberts, and Kirven Douthit-Boyd; photo by Andrew Eccles, courtesy AAADT)