Helanius J. Wilkins

Helanius J. Wilkins joins FSU’s School of Dance following a 10-year tenure as a professor in the Department of Theatre & Dance at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he served as Associate Chair and Director of Dance. A native of Lafayette, Louisiana, he is an award-winning choreographer, performance artist, artivist, and educator. Wilkins boasts over two decades of experience in higher education and not-for-profit leadership. His creative research is rooted in the interconnections of American contemporary performance, cultural history, and Black male identities. In his intermedia collaborations he works with artists from a wide range of disciplines, including film, music, video, design, and gaming technology. In 2020, Wilkins launched The Conversation Series: Stitching the Geopolitical Quilt to Re-Body Belonging, a multi-year, multi-outcome, community-driven practice spanning all U.S. states and territories.

Wilkins founded and led EDGEWORKS Dance Theater, a Washington, DC-based all-male, predominantly Black contemporary dance company, from 2001 to 2014. He has choreographed and directed more than 60 works, including celebrated musicals “Passing Strange” and “POP!” for DC’s Studio Theater. His work as a performer includes experiences with nationally recognized choreographers including Robert Moses, Joy Kellman, and Kevin Wynn, and as a company member with Maida Withers’ Dance Construction Company (DC), and as a guest with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange (MD).

Dedicated to service and creative leadership, he has held board roles within national and regional arts organizations including the American College Dance Association for the High Desert (formerly Northwest) region and Colorado Council on Creative Industries, a council he was appointed to in 2018 by Governor Jared Polis for a 4-year term. He is also a certified Colorado Change Leader, and he continues to serve on boards for arts organizations when possible.