Jamison joined Alvin Ailey’s dance company in 1965 and performed there for 15 years, premiering solo Cry in 1971

Judith Jamison, an acclaimed dancer and choreographer who for two decades was artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, died on Saturday in New York, at the age of 81.

Her death came after a brief illness, according to a post on the company’s Instagram page.