Alvin Ailey Dancer Jermaine Terry Does Double-Duty

Fans of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater will likely recognize Jermaine Terry when the company makes its annual visit (sponsored by the Celebrity Series of Boston) to the Wang Theater this week. The lean, handsome dancer has made a name for himself in such pieces as "The External Knot" and "Revelations"; but what most in the audience do not know is that Terry has a second career in costume design.

When the publication Where profiled Terry in a piece on dancers with second careers, they caught Terry backstage before a performance crouching over a piece of fabric needle and thread in hand.

"I discovered costume design in college," Terry told a reporter from Dance Spirit in 2012. "I had choreographed my senior piece and my roommate suggested I buy slips and add to them for costumes. So that's what I did. I started to do it professionally later by accident."

He has, over the years, started the process of turning his hobby into a career, one that he will be able to segue into when he decides the rigor of dancing becomes too much for his body to handle.

According to the company's bio, Terry began his dancing in Washington D.C. before graduating cum laude with a B.F.A. in dance performance from the University of South Florida, where he received scholarships for excellence in performance and choreography.

He was a scholarship student at The Ailey School and a member of Ailey II. Amongst the companies he's performed with are Buglisi Dance Theatre, ArchDance, Dance Iquail, and Philadanco. In 2013, he revived the Distinguished AlumnusAward from USF for outstanding service to the arts. He joined the Ailey company in 2010.

EDGE caught up to Terry for a quick Q&A.

Becoming a dancer

EDGE: How did becoming a dancer happen for you?

Jermaine Terry: When I was about five years old, my mother took me to a performance of the Dance Theater of Harlem. I remember seeing a Balanchine work, as well as Stravinsky's 'Firebird.' Later that year, I looked up ballet in the encyclopedia and saw a picture of the Cavalier from 'The Nutcracker.' I told my mother that's what I wanted to be when I grew up, and that I wanted to study ballet. She told me 'no,' and that dancing was 'only something that girls did.'

In middle school, I participated in after-school programs which consisted of students making up hip-hop dances to perform at basketball games and talent shows. My mother was fine with this type of dancing. A dance teacher named Valerie Raskin, came to a talent show and offered me free classes at her studio. I went home and told my mother and she once again told me 'no.'

During my last year of middle school, my future high school's color guard, who perform with the marching band, came to recruit people. I remember them spinning flags and rifles while dancing. They were having auditions in a few weeks, and I decided I was going to go and tell my mom I was going to an after-school hip-hop dance program audition. I didn't anticipate my mother coming in with me to the audition, and when they went to hand me a flag my mother said 'ohhh no!' and took me out of there before I had a chance to audition.

I had been in band for four years playing the saxophone and clarinet, so I joined the marching band. On my breaks, I would go over to the color guard and mess around with their equipment. The color guard instructor told me I should join winter guard, which is color guard without the marching band and is performed on a basketball court. My mother let me do it but when she found my costume, which had puffy sleeves, she threatened to kick me out of the house if I didn't quit. I told her that was fine, and I could live with my best friend. I guess she realized that I loved doing it and it wasn't worth losing her son over, so she just altered the sleeves of the costume.

I eventually got really good at it and I became captain. Some of the girls on guard took ballet and jazz at a local studio and said I should come and take classes. I went to my mom and asked her my junior year of high school if I could take dance classes, and surprisingly she said 'yes,' but I would have to wait until next year, because she didn't have the money. So the following year I started taking dance classes.

Befriending his bullies

EDGE: When you were young, did you ever experience bullying?

Jermaine Terry: I was made fun of when I got to high school because I was short, in band, and my backpack was always filled with books. I basically looked like a ninja turtle walking around. I didn't hit puberty until around my senior year of high school so I was an easy target when I came in as freshman. I took advanced classes and college courses when I was in high school, so my backpack was filled with big textbooks. The 'cool' kids walked around with an empty backpack and skipped classes. I guess their current reputation was more important than their future, which I thought was silly. I helped some of my classmates with schoolwork, and they ended up being family members of the bullies. Both the family members of the bullies and my brother -- who was on the football team -- stood up for me and told them to leave me alone, so it pretty much stopped after that.

EDGE: How did you become a member of the Ailey company?

Jermaine Terry: While I was in college I did two summer intensives at The Ailey School, where I was noticed by Troy Powell, who was the Associate Artistic Director of Ailey II at the time, and is now the Artistic Director. When I graduated college, I moved to NYC knowing that in a year, five out of the six guys were leaving Ailey II. I studied at The Ailey school for a year, and was then hand-picked by then Artistic Director Sylvia Waters to be in Ailey II. When I finished my two years with Ailey II, I freelanced with some companies, and then went to Philadelphia to dance with Philadanco. I truly developed my love for performance in those years. Until then, I loved the studio process of getting to the stage more than actually being on stage. While in Philly, I told Joan Myers Brown, the Artistic Director and Founder of Philadanco, that I missed New York and wanted to audition for Ailey. She gave me her blessing, and I went to the audition. It was my fifth time (I'd auditioned from the time I was a junior college through my time in Ailey II), and the last time. I fell on the floor during the audition, but I got up and kept going. Now I can say that I was the last dancer hired by Ms. Judith Jamison!

His dancewear

EDGE: Is it difficult balancing your personal life with your professional one?

Jermaine Terry: The company is in New York City for about 3 � months out of the year, and tours the rest of time. I often miss family birthdays and holidays (like Christmas). When I do have time off, I try and see as many of my friends in NYC as I can, and I also take trips home. While on tour I do everything that I would do at home, like shopping, dining out, and visiting museums with my friends in the company.

EDGE: What do you love most about being a member of the Ailey family?

Jermaine Terry: I love the relationships that I have built here. I have been dancing with some of the same people since we were all in The Ailey School over 12 years ago. We are constantly inspired and pushed by one another.

EDGE: How did costume design happen for you?

Jermaine Terry: Costume design just kind of fell into my lap. I started making my own dancewear because I was too frugal to buy dance clothes. I could go to the garment district, get $10 fabric, and make a new dance outfit. I no longer had to spend upwards of $40 for tights or a unitard. While I was in Ailey II, I had on a pair of pants that I'd made. The choreographer we were working with at the time asked if I could make some jazz pants for the piece he was choreographing on The Ailey School. I said yes, and people have been asking me to create pieces for them ever since.

EDGE: What is the dance clothing line you are developing?

Jermaine Terry: I started to brainstorm a dancewear line, but it ended up being pushed to the backburner when some of my friends started asking me to make them one-of-a-kind outfits. Ailey has two New York galas a year, so I started making evening dresses and alternative things for men to wear that would live up to being 'black tie.' Two of my closest friends have asked me to design their wedding dresses, and I have. Right now, I love creating evening wear, but who knows. I may revisit the dancewear line.

EDGE: Do you pay attention to reviews?

Jermaine Terry: The only time I pay attention to reviews is when I hear them being read in the dressing room during our City Center season.

The Alvin Ailey Dance Theater performs from April 27 - 30 at the Boch Center Wang Theatre, 270 Tremont Street, Boston MA. For more details, For the additional dates on the current Alvin Ailey Dance Theater 2017 tour, visit the company's website.