Conversations with Helanius J. Wilkins

Today we’d like to introduce you to Helanius J. Wilkins.

Hi Helanius, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Where do I begin? That’s the question! When I think about walking through my story it feels kind of like traveling down a never-ending curvy, bumpy road with twists, turns, and detours when least expected. At the same time, I am traveling anchored in hope, a desire to make this world a better place for others, curiosity, and focused on every step being intentional.

During my younger years in Lafayette, Louisiana, where I was born and raised, I was a shy kid who was afraid of people– and to speak. Early on, I found a deep connection to movement and to a calling to be an artist– a choreographer, although it would be years before that would be publicly shared. That calling was in part more fully embraced while watching a PBS Special on the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre— one where Mr. Ailey introduced himself as a choreographer and I saw his signature work Revelations for the first time.

Although dance training was not the focal point during my adolescent years, I found my way to movement through being highly active and being engaged in varied sports, particularly track and field. I also practiced martial arts for a couple of years. All my experiences in sports influenced a lot of the work I made once I began making choreographies. My use of time, weight, space, and shape had everything to do with the ways I had been using my body and coming to know it through sports. Going to Rochester Institute of Technology, where I studied film and video production, then SUNY Brockport, where I studied dance choreography and performance, gave me new experiences and opportunities to gain more knowledge and skills as well as refine others.

Later into my professional career, I returned to the academic setting to go to George Washington University where I received an M.F.A. in Dance. I lived in Washington, D.C. for 18 years where I founded and was the Artistic Director for EDGEWORKS Dance Theater –an all-male dance company predominately of Black men for 13 years (2001-2014), then I relocated to Colorado in 2016 following a couple of temporary visits to do creative and teaching residencies at CU Boulder.

The temporary visits in 2012 and 2015 were inspiring and opened new possibilities for me to take into consideration, particularly at a time when it was not on my radar and seemed like a foreign thing to move out of/away from a large, urban east-coast area. Currently, I am the Associate Chair and an Assistant Professor of Dance at CU Boulder.

My story is one of dreaming– dreaming BIG— and actively doing. It is also one that reflects being a student for life. For as far back as I can remember, I have visions of myself being curious, being led by my curiosity. And, because I speak in threes, I am generally willing to trust a try. These are the base ingredients for how I got to where I am today.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Most definitely it has not been an easy road. There is a saying about the things worth having are the result of hard work. My journey in many ways is a testament to lots of hard work, falling, failing, and getting back up again, patience, endurance, and resilience. I have seen some dark days— days where basic living essentials often taken for granted were not necessarily in reach, and fears that my life’s work (in one case, my former company EDGEWORKS Dance Theater) would all but crash and burn.

Had I not been able to stand in my uncertainty, holding on to some ounce of hope and confidence, I might not be here now. That said I embrace those experiences as rich opportunities that afforded me growth, clarity, wisdom, courage, bravery, and strength. They also increased my capacity to love and do so unconditionally. I live and create always with a deep sense of care for myself, others, and the world around me.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a choreographer, performer, producer, director, curator, educator, and activist. That said, often labels are challenging for me because I wear many hats and tend to lean away from being defined in any one way. In my work, I use dance and performance as vehicles to shed light on untold stories, share personal truths, and show how our embodied narratives can bring us closer together.

Rooted in the interconnections of American contemporary performance, cultural history, and identities of Black men, I am intrigued by ideas about indeterminacy. Therefore, my approach to performance-making is to re-frame perspectives and creative practices and link the arts with social justice, blurring the lines between performer and audience. Among the things, I am known for and most proud of is EDGEWORKS Dance Theater. The company, which existed for 13 years (2001-2014), is an all-male contemporary dance company predominately of Black men, and the first company of this kind in Washington, DC.

We traveled regionally, nationally, and internationally, including to Switzerland, Scotland, Monaco, and Lithuania. I disbanded the company to pursue work that departed from the company’s mission. I am also known for doing work that is intermedia (work that fuses dance and technology), multimedia-based, immersive, and that reconnects us to the importance of embracing, honoring, and celebrating difference. From another perspective and closer to my heart, I am most proud of every single moment and each day that I am simply able to inspire someone else, contribute to creating a path that can make someone else’s life better, and be compassionate and empathetic.

Now 27 years into my career, I am currently working on my most ambitious project to date, The Conversation Series: Stitching the Geopolitical Quilt to Re-Body Belonging. Launched in part by receiving a $50K Research & Innovation Seed Grant from CU Boulder and an $18K National Performance Network (NPN) Spring 21 Creation Fund award, this project will feature new choreographies, a documentary film, and a digital archive of the process and performance. The project will bring together artists, humanitarians, social justice activists, JEDAI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Accessibility, Inclusion) consultants, and, most central, members of diverse, intergenerational communities across the nation. The work centers on an interracial, male duet (dancer Avery Ryder Turner and myself) that preferences the value of bodies coexisting- sharing weight and responsibility, dancing to become better ancestors.

As we travel to make and share this work, we will stitch together a dance quilt to broaden our understandings of what it means to be American and sew ourselves together anew. The Conversation Series: Stitching the Geopolitical Quilt to Re-Body Belonging is an ongoing and always shifting dance-quilt, confronting and celebrating heritage, resiliency, justice, and hope that will require that I travel to all 50 U.S. states, D.C., and five inhabited territories to create a section of the work. Remarkably close to my heart, the project demands that I bring together all my knowledge and experiences acquired over the years to manifest the change I aspire to see in the world.

Recalling the closing line of a blog post I recently wrote; it feels powerful to be an artist– a choreographer– navigating a country that is stacked against me. The cherry on top is that I am spending my life actioning the change that I want to see.

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Ahhhhh… memories! It is funny how the sharing of my story included a childhood memory. I have so many favorite childhood memories. Among them are vivid memories of time spent with my grandparents, playing board games with my parents and two siblings (as well as taking the games apart and making up our own games), and learning how to bake amazing desserts from my Grandma Eva.

To this day, baking is a spiritual thing for me that is typically an all-day process and one that I enjoy doing alone because I know I am not alone. It is my time with my Grandma Eva because I believe she is watching and cheering me on from up above. A tear just rolled down my face thinking of her. A tear of joy and feeling loved.

Contact Info:

• Email: info@helaniusj.com
• Website: https://www.helaniusj.com/
• Instagram: @helaniusjwilkins
• Facebook: @helaniusjwilkins
• Twitter: @helaniusj
• Other: https://www.helaniusj.com/blog

Image Credits:
Christopher Michael Carruth, Carlos D. Flores, Mark Hoelscher, and Charles H. Black