Mari kajiwara alvin ailey dancer

In the s, Ohad Naharin’s career as a dancer in Israel was just taking off when he left for America to be with his wife.

Naharin was, at the time, one of Batsheva’s most promising dancers, doted on by Martha Graham, the iconic American choreographer who helped train many performers in the budding Israeli company.

Mari Kajiwara, an American modern dancer of stunning quality who mesmerized audiences as a leading member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Mari Kajiwara, 50, a leading modern dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Ohad Naharin Dance Company and the Batsheva Dance Company of Israel.

She served as Ailey's assistant and staged his works in the Royal Danish Ballet and La Scala.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was founded in by dancer, choreographer Mari Kajiwara in Alvin Ailey's Myth.

Born in New York City, Mari Kajiwara attended the high School of Performing Arts and City Collerge before joining Alvin Ailey Dance Theater in

But then he met Mari Kajiwara, an American dancer with the Alvin Ailey company.

“We met in Israel,” Naharin said in an interview from Israel, where he has lived since , the year he became director of the Batsheva Dance Company.

“She was with Alvin [as his assistant] when he came here to work with an Israeli company. When I met her, I moved back to New York to be with her.”

But in a way, when the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater premieres his piece “Minus 16” on Friday, he will be back in New York to be with Kajiwara again.

She died of cancer in , at the age of And all the performances of “Minus 16” are dedicated to her memory.

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