We are proud to welcome back Crystal Michelle Perkins from Dayton, OH as one of our three choreographers for the upcoming performance of Winter Mix. Selected as 2019 Ballet Memphis New American Dance Resident, Crystal’s new piece (Un)Common Boundaries will explore what it means to feel deeply and empathize with those our culture often overlooks.

“(Un)Common Boundaries is this Afro-Futurist retelling of the Black Laundress from Memphis,” says Crystal. “[The show] provides room for how we can be different and feel powerful, to give space to be full and to say more about her.”

Through our unique New American Dance Residency Program, Crystal had the opportunity to immerse herself in the culture of Memphis, which now deeply affects the art she creates in our studio. From the lens of society’s outliers, she brings thoughtful emotion to Winter Mix with both power and fluidity.

Impacted by her experience with Ballet Memphis’ New American Residency Program, Crystal speaks of ongoing preparations for Winter Mix. “Immediately - coming back to Memphis to start this work over two and a half to three week process - I can jump right back in... the support from our work has felt like it’s increased after my first visit. Anything I need to center a black woman’s perspective in a classical ballet company could be possible, which is signifying a turn in the way we are thinking about arts, arts organizations, or art-making practices. I’m having the best time.”

In the words of our founder, Dorothy Gunther Pugh, Crystal “sees the power of [women’s] light as still shining on us in ways that can affect our communities; there is a skein from past to present, if we look for it. If we touch it, feel it, we could change the map, redraw the boundaries, move them, enlarge them, and jettison them if they bind us too unfairly. Crystal delves imaginatively into the elders’ possible memories to help imagine a future.”

Witness Crystal’s passionate choreography in Ballet Memphis’ Fly Studio at this season's Winter Mix performance.