Kirven Douthit-Boyd and The Big Muddy Dance Company. Photo by Kelly Pratt.
Kirven Douthit-Boyd
Kirven Douthit-Boyd is a familiar face in the St. Louis dance scene, having worked alongside his husband, Antonio, at the Center of Creative Arts (COCA) since 2015. The couple moved to St. Louis after decade-long careers in New York performing with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Now, Douthit-Boyd is striking out on his own to lead The Big Muddy Dance Company. He became artistic director in July, after serving one season as a consulting curator following Brian Enos’ departure in December 2021. On the job for less than four months, Douthit-Boyd—the third person to direct this 12-year-old dance company — is making big moves already. He sat down with SLM while preparing for a new repertory concert called Ignite.
Works by company members Geoffrey Alexander and Brandon Fink are part of the evening, plus world premieres by guest choreographers Thang Dao and Norbert De La Cruz III. Douthit-Boyd will also remount a work originally created in collaboration with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.
Ignite marks Big Muddy’s 2022-23 season kickoff and takes place October 28 and 29 in the Catherine B. Berges Theatre at COCA.
How’s the new job?
It’s going great. I feel a little overwhelmed, if I’m being completely honest, but it’s not a sense of being overwhelmed in terms of the quantity of work. It’s just that I’m so hopeful and so invigorated by what’s possible. Every day I go in and I’m almost on to the next thing.
You and Antonio have spent most of your professional lives in the same place. How are you managing a new work-life balance?
Antonio and I have worked together all hours of the day, day in and day out, since 2004—as dancers, then moving here to St. Louis and doing the work that we did at COCA. During that time, I watched him grow and evolve in so many ways. What I love about this new dynamic of our working relationship is that I get to support him in a different way. I still have an associate’s position at COCA, but I think we’ve really done a good job giving each other space to do exactly what it is that we have to do. It hasn’t been difficult, but it also hasn’t been easy.
You’ve stated that a top priority for the Big Muddy Dance Company is diversity and representation, not only in the choreographers presented, but also in the dancer roster. It seems like there have already been some changes.
The new dancers that just joined us—Jorrell [Lawyer-Jefferson], Sergio [Camacho] and DaJuan [Johnson]—were my hires. They are all men of color, so I started off on the right foot!
I’m assessing how everyone is approaching the work. I’m also giving great thought to the kinds of work that I want to bring in and the kind of dancers and strength that I need in order to do that well. All of those things will help inform the way I go about handling things moving forward. Come next year, I’m quite confident that the ensemble will continue to look different.
What is the response of the returning company members, knowing that is going to happen?
I think they understand. I’ve been very vocal about this. Before I was even in the running for becoming artistic director, I did a project with them: Duke Ellington’s Black, Brown & Beige. Ellington made this piece for a very specific reason, and I couldn’t speak to exactly what that is because I had only two dancers of color at that time. So, this is not something they are unaware of. I’m working to be mindful about how I do this and what I say around it.
Are you excited to perform at COCA?
It made sense to me to get the company on the COCA stage. We are doing one concert that will be well-suited for the Grandel in January, a dance-theater production that I think will fit that space. But in terms of our repertoire, getting our dancers in a proscenium-style space that is conducive to that kind of dance is really important to me. COCA has built this beautiful vehicle we’ve got to test drive. To me, it’s a no-brainer.
What is the tempo or feel of Ignite as an evening?
I’m so excited for the Ignite program, for it to spark this new leadership, this transformational moment for the company. It’s just so exciting for me. All of our visiting choreographers came in and created works that are very different and collaborative. The artists were generous and vulnerable. So far, the experience has been positive, and I’m so looking forward to our audiences viewing these works.
Can you tell us a little about the piece you made?
It is quite simply titled “Dance.” It is a work I did last year to a score called “Dance” by Anna Clyne. It’s inspired by a Rumi poem in five stanzas: “You dance when you’re broken up. You dance when you’ve torn the bandage off. You dance in the middle of fighting. You dance in your blood. And you dance when you’re perfectly free.”
It speaks to this innate feeling of movement and how, regardless of your circumstances, as artists, we revert back to what we love to heal whatever it is. For me, it connects to the time the company is in. In this transition, there’s a lot of gray area for the dancers, for the staff, for everyone.
