Choreographed in 1968 to the timeless songs of Laura Nyro, Quintet was thematically the first of its kind created by Alvin Ailey. As his biographer Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times wrote, “Quintet is in its way a small masterwork and one that differed significantly from other Ailey signature works before it."

"Like Reflections in D, the piece was an imaginative and sensitive reading of its score, and it offered yet more proof of Alvin's distinctive gift for blending serious choreography and themes with affectionate teasing of his characters. In the new piece, however, Alvin explored for the first time the private being behind a highly public face, a subject he would return to repeatedly.”  - Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times