Who… Hope Boykin, international choreographer and dancer, and most notably a 20-year member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, is on The Rock to create a new work for the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC).

Home is…

I was born in Durham, North Carolina.

My passion for dance began…

as early as I can remember.

My earliest memory of dance is…

a tap dance to Baby Face, you’ve got the cutest little baby face…

My expectations were…

I basically had no expectations, and I like it that way. I will say I knew I would be pleased with the dancers as dancers, but I didn’t know I would love them so much.

Were I to choreograph a dance using reggae music it would be to?

Is this a trick question? Of course I’m going to say someone named Marley. LOL.

My dream stage would be…

anywhere young people will see themselves in me. I want them to see the possibilities they have, through me.

In the audience would be…

a gathering of my supporters who have passed away, and the artists who created a path for me as I create one for the next group.

The music playing would be…

something that sounds round and full.

What makes a dancer great?

When I was younger I would have said ability makes a dancer great; now I know the answer is truth of experience.

What might surprise many about the world of dance and its dancers?

Often people like to say we are like athletes, and no offence to hard-working athletes, but great artists are athletes, and actors, and personal therapists, and sacrificial lambs, and lovers of all things dance. We are all and everything.

Where do you go to relax?

I love beaches, sitting poolside, and sunny days.

What’s that one thing that you reference for inspiration, and why?

I find I can create when I remember and draw from disappointments. I don’t mean in a morbid and uncomfortable way, but I can easily access those feelings in movement, and then I change them.

I am the woman I am because…

people told me no. I am also the woman I am because my mother and grandmother prayed for me. Simple.

My go-to-line of inspiration is…

Philippians 4:13. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

Coffee or water?

Sparkling water and coffee.

What’s your next project?

It’s a bit of a secret, so I’m not telling! LOL