by Joy Doss | artist’s image by Ziggy Mack
Kevin Thomas moved to Memphis nearly 10 years ago with the vision of bringing diversity to the local arts landscape. He and Executive Director Marcellus Harper saw Memphis as a place that was rich in history yet ripe with budding artistic talent. They wanted to hang their shingle in a place that wasn’t already oversaturated, where they could cultivate dancers of color and train them to perform at the professional level.
Having danced with world-renowned companies like the Royal Ballet of London and Dance Theatre of Harlem, the options were not few. However, Kevin’s vision for Collage dance Collective led him to lay roots in Memphis.
As they launched the ballet school with one student, little did they know that a few short years later Collage dance Collective would grow into a school with over 200 students (not counting their partnership with local charter schools), move into their own studio on Broad Avenue, perform to packed houses and employ a full-time professional company.
But most of all, they are shattering stereotypes across the board with some intentional, positive side effects of the work.
Kevin elaborates, “When we first arrived, the arts scene was very homogenous. We knew it was an uphill climb but we felt equipped to take it on. Other voices needed to be heard. Diverse stories needed to be told.
“So, I’m a black man but I’m Canadian and Trinidadian. My experience may be markedly different from that of a southern black man,” he said. We celebrate all of the voices within our community, representing various perspectives with deliberateness and intentionality.”
To that end, Collage found some degree of success. There was an audience for their work; Memphians wanted to experience something different and young dancers wanted to be under the tutelage of the best the city had to offer. Dancers and instructors hail from French Guyana, Brazil, Cuba, Canada, and many of the major cities in the United States and have performed in as many places, if not more.
One of the positive effects of Collage has been dismantling the myths around boys and ballet. This was important to Kevin and perhaps a subconscious part of his mission.
Boys have been traditionally hesitant about ballet. Parents of color in particular have serious reservations. But Collage has put a crack in that ceiling, boasting the highest enrollment of boys in the region.
Kevin continues, “To be a dancer, it takes an inordinate amount of athleticism. In fact, some of our kids, boys and girls, also play sports. The very nature of dance requires strength not unlike, say, football.
“In every movement, all of the muscles are engaged. Not to mention that the training and rehearsals are extremely strenuous. No one around here is fragile,” he says, laughing at the thought of this misrepresentation of dancers.
Should you have the opportunity to drop in on a rehearsal you would see in a few skinny minutes that this is no exaggeration. The process before the performance is a serious one. Dancers make it look easy but it surely is not.
“I believe in the power of my upbringing as a dancer. I am a better person for it. It requires focus and concentration which carries over into academics. It’s not just physical rigor, it’s mental rigor as well,” he says.
As the Artistic Director of Collage, Kevin’s goal is to present work that is inspired and emotionally evocative. He and his team of renowned choreographers have created pieces that have moved people to tears, or to their feet, with their poignancy and relevance. Art imitates life without question but it also provides voice for the voiceless. It amplifies the sentiments of the communities it represents in that moment, whether it’s the struggle or triumphs, joy or pain.
You can see the company’s work at the annual winter concert, RISE, on January 22, 2017 at the Cannon Center for Performing Arts.
For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit www.collagedance.org.
