The book, Ailey Spirit: The Journey of an American Dance Company was published last month by Stewart, Tabori & Chang. It contains images by top photographers, a forward by jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, and text by dance historian and former dancer Robert Tracy, who is the author of Goddess: Martha Graham's Dancers Remember and coauthor of Balanchine's Ballerinas: Conversations with the Muses and Spaces of the Mind: Isamu Noguchi's Dance Designs.

Tracy's text draws on unpublished interviews with more than 50 people associated with the company's 45-year history.

The publication date was arranged to coincide with the opening of the company's new building on W 55th Street. The Joan Weill Center for Dance, which will house the company's school, rehearsal studios, and administration, cost $54 million, funded by an enormously successful $79 million capital and endowment campaign.