Rate My Professor Crystal Perkins

Crystal Perkins serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Dance at The Ohio State University, where she also holds the position of Director of Graduate Studies. She earned her BFA in Dance Performance from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and her MFA in Dance from The Ohio State University. Before joining academia, Perkins was a prominent figure at the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC), performing with its professional touring company for nine seasons, serving as Associate Artistic Director, and acting as resident choreographer responsible for preserving an extensive repertory of masterworks by esteemed African American choreographers including Donald Byrd, Donald McKayle, and Dianne McIntyre.

In her teaching, Perkins instructs contemporary movement practice and contributes to the department through her administrative role. Her scholarly and artistic pursuits center on choreography, performance, and movement practice. A key endeavor is The Beautiful Archive Project, initiated during her travels to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, which comprises an audio archive examining perceptions of black female embodiment in contemporary dance performance. This project underpins her intermedia work, Boxing Up Beautiful. Perkins has garnered recognition with the 2014 Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council and the Josie Award for outstanding dance performance. She is affiliated with the OhioDance Board of Trustees and was selected for the inaugural Leadership Fellows program of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. Among her notable choreographic contributions are Unrested and Unfaithful, an ensemble piece featuring an original composition by the Khalid Moss Jazz Trio, now in DCDC’s permanent repertoire; The Descent of this Water: Rain (2014), commissioned by the Dublin Arts Council as a site-specific exploration of migration experiences for people of color in the American South; and The Difficulties of Flying, staged for OSU’s Faculty Concert and drawing on African American folklore to address migration, displacement, and homecoming. Perkins has collaborated with the Dayton Philharmonic, Blackbird String Quartet, University of Dayton’s Department of Music, and others, while serving as guest artist for the New Orleans Ballet Association/NOLA, Augusta Ballet Company, Compton Dance Theatre, and The Moving Architects.