Anthony Williams, a Chicago native, is a Pittsburgh-based dancer, choreographer, and educator. Anthony is an advocate in supported human relationships and sharing common values through art making. His contribution to the Pittsburgh community is through his commitment to arts education in dance, theatre, music, and writing.
Conceptually Anthony’s work emerges through dance and theater, inspired by the dynamic histories of the African Diaspora. It explores the psychological complexities and nuances of displaced voices, popular culture, queer identities, and the social conditioned for African Americans. It has often been described as an emotionally driven conceptual art form. Anthony begins with creating movement through improvisation and chiseling away at narratives historically inscribed on people of color, and forges imaginative spaces for radical possibilities and visions. He uses images and text as a political gesture so that he can create physical gestures through movement. Anthony’s work occupies the space between the collective consciousness and his own personal beliefs. He is most passionate about creating work that inspires, moves, and affects the perspectives of my audience.
Collective and collaborative process(es)are central to Anthony’s work, and a continuous philosophy that fosters the advancement of creative liberation, reflection, and artistic communion. Recently collaborations include: Attack Theater (Pittsburgh), Congo Square Theater Company (Chicago), Staycee Pearl dance project (Pittsburgh), Texture Contemporary Ballet (Pittsburgh) August Wilson Center Dance Ensemble (Pittsburgh), and Deeply Rooted Dance Theater (Chicago). As a choreographer, he has created original works for Carnegie Mellon University’s Infra Dance Company, Reed Dance, Hope Academy, Boom Concepts, Point Park University, and Dreams of Hope.
In 2015 and 2013, Anthony premiered work at Kelly Strayhorn Theater’s newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival. He collaborated with vocalist Anqwenique Wingfield and in 2014 his choreography was featured in her performance “On The Edge of Night” alongside musician Daniel Bernard Roumain and poet Yona Harvey. In the fall of 2014, he was selected as a Kelly Strayhorn Theater Fresh Works Residency artist for the development of Loving Black, which was supported by The Heinz Endowments, Pittsburgh Foundation, and Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. He produced Loving Black in 2015 at the New Hazlett Theater as part of the Community Supported Art performance series to a sold out audience. In 2017 he presented new work Recycle Renew Refresh, in collaboration with Boom Concepts (Pittsburgh) at the Bronx Academy of Art and Dance (Bronx, NY) and As220 (Providence, RI).
Anthony has been a Master Instructor/Guest Artist at The American Dance Festival, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Carnegie Mellon University, Point Park University, The Ailey Extension Arts Education Outreach Program, and lead the teaching artist for the Attack Theatre Education Outreach program.
