WHEN A CRUSHING DIAGNOSIS THREATENED TO END HIS CAREER AS A DANCER , EVANS FLOURISHED ON A NEW PATH THAT UNLOCKED HIS CREATIVE EXPRESSION .
Tommie-Waheed Evans MFA ' 16 found dance by accident . While growing up in Los Angeles , Evans sang in community and church choirs . As a sophomore in high school , he transferred to Hamilton High School to study voice in its Academy of Music and Performing Arts . There , he learned that musical theatre majors could take dance instead of gym classes , and he ’ d always hated gym classes .
“ I had an interest in musical theatre , and it combined all those worlds .”
Thus , a dancer was born . His second act , as a choreographer , was an accident too — or , as some would call it , turning lemons into lemonade .
Evans worked as a professional dancer for 15 years until he began to experience pain in his hips . At 33 years old , he was diagnosed with arthritis in his hips . “ I was really devastated and at this crossroads no one wants to be at .” Choreography had long been part of his artistic life , but he didn ’ t think about making it his profession , despite early praise .
He ’ d choreographed dances in high school , and a teacher at his studio told him that he has “ a really interesting way on how you want dancers to move ,” he recalled .
As part of the company of Philadanco , a Philadelphia dance group , he participated in “ Danco on Danco ” where dancers choreographed each other . He also loved watching choreographers work and reading about their process through their books and memoirs .
“ I kept that in the back of my mind but never really concentrated on it ,” he said . He thought again about the idea of choreography . After attending a graduation ceremony at the University of the Arts , where he was an adjunct professor , he also knew he wanted to earn a degree — he had skipped college in order to dance . He turned to Jacksonville University because of its reputation and alumni and applied for the program based on his life experience . “ I just felt like with my condition , all signs were leading me to Jacksonville ,” he said .
At JU , he flourished , and earned his Master ’ s of Fine Arts in 2016 . After graduating , he took a full-time position at University of the Arts and is now an assistant professor there . Since 2004 , he has created more than 50 original dance works , including for BalletX , Dallas Black Dance Theatre , Philadanco , Verb Ballets , Ballet Memphis , University of the Arts , Boston Conservatory at Berklee , Lula Washington Dance Theatre , and Louisville Ballet , among others . His accolades are just as plentiful : Princess Grace Honoraria Award in Choreography , New Music Project Grant , Howard Gilman Foundation Fellowship , Joffrey Ballet Winning Works , and Ballet Memphis New American Dance Residency .
In 2020 , he was a Center of Ballet and Arts resident fellow , which he followed up with a 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts Grant . The grant allowed him to create " softly , as I leave you ," new work for his waheedworks dance troupe , which formed in 2006 .
First performed as the Philadelphia Dance Works ’ season finale in June , the show is an example of how Evans is “ experimenting with colliding different sounds ,” he said . “ What are the new ways we can hear something or reimagine or distort it ?” It ’ s also about Evans ’ experience as a gay Black man in America , and the desire to have a place in that world .