Spotlight: Les Ballet Afrik

LES BALLET AFRIK
CROSSROADS

In his new work in progress, Crossroads, Omari Mizrahi honors the obstacles one must face in life. The work will be built on the human experience of moving through life’s difficulties and aim to expose its vulnerabilities and fears. How will you judge us as we fearlessly let you in?

Ousmane Wiles (aka Omari Mizrahi), born in Senegal, began his training in West African dance at the age of 6. He then joined with his mother and father Marie Basse Wiles and Anthony Olukose Wiles, known masters in West African dance. Ousmane continued his training with his parent’s company, The Maimouna Ketia School of African Dance, as a member of the children’s company. Working with master African dancers, he developed the skills needed to teach the art of traditional African style dancing. He later became the assistant director of his mother’s company, and his work became widely viewed. Over the years, he began teaching in schools around New York City and performing with local African companies in New York and New Jersey.

He trained and fell in love with other styles such as hip hop, ballet, modern, pop, house and vogue. Ousmane has worked with many artists in and out of the US, such as Janet Jackson, Rashaad Newsome, Jidenna, John Legend, Wunmi, Ephrat Asherie Dance Company, Jennifer Hudson, and many more. He has developed his own name– “Omari Tipton” or “Omari Mizrahi.”

Ousmane is now working on creating his own style of dance that blends African, vogue and house as one. You can find him teaching in some of New York’s top dance studios such as Broadway Dance Center, Peridance, EXPG and, most recently, Brick House Dance Studio.

Read more on Omari Mizrahi in his interview on Filling the Blank Page.

Join us for Living Gallery, a free and live performance in Gibney’s Gallery with Evelyn Lilian Sánchez Narvaez on Apr. 5th at 7:00 pm prior to the performance.

Photo by AJ Paris.

Spotlight highlights the work of early-career artists with generous support from the Jerome Foundation.

ACCESSIBILITY

The accessible entrance for this location is located at 280 Broadway. Please note that this is a shared entrance with the New York City Department of Buildings. To access the elevator, attendees may be asked to provide a valid photo ID and go through building security, including a metal detector.

Requests for reasonable accommodation or for access to the 280 Broadway entrance after 5:00 pm or on the weekend should be made three days in advance by contacting Elyse Desmond at 646.837.6809 (Voice only), or by e-mailing elyse@gibneydance.org.