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Denise Jefferson From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Denise Adele Jefferson was born on November 1, 1944 she was an American dance educator who served as the director of the Ailey School at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 1984 until her death.

Jefferson was born in Chicago and began studying ballet at eight years 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" having her believe she couldn't make it in the ballet industry. In college Jefferson majored in French language and earned her undergraduate degree at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts and went on to earn master's degree from New York University. From there, She was awarded a scholarship to attend the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance and began her professional dance career with Pearl Lang's Dance Theater.[1]

After her career as a dancer ended Denise was hired by the Ailey School of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1974. Jefferson was named as the school's director in 1984, and was personally selected by Alvin Ailey himself.[2] She held the position as director until her death in 2010, where she oversaw a school that grew to a student body of 3,500 dancers with 75 instructors, teaching styles including classical ballet, jazz dance and modern dance. Later on, Jefferson established and offered a joint degree program with Fordham University in which students could receive dance training and a traditional liberal arts course, earning them a bachelor of fine arts degree from Fordham upon completion.[1] 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.[3]

Death[edit | edit source] A resident of Manhattan, Denise Jefferson died there, at the age of 65, on July 17, 2010, from ovarian cancer. But her legacy lives on through her daughter, Francesca Harper, who is a singer, dancer and choreographer.[4] Francesca.fedkowskyj (talk) 22:37, 25 October 2016 (UTC)