Mr. Ailey's tribute to the life of Joyce Trisler, his memories and image of her.

Alvin Ailey wrote: "It's interesting how my personal relationships affect my creativity. It seems as though nearly all of my dances have some basis in an event or a feeling I've had that I can usually trace." In the tumultuous time of 1979 when Mr. Ailey's great, perennial friend from his Lester Horton days, the choreographer Joyce Trisler, died prematurely, he began choreographing Memoria. Later, he wrote "Memoria is about Joyce's life, my memories of her, my image of her. Although these are very abstract images, nobody has ever asked me what Memoria is about. People everywhere understand it. Making the dance was a very deep and wrenching experience for me." The ballet is structured in two parts- "In Memory" and "In Celebration"- to the sublime music of Keith Jarrett. Memoria marked the first time Mr. Ailey combined Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater with Ailey II, and advanced students from The Ailey School.

Funds for this production were provided, in part, by Ford Foundation.

The creation of this work was made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.