Dancers

Hope Blackburn

Company Artist

Hope Blackburn is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her dance training began under the direction of Joy Delaney-Capponi at the Philadelphia Dance Theatre where she portrayed numerous principal roles, most distinctly that of the Firebird. Inspiration also stemmed from the time she spent performing at the annual Regional Dance America festivals. Hope went on to study at Butler University where she graduated with a BFA in Dance Performance and a BA in English Literature in the spring of 2021. Here, Hope invested herself in various practices of dance in addition to ballet allowing for a growing love and affinity for modern dance. With the Butler Ballet, Hope performed soloist and corps roles in full-length ballets including The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. She has also danced in some vibrant new works created by Cynthia Pratt, Derek Reid, and Susan McGuire. Hope has fallen in love with the art of choreography, and recently, she has enjoyed experimenting and setting works of movement on her peers. Other elements of this art that deeply resonate with her are improvisation and dance history. She is an advocate for the transformative power of dance for all people. Outside of studio life (and during the recent quarantine), Hope seeks out time for writing poetry, painting, or dancing somewhere outdoors. Hope joined Ekklesia as an Apprentice II in 2021, and was promoted to a Company Artist in January 2022.