It was warm and sunny in Fort Worth, Texas, for Adam McKinney when he spoke with the Pittsburgh Union Progress. Upon learning of the periodic snow Pittsburgh has been seeing recently, McKinney asked if he should pack snow boots for his February visit.
Yet, despite the prospect of drastic temperature change, McKinney, 46, said he loves Pittsburgh and is eager to start as Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s new artistic director in March.
PBT President and Board Chair Mary McKinney Flaherty said that after an extensive search, McKinney became the clear choice.
“We believe Adam will be a transformative artistic director for our organization and leader in our community and throughout the world of ballet,” she said.
McKinney will become the seventh artistic director in the organization’s 54-year history. He has danced with companies such as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Béjart Ballet Lausanne, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and Milwaukee Ballet Company.
McKinney grew up in Wisconsin as an athlete and musician. He also performed in musicals and theater productions, so when one of his directors recommended he take a ballet class, 16-year-old McKinney found himself at Milwaukee Ballet School.
“In my first class I felt like I knew what to do, like my body knew how to turn,” McKinney said. “My body knew how to jump. I was well prepared for the rigors of ballet, having been an athlete and a musician.”
After studying intensively at Milwaukee Ballet School, McKinney went on to obtain his BFA in dance performance with a focus on classical ballet from Butler University in Indianapolis in 1998. In 2010, McKinney received his graduate degree from New York University in dance studies with concentrations in race and trauma theories.
Upon graduating, McKinney moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he was the inaugural dance department chair at New Mexico School for the Arts for six years. Later, he moved to Fort Worth to be an associate professor of dance in ballet with tenure in the School for Classical & Contemporary Dance at Texas Christian University.
McKinney explained that he carries what he learned in school into how he views the world and how he interacts with others. He turns theory into practice in studios around the world.
His master’s work theorized that dance could be used as a catalyst for healing, and McKinney has traveled around the world to lead dance work with diverse communities.
He has created community social justice and awareness projects, including the interactive “Fort Worth Lynching Tour: Honoring the Memory of Mr. Fred Rouse” and “The Borders Project” at the Mexico/U.S. and Palestine/Israel borders. He was also honored with the NYU President’s Service Award for his dance work with populations who struggle with heroin addiction.
Most recently, he said he has been working with the survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi people, an ethnic group of the African Lakes region in Rwanda.
“I have been looking at how dance is used in international settings as a tool of reconciliation, healing and community connection,” he said. “My interest as a leader and community organizer in this practice of theory and engagement is something I’m bringing to Pittsburgh and something I’m really excited about.”
McKinney, who has family connections in this area, called Pittsburgh a beautiful city full of diversity across people, history, thought, food, experiences and architecture.
“I’m thinking about histories of convergence, the natural elements of convergence, the ways in which people converge there, the convergence of thought, the convergence of the arts and culture scene, the universities, technology, health,” he said. “All of those things I find really attractive about Pittsburgh, but mostly, truthfully, it’s the people. The people of Pittsburgh inspire me, and I, in turn, am inspired to be in Pittsburgh and honored to be in Pittsburgh.”
“We are so excited to welcome Adam to PBT,” acting Executive Director Kathryn Gigler said in a statement. “He brings with him incredible creativity, energy and kindness, and his leadership is going to have such a positive impact at PBT and in Pittsburgh.”
According to McKinney, PBT has been on his radar for 25 years. He has previously taught at the PBT school and has “been aware of all of the good work happening at PBT and in Pittsburgh.”
He will become the first person of color to hold the role of PBT artistic director, once he begins in March. Acknowledging this title, he said he leads with the multidimensionality of his identity and work.
“We are at a particular moment in history when we are asking really important questions about who we want to be,” he said. “This particular moment harkens an opportunity to offer this collective question and questions of what do we keep and of what are the things that we let go.
“This is an important moment for me certainly in my role, but it is also an important moment for all of us and for the field of ballet, and we get to congratulate each other and this moment together,” he continued.
Looking ahead, he plans to continue the lasting legacy of his predecessors by centralizing classical ballet at PBT. He also wants to bring in new works and explore new ways to employ technology and dance as artistic director.
One long-term goal is to trust the expertise, knowledge and leadership of artists so that they feel at home at PBT, he said.
“This of course is aligned with the ways in which I hope audience members feel that they feel at home at a PBT, that they feel seen at PBT, that they know that they belong, and they know that they are represented at PBT, their ideas, their thoughts, their wants, their needs, their cultures, their identities, and that PBT is representative of all of Pittsburgh.”
Tickets for PBT’s upcoming production of “Dracula” are on sale now. Performances run Feb. 10-12.
Hannah is a reporter at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but she's currently on strike. Email her hwyman@unionprogress.com.
