‘I will always have roots in St. Louis’

After exactly ten years of heading up the very department that turned him into a world-class dancer, St. Louis native Antonio Douthit-Boyd is leaving COCA to assume a similar position in Florida.

He broke the news to the cultural community he has helped elevate with a “love letter to St. Louis.”  

“Thank you for providing me with the space to grow, the courage to lead, and the wisdom to boldly step into the next chapter of my life,” Douthit-Boyd wrote. “Returning home after a career on the world’s stages and being embraced once again by this community has been one of the greatest honors of my life.”

This fall he will become Chair of the Patel Conservatory Dance Department and Artistic Director of their Next Generation Ballet.

“I could have stayed at COCA for another ten years, but the opportunity landed in my lap,” Douthit-Boyd said. “I thought that I should go and spread all of the knowledge that we learned here in St. Louis, in New York and abroad.”

Most young people with a passion for dance dream of showcasing their gift for the world. What set COCA alum Antonio Douthit-Boyd apart from early on was that the dance concert stage was only part of his bucket list life. The bigger dream for him was to make young people feel as nurtured and supported as he did when COCA instantly transformed his life while helping him hone his talent and get fully immersed within the art form.

“As a young person leaving St. Louis and going into the dance world, I was so prepared,” Douthit-Boyd said. “I was prepared physically, mentally prepared and I was excited for the challenge of becoming a dancer.”

He enjoyed a performance career few dancers could even imagine for themselves – particularly his tenure as a principal company member for the famed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. 

“I feel so blessed. I feel so humbled that I can do what I love,” Douthit-Boyd said. “I never felt like I had to work a day in my life. I feel honored to have a position and a purpose in this life to give the art of dance to people.”

Night after night, Douthit-Boyd would share details of what was next for him with his extremely tight-knit friendship triangle that included Alicia Graf Mack and future husband Kirven Douthit-Boyd.

“We would be in our hotel room or on the bus and Antonio used to say, ‘I’m going back to St. Louis to teach at COCA, and you’re coming with me,” Graf Mack told The American in 2015.

Those conversations turned out to be prophetic. Graf Mack did indeed teach at COCA while pursuing her graduate studies at Washington University. Douthit-Boyd and husband Kirven Douthit-Boyd, already familiar faces to the COCA family, relocated to St. Louis at the prime of their respective performance careers to lead the organization’s dance department.

“We thought, ‘You could continue to do this for a few more years – or you can help this next generation out’,” Douthit-Boyd said. “We followed the leadership and the direction that was given to us by Ms. Jamison and Robert Battle. We didn’t feel like it was a struggle to leave the stage. We felt that it was for a purpose.”

Last month, Graf Mack took the helm as Ailey’s fourth artistic director. After several years of leading at COCA together, Kirven transformed Big Muddy into Saint Louis Dance Theatre when he became artistic director two years ago.

“I think that’s what St. Louis does,” Antonio said. “It grooms you to become bigger and better than you could ever imagine you’d be.”

After a decade of transformational work building upon the legacy of the late Lee Nolting, Douthit-Boyd is excited about his next chapter.

“It’s a testament to what St. Louis has done for me,” Antonio said. “It has shaped me to take this new position and to spread the blueprint of what we have done here in St. Louis.”

Kirven will step back in at COCA as interim artistic director of dance until the position is filled. Antonio will still be working with COCA for the next couple of years through ongoing projects.

Antonio describes the opportunity to teach young people fundamentals within the art of dance as “mind blowing.” He says that he has learned more than he could ever teach his students and defines the experience as “a gift that keeps giving, and giving…and giving.”

“I will always have roots in St. Louis – at Saint Louis Dance Theatre, at COCA and at all of the places,” Antonio said. “We have young people that we’ve trained coming back to St. Louis for their dance careers. St. Louis is now a thriving center for dance. St. Louis and COCA will always be a part of my life, no matter where I go in the world.”

“I’m excited for the world to witness all of this beautiful artistry that comes from St. Louis,” Antonio added. “And to know that I had just a little part in it.”

Living It content is produced with funding by the ARPA for the Arts grants program in partnership with the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis and the Community Development Administration.