Biography
Alyssa Hopkins began dancing at the age of three with a local studio, Doxa Dance Studio, in Gainesville, Florida. Alyssa continued to dance at Doxa until she dual enrolled at Santa Fe college on scholarship with a focus on dance. While at Santa Fe College, Hopkins had the opportunity to work with choreographers such as Doug Gillespie, Cornelius Carter, Wes Chapman, Stephanie Batten Bland, Joffrey Ballet artistic director Davis Robertson, and Broadway director Evan Pappas. Hopkins also had the opportunity during her time in Gainesville to teach dance at Doxa Dance Studio for two years.
Hopkins moved to Tampa, Florida where she recently graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance Studies. She has worked with artists such as John Parks, Andee Scott, Bliss Kholmeyer, Jeanne Travers, Paula Nunez, Andrew Carroll, Michael Foley, Heidi Henderson, Cindy Hennessy, Dean Xiao, Alex Ketley, Eileen Hebron, Franco De Vita, Carmela Gallace, and Raymond Lukens. During her time here, she has also researched the effectiveness of mental imagery administration by dance educators as a part of the Bachelor of Arts track within the university.
Hopkins is based in Tampa after founding Revelation Art Studios and continues to teach dance classes at her studio.
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Artist Statement
As a child I was interested in the look of dancing. How did that arm movement appear in to look in the reflective surface of my family’s sliding glass door, my makeshift mirror? Now, I am interested in the feeling of dance. I am interested in how a movement feels within myself and how it feels to be surrounded by the movement of the dancers around me. I am interested in feeling the community that is a part of dance. Even in a solo, dance reaches beyond the soloist and grabs the audience to pull them into the experiences of the dancer they watch to create a dialogue and between artist and audience. Even this is a creation of a new community.
I am a creator. I create meaning with my body. I create community in my work.
I am interested in human interaction and reaction.
How does a relationship grow? Does it only interact through small messages over a screen ? Is it merely the sharing of the same space with no acknowledgement? Does it grow into a community of people? With my body I explore these relationships with their possibilities. I explore action and reaction and the impact and significance they can hold.