In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with Boulder, CO-based choreographer, performance artist and innovator, Helanius J. Wilkins, whose creative research and projects are rooted in the interconnections of American contemporary performance, cultural history, and identities of Black men. Wilkins founded and artistically directed EDGEWORKS Dance Theater, Washington, DC’s first all-male contemporary dance company of predominately African-American men, that existed for thirteen years (2001 – 2014). To date, he has choreographed and directed over 60 works. Helanius is currently an Associate Professor and the Director of Dance at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
In this episode, NCCAkron's Executive/Artistic Director, Christy Bolingbroke enters the 'studio' with Boulder, CO-based choreographer, performance artist and innovator, Helanius J. Wilkins, whose creative research and projects are rooted in the interconnections of American contemporary performance, cultural history, and identities of Black men. Wilkins founded and artistically directed EDGEWORKS Dance Theater, Washington, DC’s first all-male contemporary dance company of predominately African-American men, that existed for thirteen years (2001 – 2014). To date, he has choreographed and directed over 60 works. Helanius is currently an Associate Professor and the Director of Dance at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: All right. Hello everyone. Thank you so much for joining us for today's episode of Inside The Dancer’s Studio. My name is Christy Bolingbroke. I'm the Executive/Artistic Director for the National Center for Choreography here at the University of Akron. And our Inside The Dancer’s Studio Interview series is an opportunity to talk to choreographers and today's working artists, about how they approach the creative process. how they navigate a career creatively. And I'm really excited to welcome as part of our “21st Century Dance Practices” teaching series Helanius J. Wilkins. Hello, Helanius!
HELANIUS J. WILKINS: Hello, and thank you so much for having me.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE: Yay! This is something that we get to explore with every artist that's coming through. And we realize there's no two ways of the same way of doing this work. Just like there isn't just one or two ways of making dances (Wilkins: “So True”) Oh, my goodness. So I'm really excited to hear from you, how did you know you wanted to be a choreographer? (Wilkins: “Oh”) Is that a choice? Is it a calling?
HELANIUS J. WILKINS: Yeah. The first question, the hard question. I love it. So I'm one of those people who believe that it's a calling, and I feel I was called to do it. But I had this anchor, if you will, that validated that calling for me. And that is Alvin Ailey in a PBS Special, focus on the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. (Bolingbroke: “Yes”) And it's the one where Mr. Ailey sort of sits like this in a diagonal, cameras there, and he goes, :Hi. I'm Alvin Ailey, and I'm a choreographer.” And I was like, “that's me.” So ever since then, that sort of like solidified what was churning inside of me. But yeah, there's this path of knowing that I moved, and I express myself through moving. There was this additional thing of being a very shy kid. And it took me a long time to speak. And I still feel shy, even in my adult life (Bolingbroke: “Nooo, unbelievable!”). But it's not as severe. Literally, a door would move, and I would run and hide underneath a table or behind a sofa or go and hug my grandmother's leg, like I was terrified. And then the thought of having to talk was just like, not going to happen. So I think, coming to the body and realizing that it was a vessel full of expression was also part of that landing space.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE:Dance it out (Wilkins: “Yep, which I am still doing”) Yesss, Absolutely. So where, where do you start? Is it inspiration striking down from upon high somewhere? Or is it something more internal? How do you begin?
HELANIUS J. WILKINS: Yeah, another amazing question. I don't think there's any one way to begin. I think for me, in particular, there are numerous ways to begin because I'm sparked by different things. But there is something that I'm relating to, and that's a way in which I see the world, and the way in which I see others, and the way in which I see myself in relation to, to all of that. So the spark often comes from observations or experiences that have, I've had are things I've witnessed others experience. A lot of my work lands in this place of art and social justice. So I'm anchored and wanting to do work that leads to making the world a better place. And making me or helping me to figure out how to be of service in that way.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE:The, we've had the opportunity this week while you're here to go on some historical walks, sort of understanding the history, indigenous roots of the area, speaking with members of the community. And it's interesting to hear you talk about the way that you see the world because if there was a word I could reflect based on that walking practice with you, is a sense of mindfulness in noticing, in both curiosity and noting things, not looking for answers, but just clocking so much, the onslaught of information that is available if you choose to pay attention to it (Wilkins: “Yeah”) So I love that. There's another piece that I think is sort of inherent in dance making, which is music or sound score. And some of our earliest memories of moving is “I love this dance. I love this number. I have to dance.” (Wilkins: “Yeah”) How would you characterize your choreographic relationship to sound?
HELANIUS J. WILKINS: Hmm, well, I will say as a base, listening is everything, right? So everything you just described, it just automatically brought listening to the forefront. Like the decentralization is about how can I lean in by being a listener? Not how can I lean in by advocating or talking or speaking or, you know, taking center stage? It's how can I lean in and just listen. And when I think about sonic lounge, landscapes. Choreographically, I'm definitely thinking about architectural environments, I’m thinking about geographical environments, I’m thinking about typography, I’m thinking about all the things, what are the landscapes in which we inhabit, and how can I bring those to life through my work. And so yes, there's something about composed music that has can have a rhythm and then can have a groove. And all of that feels good and wonderful, and it transports me to certain places, as I'm doing my shimmy right now. But then there are other things about like, what does it mean to just connect with the earth, connect with the ground, connect with the sound of other humans? And not that I need to understand what's being shared or communicated, and not that it's mine to embrace and be listening to, but that it's part of the fabric that's around me, and how can I create those worlds.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE:That, one of the common concerns from some of our student choreographers is, in the very unsexy question of like, how do I navigate music permission? (Wilkins: “Yesss”) because what they have available to them is popular music. Yeah. And I appreciate as you're talking about grounded-ness, and for some people listening, this could come across very esoteric and serious (Wilkins: “Yeah, yes, yes, yes”) But I also know just from reading your writing that you'll reference Beyonce, or a Prince song (Wilkins: “Absolutely, absolutely”) Joy is repetition (Wilkins: “Yesssss”) So I just want to also include there's that balance (Wilkins: “Yeah, yeah yeah”) you, to be an artist, you don't have to just focus down on whatever serious art making is supposed to look like in those tropes.
HELANIUS J. WILKINS: Well also, art is not limited to that, right? So all the Beyonce and Prince, and I'm a major diehard Prince fan, so like Prince is quoted in everything (Bolingbroke: “Yes”). But it's, that is art. The world is art. And so yes, we, we place things into labels, commercial versus avant garde versus whatever else is in between and all around. And perhaps that creates some, some thinking that if we're not in one lane, we're not making art, when in fact, the art is happening in all the lanes (Bolingbroke: “Yes”) And I feel like there's something about embracing all the lanes and knowing how they're in conversation with each other. So to that extent, I'm inspired by contemporary music as well. I've did my share of choreography to contemporary music, and to your thing that you brought up around, rights, that is tricky, right? So navigating that how do you get permission to use those songs, and in some cases, I've had support, or through institutions that have afforded me to be able to get the rights I need. And in some cases, it took me writing a letter to the publicist, or to the manager, and to the artists and seeing if we could get a response and, and doing my homework to see if there's like a clearing house where you can put in a request and pay the fee, or whatever it is. So, there are lots of ways to navigate having that kind of access. I will say for me more and more in my journey, I tend to collaborate with composers and create original scores. So like it jumps. Yeah that bridge of having to seek out rights because I'm working with someone, and real time who has given permission, but also contributing to the world.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE:So how did you interpret the invitation to teach as part of “21st Century Dance Practices”? You know, I feel like we've been laying some of that groundwork and what we've talked about so far, but want to invite you to define it on your own terms at this point.
HELANIUS J. WILKINS: Yeah. Thank you so much for that question. I have this saying that I can always say. That is, I can always tell you what it's not. I can't always tell you what it is.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE:That is also a helpful practice: It's not this. Can’t find words for these other things, Yes.
HELANIUS J. WILKINS: It’s not this, it’s not this. So I knew that this invitation felt different from other invitations I've received to do residencies and to be a part of a teaching series. I knew that I was coming into space that was a laboratory where I can place my research and conversation with the teaching which is what I do in general, but sometimes that that taken apart in some environments, because it's really about the master class. And so I felt like I was continuing to talk in language around the ways in which I'm doing my research. There is something about uplifting, or creating a cohort of voices who are in conversation with each other, and maybe not necessarily in the way in which we are right now. But by existing in this time, and making in this time that we are in conversation with each other our works or are in conversation with each other. So I knew that I was coming into something that was holding other notions around making, other notions about what does it mean to practice, other notions about what it means to be an artist, and that I was coming into that conversation.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE:I, I love that idea. As a curator, I often will think that if I could totally usurp the challenges of time (Wilkins: “Yeah”) that I could have all of these artists in one room together, like a museum exhibit. And then you know, I'm not talking about paying dancers or dance pieces on a wall, but how can they be in conversation with each other? If they can occupy that kind of space? (Wilkins: “Yeah”) And we work with the TA faculty to co-curate this together. And then there's the surprises: we're we're coming to the end of this particular spring, and I'm talking with some of the students beforehand, what became an ongoing practice and theme that we didn't foresee was how each of you have used improvisation (Wilkins: “Yeah”), a little bit differently, without calling it this is a series on improvisation. But it's like, oh, that that's a continuing thread that they're picking up certainly (Wilkins: “Yeah”) and carrying as they move forward. So yes, you really, it spoke to me this idea of living in a room together.
HELANIUS J. WILKINS: Awesome. And it's interesting to hear you talk about improvisation in that way. Because, again, thinking about the series, the 21st century, what does it mean to be a 21st century artist? And what does it mean , you know, all the trend words, innovation, you know like, sometimes, yep, I want to go like, all the buzz words, you know, but like, what does all of that mean? And I think, with us not thinking about any of those things, or putting those things as our charge to make the work, what perhaps we're ultimately doing in the room is creating a space where we can let our bodies be a vessel of information, and let them show up. And so what's going to show up is the ways in which we've, the trainings we've experienced, but also our curiosities, and those things are going to color and link things together in different ways. And so it can be very easy to move through a class session with me that feels like classic in some way, then to move into another space, it feels like it's not that but I you can see the sprinkles of what's been my training, and then in other situations, you might not get any of that at all. But it's all part of this vessel that's holding.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE:The, I'm thinking about the listening, I'm thinking about what will reveal itself. But then I'm also thinking about the very real world deadlines. And and (Wilkins: “There are many”) and so I'm curious for you as an artist, how do you deal for, with a rut, for lack of a better (Wilkins: “Yeah”), with like, I need to I've got a deadline, a deliverable I, a curtain up, and nothing's coming. And yet, you have to be patient. Patience is such a part of your process. Do you have any tools or practices to sort of circumvent that?
HELANIUS J. WILKINS: Great question. So many great questions (Bolingbroke: “Should we make some up now?”) Right? You know its, I love this question, because I feel like I can and I cannot answer it all at the same time. And I, it's a question that sort of conjure my, what I call my former self, and my present self as an artist, because my former self made work differently. And I created a different kind of container. And that container was pressured by deadlines. And it was also pressured by expectations I imposed on myself to be like, “This is what a piece looks like.: And I think in my my present self, my present self, moving into the future, I've reoriented myself to the clock and I feel that the moments that become the public moments are peaks in the process. That everything is in process, and everything is a ritual part of the ritual. And so what I reveal in that moment is what it's meant to be in that moment. And I think there's something brave and courageous about that. And I know, you know, I'm no saint in that, like, sometimes I'm crying and fearful, and all the things when I'm doing that, but I'd rather walk in the shoes of that, because it's keeping me moving forward to continue to understand what the work can be. Now, there might be some different things that come into play if the rut is “I don't, I really don't have anything put together and I really don't have the sound, I really” So like those things, then I work with a team of collaborators. And there's a way in which we can work to support each other to move forward. Like there's something about collective teamwork. That really keeps me, it keeps the process moving forward and keeps me working through those ruts. Because what will happen, they might see something are illuminated discovery they made in the area of expertise in which in which, in which they are collaborating with me, that inspires me to like, “Oh, I'm gonna go in that direction.” You know, so this exchange,
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE:Yeah, so this idea of the the single choreographer/artist who has all the answers and questions and directions. (Wilkins: “Yeah”) It sounds like no, you surround yourself with the team that, you know, if you're not feeling right, you can say, tell me more about what you're doing.
HELANIUS J. WILKINS: Exactly, exactly. And there's a in that, I feel like there's a way in which we complete each other’s sentences, that we're not individually doing the creation of, or manifesting the thing, but we're really collectively manifesting the thing, and it requires all of our voices dialoguing together to write the paragraph.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE:Cool. Yeah. So two more questions. Yeah. For any of our students who aspire to be dancers and collaborators, I'mI ’m curious, what do you look for in a collaborating artist or in a dancer, anyone who's going to join you for a project? (Wilkins: “Hmm”) And this could be (Wilkins: “Yeah”) training or philosophy?
HELANIUS J. WILKINS: I, So my three things, because I talk in threes to keep myself grounded. I would say risk takers. Because I am interested in the intersection of past, present, and future and how do we move with the information in our experiences into a space that can create a different kind of space. You heard me speak a little bit this week about, in relationship to my current work, The Conversation Series: Stitching The Geopolitical Quilt To Re-Body Belonging, that an aspect of that is dancing to become a better ancestor. So like, in that nature, I'm really just not even about the jest (unclear word), but I'm really working to figure out how to make things better. Whether I will be afforded an opportunity to see that or not. So that risk taker spirit. Secondly, understated virtuosity.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE:Ooh, tell us more.
HELANIUS J. WILKINS: I feel that I'm more interested in how someone can use the skills they've acquired to communicate, rather than use the skills to demonstrate that they can do them (Wilkins: “Oh, yes”) And so yes, there is a level there is a bar, but that bar is in service to engaging. And then the third thing I would offer up this probably experience, right, because I think we are all canvases with rich stories, some known, some not known, but can we show up into spaces, and create a space where those stories can be shared, and where those could be sparks to illuminate the artistic practice.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE:Speaking of experience (Wilkins: “Yeah”) Our last question is to invite you to either pass on a meaningful piece of advice that you received at some point in your career, or to offer up a piece of advice to future dancers and artists and makers, in your own words (Wilkins: “Hmmm”), or both.
HELANIUS J. WILKINS: Susanna Newman is a rock in my life. Love her dearly. She is, well at the time I met her she was the Chair of the dance program at SUNY Brockport which is where I went to undergrad. And also my first, not my first but like second-third major instructor in my career, but I feel like she was my first real advisor mentor and she has been for the duration of my life and continues to be. I'm always calling her. But one of her gems that I still have on my refrigerator is to not believe what others say about my work, whether it's good or bad. And to read between the lines, and in so many ways, what she was saying to me, or what she is saying to me is that if there's something that's piquing my curiosity that's been shared, the question is in me. And I, and I, maybe that's the thing that keeps me going. And if that question is not in me, maybe it's not meeting me at this moment. It's not that it's not relevant, but it's maybe just not meeting me in this moment. So that it's okay to let information pass on sort of through one ear and out the other, and it might circle back around. And so how, it doesn't mean about anything about disregarding. It's just when are you in the cycle with what's being offered to you? So I would say that because I, I, the field is one that is I don't have a better way to say it, but to say it's anchored in rejection (Bolingbroke: “Yes..uhh”) There is a tremendous amount of rejection in this field. And the courageousness and the bravery is understanding how to navigate that rejection and turning that rejection into wisdom to keep moving forward.
CHRISTY BOLINGBROKE:Yes, beautifully put. Thank you so much, Helanius. Please everyone else join me in thanking Helanius.
HELANIUS J. WILKINS: Thank you.
OUTRODUCTION: Inside The Dancer’s Studio Lunchtime Talk Series is supported by NCCAkron, the University of Akron, the University of Akron Foundation and the Mary Schiller Myers Lecture Series in the Arts. Our podcast program is produced by Jennifer Edwards. Ellis Rovin is our composer and editor. Theme music by Floco Torres, cover art by Micah Kraus. Special thanks to Kat Wentz and the team on the ground in Akron, Ohio. To learn more about NCC Akron, please visit us online at nccakron.org. And follow us on Instagram or Facebook at NCCAkron. We hope you enjoyed this episode, and we encourage you to subscribe on your favorite podcast streaming platform by searching for Inside The Dancer’s Studio. Please share with your friends and if you’d like to help get the word out rate us, and leave a review on Apple podcasts. Thanks for listening and stay curious.