Jamison is the former artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and muse of the company's namesake.

The Philadelphia native made her dance debut in New York in 1964 when she joined the American Ballet Theater. She decamped to Alvin Ailey's dance company a year later and soon became Ailey's favorite member of the troupe. He wrote his acclaimed 1971 work Cry specifically for Jamison, and the piece catapulted her to dance world stardom. Jamison spent much of the 1980s working on Broadway and as a choreographer for various companies but returned to Alvin Ailey in 1988 when Ailey fell ill, taking over as artistic director in 1990 following her mentor's death. She quickly became a notoriously demanding presence in the studio, ensuring the 30-member troupe of super-athletes churns out Ailey staples as well as newer works by choreographers like Ron K. Brown and Karole Armitage.

Jamison (it's pronounced JAM-ih-son) may be best known for an achievement almost no other artistic director of a dance company can claim: She's attracted both cash and celebs. The company landed a $1 million grant from Oprah in 2004 and Jamison has lured the likes of Derek Jeter, Andre Leon Talley, and Jesse Jackson to the company's annual galas at City Center. The best evidence of the company's fundraising success: the gleaming, 77,000-square-foot, $54 million Joan Weill Center for Dance on Ninth Ave where everyone from Bill T. Jones to Beyoncé has rehearsed. However, after over two decades with the company, she retired in 2011, taking on the title of Artistic Director Emerita (choreographer Robert Battle was named her successor). [Image via Getty]