A Walk with Helanius J. Wilkins

By Roger Riddle

How many times have you gone for a walk along the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail? Have you shared conversations with someone on those walks? Met someone new? Were you inspired by nature as you walked along the trail? Did it make you want to dance?

I am going to bet that you never spontaneously broke into dance because your walk on the Towpath was just that enjoyable. However, if you did, kudos to you, and I wish I had been there to see it. Because of a recent conversation I had along the trail, I may have even joined you.

I got to walk along the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail in the Summit Lake neighborhood with Helanius J. Wilkins, an award-winning choreographer, performance artist, and educator. He recently visited the National Center for Choreography at the University of Akron as part of their program, Ideas in Motion: 21st Century Dance Practices. During his time there he was also developing his current work titled, “The Conversation Series: Stitching the Geopolitical Quilt to Embody Belonging.”

Wilkins, a native of Lafayette, Louisiana, is now based in Boulder, Colorado. The population of Boulder is 1.2% Black, and Wilkins stated that he could go for days on end without running into another black person in the city. So, during the early days of the pandemic and with the social turmoil that the country was experiencing, Wilkins began walking up to 16 miles per day through his own neighborhood as a way to alleviate the fear of being in public that he had developed at the time. He intentionally walked the same path at the same time each day, hoping to reorient his relationship with the community he lived in.

Over the course of time, relationships started to develop because others were also engaged in their daily habits at the same time. By seeing the same people over and over, it resulted in them acknowledging each other and finding a way to break down barriers. Soon they began speaking to one another. This walking ritual helped to spark the idea to develop “The Conversation Series”.

During his time in Akron, Wilkins led a series of walks along the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail as a way to meet people who live in the communities along the way, gain input on his thoughts, and share ideas. I joined him on his final walk and was able to ask him a few questions about his work and how we use public spaces.

Akron Civic Commons: How have public spaces like parks, libraries, and community centers played a role in your life or work?
Helanius J Wilkins: In a general sense, public spaces are gathering sites. They are sites for community. They are sites where families gather. They are sites that hold memories of joy of togetherness, and enjoyment of bonding time.

There's also the other side. Everything is not roses. There are memories of being barred from – not being able to access certain public spaces, so there's that.

But what I most hold with me is family and how public spaces became a site for connection.

ACC: We are out here at Summit Lake and hiking along the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail and I am curious how nature influences you in terms of creativity.
Wilkins: Beautiful question, especially considering how my current work is anchored in how to reconnect to land as a means to move forward.

I think there is an understanding that's important about how we are of the land and being with the land allows for seeing the world differently and seeing others differently. Seeing that it is a point of connection and seeing that it is not about ownership, but it's about being with.

Specifically, as to being here at Summit Lake as an outsider, if you will, and my journeys along the Towpath Trail and learning from the community members of Akron and hearing their stories, I am seeing how through all of the differences, we also have commonalities and that public spaces hold some of the same anchors for people.

ACC: You mentioned that talking and getting to know people as you have done these walks along the Towpath Trail you found commonalities. Can you share one that really struck home for you?
Wilkins: Reunions, that's a big one. A place for people to go and be with their families and celebrate in all of its ways. And also the joy that comes up when people share, “Oh I remember when...we used to play in the park and sit on this swing and my friends, we used to go here first and then go here...” It's like the inner child comes out. So, like, to reconnect with that place of innocence, if you will, that place not colored with the greater intensities of society but how it holds a moment of real joy. A third thing I would say is people have clear, very clear memories of when things changed. When it was no longer, or when their families had to relocate.

ACC: Now that you've been here at Summit Lake and you've seen it and walked around it, what inspires you about this place? Or if you were introducing someone to Summit Lake, what would you point out and describe about this place?
Wilkins: Let's see, it's interesting. I would point people to people. I feel like something I am walking away with is this landscape is really a connector, but it is a connector because of the people. So I would want people to know about organizations and people who are connected to the community because I feel like it enlivens what the physical landscape is like.

And going back to your first question, what's holding for me is the vitality. It's been a long haul, but the work that is happening to reclaim is actually impacting the greater community at large and stitching the community back together, which is what my work is about. How do we stitch ourselves back together again? How do we create sites for healing and uniting to move forward? I feel the vitality of Summit Lake is doing just that. It's bringing people together.

ACC: Given all that you just said about people connecting to space and stitching people together, obviously you had the idea for your work prior to walking here but now that you have done these walks along the Towpath Trail, do you see these walks playing a role in your work, and if so, how?
Wilkins: That's a portal to illuminate a little bit more about how the work will come into being. The work is going to result in multiple outcomes. I am rooted as a choreographer and dancer so there will be a series of brand new choreographies. There's also a feature-length documentary film and there will be a digital humanities archive that will be available to the general public.

And the ways in which I am working in and with communities to do the work, I am striving to build a diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice toy kit. “Toy kit” is intentional because “tool” implies “to fix” and I am not a fixer. I am coming in to be with the community, but I am hoping that in the ways we interact, we come up with exercises, experiences, or writing that we can share with the public. Then when people access that information they can create their own mosaic of things that they can use to work in their own communities and build their own sense of belonging. So it's a long arc – it's a seven to ten-year process.

To make the work I am going to visit all 50 states, the territories, and DC to learn, and then what's offered back is what I call a choreographic ritual, a movement response that is site-specific and free to the public. Then from that, I build a dance that goes into the stage production that represents that state. So, when people see it, they see a reflection of themselves in the work.

Walking along the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail offers opportunities to connect with nature, and by inviting family and friends along, it can mean making long-lasting memories. Pack a lunch the next time you hike along the trail, find a bench, and take it all in. You may find yourself dancing the rest of the way along the trail.

To learn more about Helanius J. Wilkins and his work, please visit his website at helaniusj.com. Interested in dance? Visit the National Center for Choreography at the University of Akron at nccakron.org. To plan your next walk along the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail and visit Summit Lake, please visit https://www.ohioeriecanal.org. If you want to learn more and get involved with Akron Civic Commons, visit https://www.akronciviccommons.org.