INTERVIEW: Hope Boykin travels full circle with Alvin Ailey
Hope Boykin is one of the standout stars of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She has been delighting audiences for almost 18 years with the legendary company, and audiences at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center will have a chance to catch her latest choreographic work this weekend. Boykin, normally a presence on stage, will be represented behind the scenes with r-Evolution, Dream — a stirring ensemble piece inspired by the work and words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Boykin’s choreographic work will play the Newark, New Jersey, venue Friday, May 12 at 8 p.m. The company will have other programs Saturday, May 13 and Sunday, May 14.
Boykin was a member of Philadanco before joining Alvin Ailey. She is a three-time recipient of the American Dance Festival’s Young Tuition Scholarship and has choreographed three works for the company. Besides r-Evolution, Dream, she’s also the force behind Acceptance in Surrender (in collaboration with Abdur-Rahim Jackson and Matthew Rushing) and Go in Grace.
Earlier this year, Hollywood Soapbox commented on Boykin’s dancing at New York City Center: “Of the company members, Hope Boykin stood out for her interpretative skills, dance mastery and genuine, effusive amount of energy on stage. Boykin is a solid staple of the Ailey family.”
Fans of the dancer will no doubt celebrate the fact that she’s expanding her horizons both on stage and backstage, and that makes the NJPAC performances extra special this year.
Recently, Hollywood Soapbox talked with Boykin about her career and r-Evolution, Dream. Here’s a sample of what she had to say.
On the inspiration and origins of her new work …
“Well, I was traveling with our artistic director, Mr. Robert Battle, to Atlanta for a pre-press [event]. You know, before the company goes, we do some press and some outreach there. Community service is a part of the company’s mission, and we were on a visit to the Civil and Human Rights Museum in Atlanta. And the museum is interesting because it’s very tactile, and there are installations more than just regular things to look at.
“[There] was a room where you sat down, and you were sort of immersed in Dr. King’s voice. They had a voiceover of some of the footage that someone had found where the casket was being taken through the city of Atlanta. … It was really interesting for me because for some reason in that particular listening or hearing, I heard something for the first time, even though I knew these speeches.
“We grow up studying them. There’s that special time every year that we start to focus in on them, and my family grew up in the civil rights movement. There were things that we were, as I might say as a young person, forced to listen to, but I had never heard them the way that I was hearing them at that particular point. And I just left the museum feeling like I wanted to move. I said this before in another interview that I was moved to move because I could not get his voice and the cadence and the ringing of his voice out of my head.”
On the choreographic development of the piece …
“I went on iTunes and looked up some recorded speeches. I went on Amazon, tried to buy some things that I could see. Then there’s the encyclopedia, almost like a MLK encyclopedia where everything that he’s ever said was transcribed. It was really an amazing adventure trying to learn more about him in that particular way.
“I went into the studio with his voice one day just on my phone and plugged my phone to the system and started moving. I recorded it. I started to like the things that I was creating, and about a year and a half year later, you have a piece. Almost two years later, there’s a new work. I’ve worked on it not knowing where it would land, not knowing what it was I was creating, and then one day I decided to speak to Mr. Battle. I walked into his office and said, ‘I have an idea.’
“Usually you don’t tell the artistic director you have an idea for a piece. They come to you, but it was fortunate that he trusts me enough to give me an opportunity to share this topic with everyone. It’s not so much that it’s the story of Dr. King’s life or anything. I truly was simply inspired by the things that he said and how relevant they are today, how relevant they are in our lives now as people — not just the times that we’re living in, but how we still need to listen to this wise teaching, this man who wasn’t just speaking from nothing. He was speaking from experience, but he was also sharing a true insight.”
On her process of choreographing …
“I tend to just work on my own or call in a few people that you trust, but it was usually just me and sometimes one other person just because you really want to have someone who understands you move forward through the movement with you. When you’re creating something, how do you do that? How do you find that person? A member of the company who you will actually see performing … Michael Jackson Jr. was that person, and he will portray the MLK figure. He was with me from the beginning when he basically saw me and said, ‘What are you doing? Do you want some help?’ Very rarely do you get that kind of love from someone, but I did that day.”
On working with the Alvin Ailey dancers …
“I work with some of the most incredible dancers in the world. They are understanding and giving, and I really felt like there was support as I was moving. So I definitely was inspired by them. This particular piece is a little bit easier for me. When I say that, I mean, it was easier for me to decide who was going to do what because I know them so well, so there wasn’t really a deep process. It was just me saying, ‘We’re going to do this, and this is what’s going to happen. And you’re going to stand here, and you’ll be here.’ It wasn’t as experimental with the dancers themselves, but every day I watch them, I find new meaning to who they are and what it is they want to do and who they want to be as artists, so it was really exciting for me to share that with them in this way.”
On understanding King’s message and naming the piece …
“I like to write, and I spent some time … writing down some of the things that I wanted to portray with the work, some of the things I wanted to say, how Dr. King made me feel. And in all of that exploration, I would say, there was never anything that came up that didn’t … circle back around to evolution, and there was something about how we have to change as individuals, how we have to see ourselves, how we need to look in the mirror and see the person that we want to be and look for that. We have to understand. Like he would say … we have to serve in order to lead. Some people want to lead the band, but you have to serve to be a great leader. …
“I didn’t want the focus on the revolution. I wanted to focus on the evolution of a person, so I made the ‘r’ lowercase because it’s relevant. But we can do that when we stand up on our own and see ourselves for who we really are and then try to be better, the best me I can be. To be ourselves is what I was really aiming for.”
On her history with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater …
“I came into the company at a time when I was a little bit older than a lot of people when they get into a company like this one. … I had decided that this was going to be something I was going to try out and see how it works, this dance thing, which I think is just the most hilarious thing ever, that I wasn’t sure. I was never sure that this was the right choice for me.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will present three performance May 12-14 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey. Hope Boykin’s r-Evolution, Dream will be presented Friday, May 12. Click here for more information and tickets.
