Hope Boykin
Two time “Bessie Award” winner, Hope Boykin was an original member of Complexions, danced with Philadanco, retired from 20 years with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Hope has choreographed for numerous universities and dance companies including The Juilliard School, Kent State, USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, Philadanco, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Minnesota Dance Theater, Ballet X, Ballet Black of London, American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, Collage Dance Collective, and has created four works for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, along with commissions ranging from contemporary dance to ballet.
Hope was featured on the October 2023 cover of Dance Magazine in recognition of her achievements as a creator, mover, maker, and motivator and created States Of Hope, a fully scripted, evening length, new dance theater work, which premiered at The Joyce Theater in October of 2023 to great acclaim.
Hope premiered “The Other Side,” a co-commission with Kennedy Center, in 2021, with a 2024 return for the Kennedy Center and a New York premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. “The Other Side” brings the award-winning children’s book, by Jacqueline Woodson, to life on stage. Hope continues to build on her work, as a writer, blending her words and cadence as the foundation of her developing movement-language. As a director and dance-maker Hope received a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for her own Covid Safe residency #BoykinBubble and in the fall of 2021 she premiered a full evening of her choreography, An Evening of Hope at 92nd Street Y in New York City. Hope 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, as well as a weekend of her own work, Moments By Hope, … a concert.
Hope serves as Artistic Advisor for Dance Education for the Kennedy Center and Artistic Lead for the Kennedy Center Dance Lab. She is Artist-In-Residence at USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance and received the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU Fellowship for 2022-23. Hope firmly believes there are no limits.