Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Gets New Multimillion Dollar Building

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is getting a new $47.5 million building in Manhattan. Planned for Ninth Avenue and 55th Street, it would replace the 43-year-old company's cramped, rented quarters at 211 W. 61st Street. The new center's design would double the company's dance floor space to 71,000 square feet.

The company was founded in 1958 by Ailey, a Texas-born dancer who worked to promote the uniqueness of black culture and preserve modern American dance through choreography that fused modern, jazz and classical styles.