Hope Boykin

Photo: Andrew Eccles.

Hope Boykin – educator, creator, mover and motivator – was born and raised in Durham, North Carolina. She was a three-time recipient of the American Dance Festival’s Young Tuition Scholarship and while attending Howard University in Washington, DC, she continued to pursue her desires to dance, working with choreographer Lloyd Whitmore and his New World Dance Company. In New York City, Boykin studied at The Ailey School and worked as assistant to choreographers Milton Myers and the late Talley Beatty.

Boykin was an original member of Complexions, and joined PHILADANCO, where she received the acclaimed “Bessie”, a New York dance and performance award. Just completing her 20th and final season with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, she continues to build and create work as a 2019–20 Urban Bush Women Choreographic Center Fellow.

She has choreographed for numerous dance companies including PHILADANCO, Minnesota Dance Theatre and Dallas Black Dance Theatre. In 2016, Boykin presented her third work of choreography for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater called r-Evolution, Dream. In 2018 for DEMO, commissioned by Damian Woetzel and the Kennedy Center, Boykin had the honor to choreograph, write and perform with New York City Ballet principal dancer Lauren Lovette in MomentsUponMoments, which was redesigned for Vail Dance Festival in 2019. Most recently, she created a work for BalletX and Guggenheim Works & Process Virtual Commissions program, had her words and work displayed at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, and has been an annual keynote speaker for Lincoln Center Activate, a national education forum.

Serving as Artistic Lead for the Kennedy Center Dance Lab (KCDL), a two-week summer dance program for high school students, and Artist-In-Residence at USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance is confirmation of the mission of HopeBoykinDance, which includes leading young and aspiring artists to a secure foundation and a concrete understanding, which develops a confidence and an assurance that will be unmatched.