Darvejon Jones, (pronounced: dar—vee—yawn) is a father + an “articulate” dance-based multimodal artist committed to creating work reflecting the array of Black experiences in the United States. His creative research methodology synthesizes symbolism, metaphor, mythology, history, spirituality, and context, with dance performance, viewership, and interpretation.
Jones's artistic roots run deep, shaped and trained by legendary tap dancers Paul and Arlene Kennedy of Universal Dance Designs in Los Angeles and critically supported by movie stars and activists Victoria Rowell and Samuel L. Jackson. He was also closely mentored by and performed works for Ray Tadio, a master of the Horton Technique and former Ailey II performer and rehearsal director, and Dr. Albirda "Bird" Rose, founder of the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification, beloved ballet teacher Wendy Diamond at San Francisco State University, and Contemporary Ballet with Lee Wei Chao, and Intermediate and Advanced Horton Technique with Kat Roman at Alonzo King LINES Ballet. His performance career also includes works by Emmy award-winning choreographers Ashley Roland and Jamey Hampton, and notable choreographers like Brenda Way, Kimi Okada, Ar Vejon Jones, Christian von Howard, Oluyinka Akinjiola, Sara Parker, Heidi Duckler, Maya Ciarrocchi, Jose Limon, Alethea Pace, and many (many) others.
Darvejon makes Black dance. Regarding form and corporeality, he is interested in showcasing freedom and liberation through his movement vocabulary, often shapeshifting, remixing, and abstracting Black movement vernacular. For Jones, rhythm is apparent even in the absence of a score or downbeat. Common archetypes in Jones's dance works include messengers of death across various cultures, the buffoon, etc. His creative process is intensely physical and responsive to current events, history, poetry, visual art, rap, jazz, radical imagination, everyday assumptions, language, and rage. As a curious artist, he frequently explores how elements like phantasmagoria as horror theatre, puppetry, poetry, and African American traditional spiritual practices enhance the theatricality of Black dance and contribute to the calls to action in his performances.
His works have been presented at the Mckenna Theater, The Black Choreographers Festival at Dance Mission, and PUSHfest in San Francisco; Headwaters Theater, Studio 2, and BodyVox in Portland, Oregon, under the Darvejon Jones Dance Ensemble moniker; La MaMa Moves festival at La MaMa Experimental Theater, Triskelion Arts, The Kraine Theater, and The Kaye Playhouse, Pioneers Go East Collective’s Crossroads series at Socrates Sculpture Park in New York City.
Jones has been highly involved in the development of Hunter College Dance Department’s Anti-Racism Strategic Plan, identifying harmful teaching practices, drafting solutions, and recommending actions to remediate those harmful practices in our learning communities and the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance for the New York State Department of Education. Additionally, he was a representative for the Hunter College Arts & Humanities Curriculum Committee, in which he reviewed and voted to approve or deny course proposals across arts and humanities departments through a culturally sustaining student-centered lens — a practice that he has carried with him from his time as a member of the Arts Cadre of Washington State.
Academically, Jones holds a BA in Dance Performance and Choreography and a minor in Japanese Language and Literature from San Francisco State University, where he earned the Junior Potential Award, the Norinna Miller Scholarship, and the Robert Moses Kin Summer Study Scholarship awards. He earned an MFA in Dance with distinctions in Outstanding research, Outstanding performance, and Outstanding service, and the George N. Shuster Award for Outstanding Thesis from Hunter College School of Arts and Sciences. He has curated a panel for the Dance Studies Association, Radical Acts of Translation, called “Dancing Together with Time,” a discussion between dance scholars that asserted a connection between the ideologies of manifest destiny and the harmful practices of contemporaneity on dance forms from historically disenfranchised cultural groups.
Situated at the crossroads of criticism of oppressive structures, multipotentiality, and sweaty virtuosity, Jones consistently grapples with his role in caring for his audience when presenting social issues with dance. In his work, he strives to provoke discomfort, inspire thoughtfulness and empathy, showcase the beauty and embodied intelligence of his collaborators, and cultivate the courage needed for collective liberation in his audiences. Darvejon is an assistant professor of Dance at Hunter College, which is part of the City University of New York, where he has taught and mentored students of all levels in the BA, MA in Dance Education, and MFA programs for returning professionals. In January 2025, Jones received the highly competitive Fiscal Year 2025 Faculty Advancement Award research support grant from the Office of the Provost at Hunter College.
As literary works of choreography, Jones's critical dance writing shapeshifts between prose and exposition with ease. His writing can be found in CULTUREBOT, Movement Research and Performance Journal, and BOMB Magazine.
In the Fall of 2025, he will be teaching Topics in Teaching for Higher Education and Jazz 1 (Beginning Tap). Additionally, he is creating a new work for the Kaye Playhouse’s Fall Production and serving as a mentor and project writer for two artists in Pepatián’s Dancing Futures Residency at the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance.
For more, visit www.darvejon.com