Antonio Douthit-Boyd

Antonio Douthit-Boyd is Artistic Director of Dance at COCA, where he began his dance training at the age of sixteen under Lee Nolting’s dance direction. 

He has trained at Alexandra School of Ballet, North Carolina School of the Arts, Joffrey Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, and Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem School. Antonio joined Dance Theatre of Harlem Company in 2000 under the direction of Arthur Mitchell and appeared in featured roles choreographed by George Balanchine: The Four Temperaments, Agon, and Serenade. He became a Soloist with the company in 2003. 

Antonio joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2004, where he danced as a principal artist for twelve years. He has worked with world-renowned choreographers such as Alvin Ailey, Judith Jamison, Robert Battle, Wayne MacGregor, Jiri Kylian, and Paul Taylor. Featured roles include: Alvin Ailey’s “I Wanna Be Ready” (a solo from Revelation); “Polish Pieces” by Hans van Manen; “Firebird” by Maurice Bejart; and “Episodes,” “Bad Blood,” and “Urban Folk Dance” by Ulysses Dove. He has performed for President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama, Queen Elizabeth II, Michael Jackson, and a list of high-profile patrons of the arts. 

Antonio is an ABT® Certified Teacher who has completed the ABT® Teacher Training Program for Pre-Primary–6/7 and Partnering through the ABT® National Training Curriculum. He teaches ballet as a Professor of Practice in Dance at Washington University in St. Louis in the collaborative MFA program between the University and COCA. In 2021, Antonio and his husband Kirven Douthit-Boyd received the Excellence in the Arts Award from the Arts and Education Council in St. Louis. Antonio earned his Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Hollins University.