Francesca Harper

Francesca Harper is Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey II Company. She began her professional dance career with Dance Theater of Harlem and subsequently was a member of William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt. In Europe, she performed with designers Issey Miyake and Gianni Versace at their fashion shows and in the film Dancing Pleats, a 30-year retrospective of Miyake’s design work in Japan. Her choreography debut, Dark Violet Light Stone, was commissioned by The Holland Dance Festival. Harper has performed in Broadway productions including Fosse, All Shook Up, and The Color Purple, and starred as Helene opposite Molly Ringwald in a national tour of Sweet Charity (2007). She served as ballet consultant for Darren Aronofsky’s film Black Swan (2010) starring Natalie Portman, who won an Academy Award for her performance. Harper has choreographed works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Dance Theater of Harlem, Hubbard Street II, Tanz Graz, and many more companies, including her own Francesca Harper Project, which she founded in 2005, and FHP Collective, founded in 2021.