Growing up in Milwaukee, Adam W. McKinney performed in musicals and choreographed dance routines on the playground, including in the third grade for the hit song "Rock Steady" by The Whispers. When he took his first formal ballet class at 16, McKinney discovered his passion for the art form.
"I felt most at home in my body. I knew in an embodied way that this is what I wanted to do,” McKinney tells Pittsburgh City Paper.
In March, McKinney took over as the artistic director for the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, the first person of color to do so in the company’s history. The 46-year-old looks forward to growing and redefining PBT by creating work that is representative of who we are, not just as individuals, but as a city.
McKinney, who previously served as Associate Professor of Dance in Ballet at Texas Christian University, plans to bring new stories that speak to the diversity of Pittsburgh and the art of ballet.
"I bring my cultures with me, and that means in my teaching, in my curation, in my relationships, in my pedagogies, in my understandings of space and time and their uses, and for creating the worlds through performance,” he says.
His career has led to stints with some of the world's most prominent dance companies — including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and Milwaukee Ballet Company — and has taken him all over the world. He also worked as the inaugural Dance Department Chair at the New Mexico School for the Arts in Santa Fe and served as a U.S. Embassy Culture Connect Envoy to South Africa through the U.S. State Department.
McKinney retired from dancing professionally in 2008 but will occasionally dust off those ballet shoes for smaller projects "as long as there is an urge to communicate through [his] physicality." Students will get to learn from him directly next year when he teaches a class as part of the PBT’s new Master Class Series.
But since his playground days, McKinney knew his performances weren't just about gracefully stepping to music; he felt something bigger happening. He saw dance as a form of community engagement.
"What I was doing on the playground was creating circles of opportunity for us and choreographing the possibility of community care and community change. In some ways, that's what I feel like I'm doing here,” says McKinney.
His parents, both artists, instilled in him the impact art can have on people, and McKinney grew up with a strong desire to better serve his community through the arts. In 2006, McKinney and his husband, Daniel Banks, founded DNAWORKS. Described on its website as being “dedicated to dialogue and healing through the arts, focusing on identity, heritage, culture, and liberation,” now Pittsburgh-based arts and service organization has led award-winning performances and programming in 39 states and 18 countries.
Through DNAWORKS, McKinney created what PBT calls “community social justice and awareness projects,” including Fort Worth Lynching Tour: Honoring the Memory of Mr. Fred Rouse, an interactive show that tackles a horrific hate crime committed in 1921, 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.
McKinney has since stepped down from his DNAWORKS leadership role in order to fully commit to his responsibilities at Pittsburgh Ballet Theater.
The Texas transplant is still learning the topography of Pittsburgh's land and people, but he is already very familiar with what it has to offer. McKinney's father, an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board, lived in Pittsburgh from 1996 to 2009. McKinney also previously visited the city and became acquainted with PBT, including teaching a few classes.
"I already love Pittsburgh, and when I saw the position opening, it felt like a good fit,” he says, adding, "When the position was announced, I felt like there was no better time than now to pursue the possibility.”
When recognizing that there are very few people who look like him holding leadership positions in ballet companies, McKinney says, "I don't feel alone. I feel supported. I understand my responsibility in my role."
He goes on to explain, "This moment of being the first person of color to hold this position at this particular institution demonstrates opportunity, not only for representation but also for the possibility of a new vision and a new era of leadership."
