(Premiere 2010-11)
Helanius J. Wilkins' newest work Trigger is a cross-disciplinary work that will unfold as a choreographed play where ordinary people have extraordinary lives. Human stories of strength, honor, family and triumph will be revealed against a backdrop of some of our nation’s darkest moments. Trigger provides a look into the history of black gangsters, how they were unschooled yet successful governed by principle rather than established rule; and how their actions mirror some of the very activity that America and our society were built upon. This project will address issues of class and how economic conditions affect individual choice, exposing the double standards of the differential treatment received by minorities.
This work is made possible in part by:
Dance Place in partnership with American Dance Institute, The DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, and Meet The Composer.
(Premiere 2009)
First performed in April 2009 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on the Millennium Stage, In Progress: Traveling is a contemporary dance theater work examining distance as passage of time and shifting of space, and as a window into unfolding varying degrees of human interactions and relationships. This viscerally-charged work reveals the dancers as athletic, yet gentle and vulnerable. This work is performed to live vocalizations and music by avant-garde artist Meredith Monk. The work goes one step further by featuring a deaf dancer- creating a unique and heartfelt journey rarely seen in both contemporary dance and mainstream companies.
This work is made possible in part by:
American Dance Institute and the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities.
(Premiere September 2008)
Conceived and directed by choreographer Helanius J. Wilkins, this project is a multi-media dance that examines the often difficult issues around gender, sexuality and spirituality. Through choreography that is fast paced and intricately woven into solo, duet, and group vignettes, sexual minorities are accepted as valued participants on the common ground of the human family. Performed by EDT, the work addresses the denial of homophobia and homosexuality that is so prevalent throughout the Black community. It highlights personal introspection, struggle, and success while, at the same time, being uplifting, energetic, spirited, and entertaining. This work will be available for touring along with residency activities through 2009.
This work is also made possible by:
American Dance Institute, The Washington Blade, The DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, The New England Foundation for the Arts, National Performance Network, Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center, and Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
(In Progress)
Edgeworks Dance Theater is carrying forward the legacy of Black men in concert dance, recovering and preserving history, with its Negro Dance Theatre Project. Although this groundbreaking ensemble was presented at famed Jacob’s Pillow, it remains a largely unknown part of American dance history. By establishing a link between the historic and the contemporary presence of Black men in American modern dance, Edgeworks' Negro Dance Theatre Project will demonstrate how societal and cultural conditions shape an artist’s process and product.
The vision for The Negro Dance Theatre Project is three-fold.
1. Edgeworks’ reconstructing and restaging a work from the NDT repertory, and additionally, creating a new dance work inspired by NDT, yet reflective of the current times of Black men in dance…
2. A one-hour documentary (shot on digital video) that explores the dynamic process of restaging a dance work - the thinking, historical research, choreography, music, hard work, group spirit, emotions of the creative process, and of the journey of Black men in dance.
3. A multi-media exhibition of archival photographs, printed media, and film footage of The Negro Dance Theatre – a window to its soul.
Cold Case, the first installment of The Negro Dance Theatre Project, is a brand new multimedia contemporary work inspired by NDT, and reflective of a continuing exploration of Black masculinity and image, identity, and representation in contemporary America. Commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Center through its Local Dance Commissioning Project Program, the work will world premiere in September 2006.
Cold Case goes beyond the surface to resurrect the past to present the now, and challenge audiences to come outside of their own prejudices and fears to fearlessly move into the future with a greater sense of understanding and compassion. Cold Case moves from what is considered to be on the edge of society to venture into extreme conditions in the hopes of achieving humility and tolerance. Cold Case moves from the edge to the center reaching out.
The process through which Cold Case is being created involves bringing together diverse Black men from the metro DC area and Baltimore through participation in discussion groups focused on hopes and dreams, viewpoints on the history of Black men in America, and their personal experiences.
This project is being made possible in part by:
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts through its Local Commissioning Project. Jacob’s Pillow through its Creative Development Residency Program.
DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Puffin Foundation
(Premiere 2008)
Gotham Suite, the second installment of the Negro Dance Theatre Project, is an adaptation of an ensemble work of the same name that was created for and performed by the Negro Dance Theatre in 1955. The original version of this work, created by Tony Charmoli, premiered at the famed Jacobs' Pillow. Gotham Suite is a multi-sectioned urban work based on the five boroughs of New York City.
This project is made possible in part by:
The National Endowment for the Arts
Beginnings: A Personal Note from Helanius J. Wilkins
In 2000 I began forming what is now EDGEWORKS Dance Theater, a contemporary dance ensemble of predominantly men of African descent. It was clear to me that I wanted an all male company, and I wanted to do work where men were able to express their strength and vulnerability through dance.
It wasn't until the first rehearsal of EDGEWORKS, Friday April 16, 2001 at the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange studio in Takoma Park MD, that I realized all the men I had sought out were Black. It was both a powerful and a curious moment…powerful because I had brought together a group of talented, inspiring individuals, who happened to be all Black, to work on a common ground…curious because I realized within a short period of time that a company of this kind was a first for Washington DC. I began to wonder whether or not there was ever an all Black male company in the history of dance. This question led me to The Negro Dance Theatre, and The Negro Dance Theatre Project.
In all the studying I had done and all the history classes I had taken, I had never learned about the Negro Dance Theatre (NDT) – a repertory company of fifteen African-American men dancing in the mid to late 1950s, and presented by Ted Shawn at Jacobs’ Pillow for two separate engagements. I began to ask questions to fellow artists, professionals, and dance enthusiasts if they had ever heard of this company. All answers were no. I would follow this question by asking, Can you identify any all male companies? The only answers: Ted Shawn and Dancers, and occasionally, Creach and Koester or Trocadero.
So few people knew about The Negro Dance Theatre.
Because my work is rooted in identity and masculinity, I felt there was something special in the timing of MY learning about The Negro Dance Theatre, and about the founding of EDGEWORKS Dance Theater. I saw an opportunity to make a contribution to the dance field that has not been made before and that could be significant in examining the history of men, especially Black men, in modern dance. That contribution will be The Negro Dance Theatre Project.
(2005, Revised 2006)
This danced trio is inspired in part by a Washington Post article written in 2003 on the plight of black men in the District and elsewhere. Wilkins was struck by the discouraging and unchanging nature of the statistics mentioned in the article. To acknowledge the existence and power of positive images he created MELTING THE EDGES, a piece that shows men working together and peaceably co-existing. With this work, he aims to uplift, through movement that is powerfully dynamic and surprising. MELTING THE EDGES, featuring an original musical score by long time collaborator and internationally recognized percussionist and composer Sven Abow, will premiere on April 13, 2005 on The Millennium Stage at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
