Works & Process to Present West African Dance To AfrikFusion: With Marie Basse-Wiles & Omari Wiles

Works & Process presents West African Dance to AfrikFusion: Intergenerational Stories with Marie Basse-Wiles & Omari Wiles on Thursday, November 14, 2024 at 6pm at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts' Bruno Walter Auditorium, 111 Amsterdam Avenue, NY.

Admission is free, but advance registration is highly encouraged https://www.worksandprocess.org/calendar/works-and-process-at-the-nypl-mariebassewiles-omariwiles

In this event, decades of tradition, creation, preservation, innovation, and transference of knowledge are on view with West African dance cultural icon Marie Basse-Wiles and her son, Ballroom Legend Omari Wiles. A principal with the National Ballet of Senegal from 1973 to 1980, Wiles, after immigrating to America in 1982, founded the Maimouna Keita School of African Dance (MKSAD) in Brooklyn.

For 32 years MKSAD has brought together the African diaspora in an annual conference, and Basse-Wiles has trained generations of renowned artists whose impact continues to resonate the world over, including tours to Senegal, Mali, Gambia, and Guinea.

Her son Omari Wiles has followed in her footsteps while walking to the beat of his own drum, founding his own company Les Ballet Afrik (LBA) and creating AfrikFusion informed by Ball Culture, Vogue, and West African dance. Commissioned by Works & Process to collaborate on a new intergenerational work, Djapo, that brings together MKSAD and LBA and mother and son, we present the start of this new work that is the continuation of a rich dance history.

ABOUT WORKS & PROCESS

A non-profit without walls, Works & Process champions performing artists and their creative process from studio to stage. We platform artists from the world's largest organizations and amplify underrecognized performing arts cultures. We provide rare, longitudinal, and fully-funded creative residencies, and commissioning support. We present at the Guggenheim Museum, Manhattan West, and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, with the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. Each summer Works & Process curates and presents free dance programs with City Parks Foundation's SummerStage and NYC Parks.

Works & Process LaunchPAD "Process as Destination" provides artists multi-week residencies with 24/7 studio availability, on-site housing, health insurance enrollment access, industry-leading fees, and transportation to residency partners spanning counties in New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts.