In 2003, Brian Evans came to Gustavus Adolphus College, as he puts it, “a non-dancing social justice college football player.” Now he is a professional dancer for the Stuart Pimsler Dance Company, and on Sept. 14 of this year Evans was awarded the “Outstanding Performer” SAGE award.

SAGE awards give recognition to achievements in the Minnesota dance community. It was through a series of opportunities, hard work and talent that Evans made the transition to this point.

Through his four years at Gustavus, Evans was involved in football, choir, theatre and dance. Because of this, the highlights of his four-year career are incredibly varied. They range from being involved in I am We Are to playing four years for the Golden Gusties to singing the National Anthem for the last home game in the old Hollingsworth Field.

He believes that being involved in so many activities “gives me the ability to adapt very well and very quickly to my surroundings and an advantage to successfully ‘put my best foot forward’ in any given situation,” Evans said.

Evans claims that it is because he went to this college that he started dancing. It was while he was at Gustavus that professor Maria Teirney (now retired), suggested to Evans that he try dancing. Later it was adjunct professor Laura Selle-Virtucio that approached Evans after class about possibly dancing with the Stuart Pimsler Dance Company.

Brian Evans is now working on his fourth year with the company. It is “truly my dream gig,” Evans said.

Stuart Pimsler Dance Company has been around for 30 years. Over half of the company’s work is community-based through outreach programs, health care, school residencies and workshops. They tour nationally and internationally.

Social justice is a key component to the work; they are “effectively and eloquently combining theater, dance and music in a delectable way that transcends and lends itself to truly connect with their audience: we listen to the audience via talk back sessions after performances,” Evans said.

He added that the company is run in such a way that highlights each individual’s talents. This “allows for a cooperative working environment and encourages this sense of family that I feel is unique in the dance world and perhaps most workspaces,” Evans said.

One of the pieces that has impacted Evans the most is entitled “Ways to Behold.” “[It is] hands down the most impacting piece I have experienced,” Evans said. “It was first piece I was professionally involved with from start to finish. It involved collaboration between spoken word, live music and a theatrical sense,” Evans said. It also incorporated “a strong emotional foundation, beautiful dance moments and a social justice underpinning.” The piece promoted an “overall sense of outreach through cohesion of multiple streams of inputs from all that collaborated, and the aftermath [was] a very moved audience. I absolutely love it,” Evans said.

Evans has shared many fond memories with Stuart Pimsler Dance Company, but one of his favorites was a series of three one-week retreats it did in Ely, Minn. The retreats were held at the Tofte Lake Center, run by Liz Engleman. They were “in a word … magnificent,” Evans said.

“My receiving the SAGE Award for Outstanding Performer is truly a testament to the Twin Cities dance community,” Evans said. Evans has had an abundance of diverse opportunities in the Twin Cities and said that to have transformed from a “non-dancing social justice college football player into a peer-nominated SAGE Outstanding Performer in the art booming Twin Cities” after only four years of dancing has been truly an honor for him. “Words can’t come close to what an honor it is for me and how proud I am to belong to such excellence,” Evans said.

Evans has big plans for the future, all of which build upon his current success.

In five years, “I see myself still taking on as many opportunities that come my way,” Evans said, and “gaining as much performance experience as I am able to get my hands on.” In 10 years, “I intend to go back for some sort of post-grad degree with the focus of combining my experience to effectively and efficiently fuse my art with social justice ends,” Evans said.

“I feel art in this country is highly underutilized, and my hope is to affect those who do not have access to high art on a regular basis and positively affect as much of the world as I can,” Evans said.

The Gustavus community offers our congratulations to Brian Evans for receiving the SAGE Award for “Outstanding Performer.” We extend our best wishes to him in the years to come as he continues to move audiences with his skills as a performer and his passion for social justice.