Hope Boykin, the phenomenally charismatic dancer had her breakout stint with Joan Myers Brown’s PHILADANCO and 20 years with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre (AAADT), where she commanded the stage and captivated critics and audiences alike with her flawless fluidity and mesmerizing musicality. Boykin is now bringing her company, HopeBoykinDance, to The Joyce Theater. From October 17-22, this talented choreographer, director, and award-winning dancer, will launch the world premiere of “States of Hope,” a carefully crafted dance memoir that she says is a “fully-scripted, evening-length fusion of theater and dance.” The work is performed by eight dancer-actors, with Boykin as narrator, and brings this gifted artist’s unique movement-language to life with the help of a score by composer jazz percussionist Ali Jackson.
Boykin’s impressive resume also includes performances with Dwight Rhoden’s Complexions, choreographing for numerous companies, including PHILADANCO!, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, BalletX, ABT Studio Company, Philadelphia Ballet, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. She also created three works for the AAADT, choreographed and co-directed for off-Broadway and regional theater, and garnered much acclaim with her virtual work for Carolina Performing Arts, Guggenheim Works & Process Virtual Commissions initiative, and the National Black Theatre. In addition, she was the advisor for the Howard University Department of Dance for their 2021 spring semester.
Even COVID did not slow her down. While the world was on lockdown, Boykin won a grant from the Mellon Foundation for her own COVID-safe residency #BoykinBubble and in the fall of 2021 premiered a full evening of her choreography, “An Evening of Hope” at 92nd Street Y to much acclaim. In 2022, she brought Jacqueline Woodson’s children’s book The Other Side to the stage for the Kennedy Center’s Family Theater, and choreographed the Kennedy Center’s 50th Anniversary Celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s “MASS,” originally choreographed by Alvin Ailey himself. Today, Boykin is the Kennedy Center’s artistic advisor for dance education and artistic lead for the Kennedy Center Dance Lab. She’s also a 2022-23 Fellow of The Center for Ballet and the Arts and has released “Beauty Size & Color,” a short film commenting on what has changed in the first twenty years of the 21st century on PBS.org, which was nominated for a 2023 NY Emmy Award.
The October 2023 debut of “States of Hope” at the Joyce is clearly the latest artistic milestone in an impressive career. As a self-reflective memoir, it reveals Boykin’s willingness to share her lived experience, offering not only a window to her soul but prompting audiences to engage introspectively with the work themselves. Boykin says the dancers reflect seven states of Hope — the Determined, the Cynical, the Daughter of Job, the Angry, the Conformist, the Convinced, and the Word. As “Hope” it’s autobiographical, but as “hope” it’s universal. The characters’ names are symbolic and recognizable, for instance, “The Convinced,” she says, “is the preacher, a scripture slinger. I grew up in the church, where everything was ‘In Jesus’ name’ and ‘To God be the Glory,’ so he comes off really strong ‘cause he’s constantly correcting.”
“All of those states are slivers or parts of me, and each needs the others to survive,” Boykin says, highlighting the question at the heart of the work. “Since they all live inside me, how do we move forward?” she asks of these seemingly warring tendencies. Answering her own question, Boykin adds, “The only way for me to move forward is for each of those parts of me to trust each other.” Call it the portrait of the artist as a Black woman.
Boykin counts herself lucky to have learned from an amazing group of friends that includes AAADT Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison, former Ailey dancers Sarita Allen, Sylvia Waters, and former Associate Director Mary Barnett, and current Associate Director Matthew Rushing, among others. Then there are the lessons learned about the impact of movement and stillness from the iconic repertory she has performed. “The works that have influenced me have been dance-theater works, like Alvin Ailey’s ‘Revelations’ and ‘Masekela Language,’ (a work created during the international struggle against South Africa’s Apartheid regime),” she says. “I had two parts in “Masekela.” There was no speaking but there was stillness where you allowed the audience to see who you were.” She also mentions Ulysses Dove’s “Urban Folk Dance,” a riveting portrayal of embattled relationships. Boykin says performing works like those and other inspiring and invigorating experiences helped her find her own voice. “I tell people, ‘OK here comes Kyle (Abraham). Or, we’re going to Dwight (Rhoden) this or here comes the Ulysses (Dove), or we’re going to push up an Ailey.” Hers is the creative transparency of an artist comfortable in her skin who speaks her unique truth while also acknowledging those on whose shoulders she stands.
“My mother, a retired educator who was a principal in North Carolina once told me, ‘You know Ms. Jamison is making it and doing it so that you will have something to follow. You realize that you’re reading the book that they’re writing as they go along.’” That is a fact that is not lost on Hope Boykin as she prepares for the Joyce Theater debut of “States of Hope”
“All of those ingredients are inside of me,” says Boykin acknowledging the creative encounters embodied in her own distinctly different voice and vision that audiences will witness at the Joyce this month. Noting the collaborative nature of her creative process, Boykin says that list also includes the amazing dancer-actor-artists who will help bring “States of Hope” to life—Jessica Pinkett, Fana Minea Tesfagiorgis, Bahiyah Hibah Sayyed, Martina Viadana, Terri Ayanna Wright, Lauren Rothert, Davon Rashawn, Nina Gumbs, and Amina Lydia Vargas. Boykin says working with such talent involves maintaining a delicate balance that allows them the freedom to develop their characters. Now in the run-up to the Joyce performance, Boykin is engrossed in fine-tuning the production while managing pre-performance jitters and wondering how it will be received. Taking a breath, she pauses and says, “It’s already a success because I have the perfect group of artists around me.”