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Okwui
Okpokwasili

Okwui Okpokwasili
Performer and Choreographer
Brooklyn, NY
2018 USA Fellow

This award was generously supported by The Fred & Eve Simon Charitable Foundation.
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Okwui Okpokwasili is a Brooklyn-based writer, performer, and choreographer. Okpokwasili creates multidisciplinary projects with collaborator Peter Born, and frequently collaborates with award-winning director Ralph Lemon. Her New York productions include Poor People’s TV Room, Bronx Gothic, winner of the 2014 Performance “Bessie” Award for Outstanding Production, and Pent-Up: A Revenge Dance, recipient of a 2010 New York Dance and 2009 Performance “Bessie” Award for Outstanding Production.

Okpokwasili was a Randjelovic/Stryker Commissioned Artist at New York Live Arts from 2015-2017. Her residencies and awards include Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (2012, 2016), NYFA Fellowship in Choreography (2013), Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Extended Life Program (2014-15), The Foundation for Contemporary Arts’ Artist Grants in Dance (2014), Creative Capital Grant (2016), New England Foundation for the Arts, and National Dance Project.

Portrait photo by Peter Born.

  • Artwork by Okwui Okpokwasili
    Bronx Gothic: The Oval, Performance Installation, River to River Festival, 2014. Photo by Izzy Zimmerman.
  • Artwork by Okwui Okpokwasili
    Bronx Gothic, Danspace Project, 2014. Photo by Ian Douglas.
  • Artwork by Okwui Okpokwasili
    Poor People's TV Room, NYLA, Nehemoyia Young & Katrina Reid, 2017. Photo by Ian Douglas.
  • Artwork by Okwui Okpokwasili
    Poor People's TV Room, NYLA, Okwui Okpokwasili & Katrina Reid, 2017. Photo by Ian Douglas.
Artwork by Okwui Okpokwasili Artwork by Okwui Okpokwasili Artwork by Okwui Okpokwasili Artwork by Okwui Okpokwasili