Return of a ‘Danco Doll’
Apr 23rd, 2009 | By | Category: Archived Articles
Choreographer Hope Boykin is back where she started, igniting Philadanco’s dancers with a dance just for them.
By Brenda Dixon-Gottschild For The Inquirer
On a frigid February evening there’s a sizzle in the air at Philadanco’s West Philadelphia studios. Hope Boykin has kindled the dancers’ fire.
A drop-dead-dazzling mover who performed with Danco from 1994 to 2000, Boykin has been a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for nine seasons. She is using a brief furlough from the Ailey 50th Anniversary Tour to rehearse Be Ye Not, the new work she choreographed for Danco, a highlight of the company’s Kimmel Center program next week.
“Make a decision, and stick with it!” “Just be clear about what you know, and the rest will fit!”
So she exhorts the dancers as she prods them to move in her special style – taut, quick, asymmetrical, grounded, percussive, and at the same time ecstatic and exhilarating. In verbal and body language she relates to the Danco dancers like a big sister on leave from her day job, spending quality time with the family and showing them her stuff.
