Adam W. McKinney is a former member of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Béjart Ballet Lausanne, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, and Milwaukee Ballet Company. He has led dance work with diverse populations across the U.S. and in Benin, Canada, England, Ghana, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Palestine, Poland, Serbia, Spain, and South Africa. He served as a U.S. Embassy Culture Connect Envoy to South Africa through the U.S. State Department. Other awards of note include a Mid-America Arts Alliance Interchange grant for Fort Worth Lynching Tour, an augmented reality bike tour and dance performance around Fort Worth to remember a history of lynching; the NYU President’s Service Award for dance work with populations who struggle with heroin addiction; grants from the U.S. Embassy in Budapest and The Trust for Mutual Understanding to work with Roma youth in Hungary; a Jerome Foundation grant for Emerging Choreographers; and a U.S. Embassy in Accra grant to lead a video oral history project with a Jewish community in Sefwi Wiawso, Ghana. He was a School of American Ballet’s National Visiting Teaching Fellow, an opportunity to engage in important conversations around diversity and inclusion in classical ballet. Named one of the most influential African Americans in Milwaukee, WI by St. Vincent DePaul, McKinney is the Co-Director of DNAWORKS (www.dnaworks.org), an arts and service organization committed to healing through the arts and dialogue. He serves as President for Tarrant County Coalition for Peace and Justice, a Fort Worth-based social justice organization. He holds a BFA in Dance Performance with high honors from Butler University and an MA in Dance Studies with concentrations in Race and Trauma theories from NYU-Gallatin.
DNAWORKS – www.dnaworks.org
Tarrant County Coalition for Peace and Justice – www.tccpj.org
Fort Worth Lynching Tour (2020), funded by Mid-America Arts Alliance and Asylum Arts, is an outdoor, augmented reality social justice dance performance that takes audience members on a bicycle tour to the important sites associated with the Fort Worth, TX lynching of Fred Rouse (d. December 11, 1921).
Select recent performances/international showcases: Atlanta, GA (2017), Boise, ID (2014), Charleston, WV (2016), Cotonou, Benin (2019), Fort Worth, TX (2020-2018), Kraków, Poland (2017), Lewistown, MT (2017), Milwaukee, WI (2020), Saratoga Springs (2016), Santa Fe, NM (2016-2014), Sitka, AK (2019-2016)
“HaMapah/The Map Dance-on-Film – https://www.dnaworks.org/hamapah-the-map-dance-on-film”
McKinney, A. W. Dancing Through A Door Of Return (2020). Duke University, Durham, NC.
McKinney, A. W. with Reed, A. Navigating White Space: Support for New Black Professors (2018). International Association of Blacks in Dance Conference, Los Angeles, CA.
McKinney, A. W. Dance as Metaphor: Healing from Racism (2017) Congress on Research in Dance/ Dance Studies Organization Conference, Columbus, OH and International Association of Blacks in Dance Conference, Dallas, TX.
McKinney, A. W. Queer Dance: Falling with a Freak Technique (2018). American Dance Festival, Duke University, Durham, NC.
McKinney, A. W. Black Bodies, Baartman, and Bustles (2020). Texas Christian University Honors College, Fort Worth, TX.
Milwaukee Ballet II Choreographic Commission, Milwaukee, WI, 2020
Named Ballet Memphis Artistic Fellow, Memphis, TN, 2020
TCU Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies Activism in Action Awardee, Fort Worth, TX, 2019
Mid-America Arts Alliance Interchange Grant Awardee for Fort Worth Lynching Tour, Kansas City, MO, 2019
U.S. Embassy in Cotonou Art Specialist, Cotonou, Benin, 2019
Asylum Arts Fellow, Detroit, MI, 2018
Balet Dworski Cracovia Danza Choreographic Commissions, Kraków, Poland, 2017
Atlanta Ballet II and Dance Canvas Choreographic Commission, Atlanta, GA, 2016
School of American Ballet National Visiting Teacher Fellow, New York, NY, 2016
Co-founder & Co-director, DNAWORKS – www.dnaworks.org
President, Tarrant County Coalition for Peace and Justice – www.tccpj.org
International Association of Blacks in Dance Member
Texas Center for Arts + Academics’ Advisory Council
