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Olga El is a performance activist, writer, and director. Movement—particularly martial arts; aerial arts; and dances from North Africa, West Africa, and the Diaspora—is seamlessly interwoven into her work. In March 2011, she founded The Kandake—a dance-theatre that combines activism and community engagement with folkloric, theatrical, and experimental artistry. She has performed for HBO, BAM, PlayStation Theater, Webster Hall, House of Yes, Dixon Place, TED Med, Park Avenue Armory, The Lincoln Center, and many other venues. She wrote 1001 Nights: Love Stories on Death Row (A Rock Opera), which saw several "downtown" commissions before the full script was solicited by Off-Broadway entities The Public Theater in 2015 and MCC in 2019 (along with her new play Jaguar Woman.) These dance-heavy works form two-thirds of a trilogy of socio-political, multidisciplinary plays. She is happy to combine her love of dance and writing for Broadway World and she's particularly interested in covering works by those underepresented in mainstream theater and dance arenas.
BWW Review: Back to Afro-Futurism
October 23, 2015
October 23, 2015
Afrofuturism is a literary, cultural and otherwise artistic aesthetic that combines elements of science fiction, history, fantasy and magic realism to address issues concerning people of color. So where does queerness fit into this aesthetic? Some answers could be found in afroFUTUREqu##r, a four-day festival of sorts, that went up at the JACK theatre last week in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
BWW Review: Einstein's 'Athletes of the Gods'
October 19, 2015
October 19, 2015
Albert Einstein once said 'Dancers are the athletes of the gods.' As I sat in the audience of October 9th's Fall for Dance line up at the City Center, admiring the exquisite dance technique displayed by each company, I felt those words becoming a reality. Yet, what literal or nonliteral gods were these companies attempting to embody, I wondered.
BWW Review: Down the Rabbit Hole with Mehdi-Georges Lahlou
October 5, 2015
October 5, 2015
The Merton P. Simpson gallery opened its doors at 6:53pm for its 7pm show--- tireless preparation for what was to come. I followed fellow guests into a small space filled with treasures from all over Africa as well as modern interpretations of traditional art. It was with these aesthetics in mind that the gallery's curator, Alaina Simone, invited French-Moroccan Mehdi-Georges Lahlou to be a featured guest performer at the gallery last Friday.
BWW Review: The Peculiar Genius of Mmakgosi Kgabi
September 28, 2015
September 28, 2015
When you legitimately start to question the performer's sanity, you know you've arrived at the best kind of avant-garde theatre!
BWW Review: Trainor Dance's Fifth Anniversary Season at Ailey
September 24, 2015
September 24, 2015
Trainor Dance's fifth anniversary season opened with multi-colored ghosts descending from the sky- silk skirts that featured as heavily as the dancers themselves in this excerpt of Faux Pas. The fabric was manipulated into a variety of shapes and garments, which has led many to draw comparisons with Martha Graham's Lamentation, but a mild similarity in costuming is where the comparison should probably end.
BWW Review: DANCE NOW's Closing Night
September 16, 2015
September 16, 2015
Last Saturday I had the pleasure of punctuating my night at Joe's Pub for DANCE NOW- an innovative dance festival, celebrating its 20th year, featuring brief dance vignettes on a bite size stage. The pub was vibrant- a full house buzzing with anticipation under chic, mood lighting...
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