Tommie-Waheed Evans: On Teachers, Guides, and How Dance Will Change the World
Every surfer needs someone who's been in the water before. Not to clear the path, but to help illuminate the way through. I imagine if you are a traveler, moving in and out of the white water, from one sandy beach to the next, you are likely meet many people who can walk you through each phase of life. People who can get you into the white water, people who bring you back to shore, people who equip you with the tools we'll need when its time to hit the road once more. These are teachers, parents, coaches, mentors. Maya uses the term, 'guide'. In this episode of White Water, Maya sits down with dancer, choreographer, and 2021 Guggenheim Fellow Tommie Waheed-Evans, a man whose entire path has been shaped by guides who showed up exactly when they were supposed to. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Tommie trained at Hamilton High School before receiving a fellowship to the Ailey School in New York. He has performed nationally and internationally with Lula Washington Dance Theater, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and PHILADANCO!, one of the most storied Black dance companies in America — where he now serves as co-artistic director. He holds an MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University, taught for twelve years at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and has been commissioned by companies across the country, from BalletX to the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. He is a Princess Grace Award recipient, a Research Fellow at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU, and the founder of waheedworks, his Philadelphia-based company. Together, Maya and Tommie explore dance, mentorship, arts business, and the quiet, profound responsibility of becoming someone else's guide. To learn more about Tommie visit: https://www.tommiewaheed.com/ [https://www.tommiewaheed.com/] To learn more about PHILADANCO! visit: https://philadanco.org/ ____ White Water is a podcast about creative urgency and the magical things that happen when we 'ride the wave' of life. Hosted by Maya Guice, business storyteller and Founder of Panakin Studios, each episode features candid stories of tenacity and grit from individuals leading creative ventures that span industries, mediums, and borders. If you've got an idea and don't know where to start, come hang out with us in the white water! Panakin Studios is an interdisciplinary shop of thinkers and doers. Medium-agnostic, we're half think-tank, half content studio, creating a whole machine that produces new stories for smart audiences. www.panakin.co [http://www.panakin.co/]
