Helanius J. 威尔金斯

Helanius J. 威尔金斯, a native of Lafayette, 路易斯安那州, is an award-winning choreographer, performance artist, 创新者, and educator. 威尔金斯's creative research and projects are rooted in the interconnections of American contemporary performance, cultural history, and identities of Black men. In his intermedia collaborations he works with artists from a wide range of disciplines, including film, video, and design. 

威尔金斯 founded and artistically directed EDGEWORKS 跳舞 Theater, Washington, DC’s first all-male contemporary dance company of predominately African-American men, that existed for thirteen (13) years (2001 – 2014). 到目前为止, he has choreographed and directed over 60 works, which includes two critically-acclaimed musical productions for Washington, DC’s Studio Theater – “Passing Strange” (2010) and “POP!” (2011). In addition to performing the works of nationally recognized choreographers including Robert Moses, Joy Kellman, and Kevin Wynn, he performed with Maida Withers’ 跳舞 Construction Company (DC), and as a guest with the Liz Lerman 跳舞 Exchange (MD).    

His honors include the 2008 Pola Nirenska Award for Contemporary Achievement in 跳舞, DC’s highest honor given by the Washington Performing Arts Society; the 2002 and 2006 Millennium Stage Kennedy Center Local 跳舞 Commissioning Project Award; and multiple Metro DC 跳舞 Awards. Foundations and organizations including New England Foundation for the Arts (National 跳舞 Project), National Performance Network (NPN), the Boulder Office of Arts & Culture Public Arts Program, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts have supported his work.  

His choreography has been presented and performed at venues such as the Allen 剧院 in historic Playhouse Square (Cleveland, OH), The Painted Bride Arts Center (Philadelphia, PA), Jacob's Pillow 跳舞 Festival as part of Inside Out (Lee, MA), Thelma Hill Center for the Performing Arts (Brooklyn, NY), 跳舞 Place (Washington, DC), The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, DC), Links Hall (Chicago, IL), and The 跳舞 Factory (Johannesburg, South Africa).   

In 2020 he launched his most ambitious creative research to date. 题为 The Conversation Series: Stitching the Geopolitical Quilt to Re-Body Belonging, it is a multi-year, multi-outcome work that is an ongoing and always shifting dance-quilt that celebrates and confronts heritage, resiliency, justice and hope. A 7 – 10-year practice/process, this work requires traveling to all 50 U.S. 州/ D.C./5 inhabited territories to create a component of the work in and WITH community. The work will yield new choreographies, a documentary film, a digital archive, and a DEI&SJ (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Social Justice) toykit (a toolkit implies a need to fix, a toykit represents an invitation to co-create and participate in a process of uniting and healing). http://www.helaniusj.com/the-conversation-series 

He is a member of the National Board of Directors of the American College 跳舞 Association for the Northwest region and was appointed in 2018 by Governor Jared Polis to the Colorado Council on Creative Industries for a 4-year term. In addition to becoming a certified Colorado Change Leader in 2021, he serves on two boards for arts organizations.   

Photography credit: Photo courtesy of Christopher Michael Carruth ©2019.