Alvin Ailey dancer forced to perform for Israeli police to prove identity

A performer with the Alvin Ailey dance company was forced to perform dance steps for Israeli police to prove his identity, according to published reports in the international media.

Abdur-Rahim Jackson is traveling with the Alvin Ailey troupe in Israel, which arrived in Israel on Sunday, but he was singled out from other members of the group because of his Muslim name.

When Jackson identified himself as a member of the dance group, security officials at Ben-Gurion International Airport ordered him to dance to prove his talent.

The group is in Israel as a part of a six-country tour, according to the Associated Press.

"They repeatedly asked me what my father's name is, what my mother's name is and why they gave me this name," he told the Israeli daily newspaper, Yediot Ahronot.

Jackson said he demonstrated a few dance steps and endured another round of questioning before they let him go and join the rest of the group.

"Once, when I returned to the United States after a vacation in the Dominican Republic, the security people put me through a similar investigation and they also asked me to dance," Jackson told the Israeli paper. "Maybe I should get used to dancing at airports," he said.

Jackson's fiancée, fellow Alvin Ailey dancer Olivia Bowman, has a Jewish mother with family in Israel, according to AP.

Jackson is a graduate of Franklin Learning Center High School and received his BFA from The Juilliard School. He received scholarships from Freedom Theatre, Philadanco, Dance Theatre of Harlem School, Boston Ballet and The Ailey School. He was featured in the PBS "American Masters" documentary Juilliard and joined the Alvin Ailey Dance Company in 2001.