Leni Wylliams

As an instructor, Wyllliams was praised as having the incredible ability to inspire dancers to believe in themselves – to believe the impossible was possible. If they worked hard, they could achieve whatever in dance they wanted. Dancers adored Wylliams and trusted him so implicitly they would give him their all. If a class was stuck, Wylliams would sing Summertime and tell the students to start moving to it. At question-and-answer sessions following end-of-residencies performances during which Wylliams “wowed” student audiences, he was oftentimes begged to sing Summertime as he had so often done while he taught.

Wylliams began to pursue dance training at the Denver-based school of Cleo Parker Robinson during his early teens and subsequently advanced to performing in her company – Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble – until 1982 when at the invitation of Eleo Pomare, he moved to New York City to appear with Eleo Pomare Dance Company. Ultimately, Pomare set all of his solos on Wylliams - entrusting Wylliams to dance all of the roles he - Pomare - had created and performed for himself.

Wylliams met Mary Pat Henry while both were guest artists at a festival in Vancouver, BC, Canada. It was there that they both became aware of their remarkably-similar visions of dance and its history. Soon after, Henry relocated to the University of Missouri–Kansas City to teach at its Conservatory of Music and then beckoned Wylliams to move there too. During 1991, the two of them founded Wylliams/Henry Danse Theatre [WHDT] and were its co-artistic-directors.

December 11, 1997, Evans was found guilty of first-degree murder, first-degree arson and armed criminal action. On January 30, 1998, he was given a life sentence in the beating death, a life sentence for armed criminal action, plus 15 years for first-degree arson.

Wylliams performed his Sweet In The Morning during “Masters Night” on Wednesday, July 3 at the 1996 National Black Arts Festival [NBAF] in Atlanta, GA. That signature solo danced by Wylliams was shown along with a select array of presentations by other NBAF performance artists in a televised documentary of the festival - Ark of the Spirit with Avery Brooks - produced by. Turner Broadcasting System

During the morning of Friday, September 13, 1996, Wylliams was found slain – bludgeoned, doused with a flammable, and set on fire – inside the bedroom of his Benton Boulevard, Kansas City home. The Jackson County medical examiner's office determined Wylliams had died of blunt trauma and smoke inhalation.

On September 17, 1996, suspect Timothy O. Evans - 26 years old - was apprehended and charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Evans’ fingerprints had been found on Wylliams’ car, on the front door of his home, and on the 10-pound steel dumbbell used in the bludgeoning. Wylliams’ blood was found on shoes and clothing belonging to Evans. Prior to his encounter with Wylliams, Evans had told acquaintances he was going out to “jack” [rob] someone.

In 1992, Wylliams choreographed what was to become his signature solo - Sweet In The Morning'' - with vocals by Bobby McFerrin.

Wylliams was assistant choreographer for Martin, a ballet tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. with music and libretto by Gordon Parks which premiered in Washington, D.C. during 1989 and was screened on national television on King's birthday in 1990. Wylliams, too, assisted Carmen De Lavallade in choreographing the Metropolitan Opera’s 1990 staging of Porgy and Bess .

The November 1983 performance by Wylliams as "Profit Jones" in Eleo Pomare’s Radiance of the Dark during Eleo Pomare Dance Company’s 25th anniversary season was reported in a New York Times’ review as being “show stopping”. A May 1985 NY Times review of dances presented by José Limón Dance Company's Clay Taliaferro cites “the impressive Leni Wylliams”. During Fred Benjamin Dance Company's twentieth year celebration in 1989, Wylliams danced the solo Illuminations which Benjamin remarked "just about stopped the show!"

In Boston during the late-1980s-into-very-early-1990s, Wylliams was interim-artistic-director of the Danny Sloan Dance Company; was founding artistic director of Wyll/Danse Theatre; collaborated with multi-Emmy-Award-winning-television-producer Barbara Barrow-Murray; appeared with Sarah Caldwell’s Opera Company of Boston [OCB]; was assistant choreographer to renown-Broadway-choreographer Patricia Birch for the OCB’s staging of Leonard Bernstein’s "Mass”, as well as for an OCB engagement at the Bolshoi in Moscow.

Wylliams (born Leonard Morrell Williams in Denver, January 15, 1961 – September 13, 1996) was an African-American dancer and choreographer.