Creative Collaborator

Beyond the social constructs of race, religion, gender, and ability, Kevin LaMarr Jones is living proof that dance and music can unite the world. Since graduating with a B.F.A. in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University and B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Richmond, Jones has become a graphic designer, dancer, choreographer, and producer based in Richmond, Virginia.

Jones’s dance portfolio includes work as a professional company member with the Latin Ballet of Virginia, as well as the founder and curator of CLAVES UNIDOS, a community-based dance academy. Through his work with CLAVES UNIDOS, Jones connects community members in Richmond, Virginia to individuals and cultures around the globe using dances and music from the African diaspora as a vehicle. The centerpiece of this work is a free, weekly community dance class (African Roots Reunion) held Saturday mornings that Jones has led since 2011.

Mr. Jones began cultivating embodied dance knowledge at his first studio, his parents' long-standing night club, Meljo's Restaurant in Freeman, Virginia, where he would take over the turntables and the dance floor during off-hours to create dances inspired by Soul Train broadcasts, his favorite music videos, and the birth of Hip Hop. He credits this opportunity, to explore movement independently from a young age, as the foundation for both his creative aesthetic and his anti-biased approach to dance. He began connecting the ways of moving he had acquired with a global-African dance awareness in the mid-1990s when as a UR student, he was introduced to the music of salsa band, Bio Ritmo and the reggae band, Awareness Art Ensemble.

Jones studied traditional West African dance with Sister Faye Walker and Judy Lynn Edwards. He discovered his passion for flamenco through teachers such as Ana Ines King, Anna Menendez, Antonio Hidalgo Paz, and Miguel Vargas and many master flamenco teachers through travels to New York, Washington DC, Jerez de la Frontera, Madrid and Seville. He has studied Afro-Cuban dances with Ifé Michelle Milligan, Alberto Limonta Perez and other master teachers in workshops between Miami, New York and Barcelona. He has studied salsa and partner dancing with artists including Edwin Roa, Steve Greene, Boris Karabashev, and Yamil Boo. In 2006 & 2007 he delved into community engagement through the arts Urban Bush Women's Summer Leadership Institute in Brooklyn, NY. In 2015, he performed with his Bomba Afro-Puerto Rican dance teacher, Isha Renta, as an invited guest artist with Semilla Cultural, at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors for Dogtown Dance Theatre where he also creates and presents concert dance performances and productions.

*Photo credit: Elli Morris