Billy James Hawkins III is a Detroit-born dance artist, choreographer, educator, and entrepreneur whose multifaceted career is deeply rooted in lived experience, cultural memory, and embodied inquiry. He began his formal dance training at Lewis Cass Technical High School under the mentorship of Anthony Smith. But his true first encounter with movement began in the Black Missionary Baptist church where he was raised. Watching his sisters praise dance and witnessing the spiritual ecstasy of the congregation—shouting, running, clapping, swaying—he understood early that the body carries history, spirit, and transformation.

In December 2010, Billy’s family relocated to High Point, North Carolina. He went on to earn his BFA in Dance Performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) in 2017. While at UNCSA, he performed works by renowned choreographers including Juel D. Lane (How to Kill A Ghost, When the Beat Drops), Doug Varone (Democracy), Merce Cunningham (Sounddance), and Paul Taylor (Esplanade), among others. His training culminated in an international experience at the Kyoto Dance Festival in Japan, where he studied abroad—sacrificing the chance to walk at graduation in order to dance across cultures.

Shortly after returning to the U.S., Billy joined the dance ensemble of Eugene Onegin for the 2017 Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC—his first professional performance engagement. He then became a core collaborator with Theatre of Movement, an interdisciplinary arts organization founded and directed by Duane Cyrus. Billy continues to serve as Cyrus's rehearsal assistant and performer, contributing to works such as Hero Complexities, Colony of Desire (Charlotte Ballet, 2019), and most recently Infinity/Eternity, which was set on students at the University of Arizona.

Billy’s presence extends beyond performance into curatorial and visual spaces. He has been featured in several exhibitions, most notably Black@Intersection at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (now The North Carolina Museum of Art), curated by Duane Cyrus.

In 2021, Billy earned his MFA in Dance Choreography from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro—becoming the first Black graduate of the MFA program in 15 years. That same year, he joined the dance faculty at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, serving for four years. Beginning as a Limited-Term Assistant Professor, then Lecturer of Dance in his third year, Billy taught an expansive range of courses including Contemporary Dance, Dance Composition, Improvisation (including Contact Improvisation), African Contemporary Technique, African Jazz, Ballet, and Dance Entrepreneurship—a course he personally designed. He also served as the department's Internship Coordinator, led independent studies, mentored senior capstone projects, and was faculty of record for the 2024 KSU Summer Choreographic Residency.

Billy is the founder and Artistic Director of The III Collective, a project-based dance company generating work rooted in a persistent inquiry into the politics of embodiment—investigating how race, memory, identity, spirituality, and sociopolitical structures are navigated, resisted, and reimagined through the moving body. His work aims to be both timely and timeless—committed to both personal truth and collective liberation.

As a choreographer, Billy’s works have been presented in diverse settings: from university stages to galleries and grassroots festivals. His choreography has been seen across North Carolina, Atlanta (Fall for Fall Festival, KSU Dance Company concerts, Zuckerman Museum of Art), Chattanooga, TN, and Starke, FL, among others. He has also been featured at the Ferst Center for the Arts and the 28th Annual Hambidge Art Auction. In 2023, he was a Resident Artist for the Dance Canvas/Atlanta Contemporary Residency and currently serves as an Arts Advisor to Dance Canvas resident artists.

Billy is a founding member of the Community Advisory Board (CAB) for The Black Artist Dance Collective (Atlanta), where he also serves on the organization's General Board as Secretary and functions as the official liaison between both boards.

As a freelance performer, he has danced with ALA Dance Company (Atlanta, under the direction of Atarius Armstrong), and with other choreographers and companies including Veronica Silk, Julio Medina, and Rainbow Serpent Pittsburgh.

He is also one of only four certified Master Teachers of Safety Release, a somatic-based technique founded by Elizabeth "B.J." Sullivan. Billy regularly teaches Safety Release across the country, offering masterclasses to dancers of all levels.

He has been featured in WABE Radio, Bold Journey Magazine, ArtsATL, and notably, was the first dancer ever to appear on the cover of UNCG Research Magazine.