Dance Out East: Djapo by Marie Basse Wiles and Omari Wiles

Kick off the New Year with dance and be the first to see three new performances commissioned by Works & Process on Long Island’s East End at The Church in Sag Harbor, Guild Hall of East Hampton, and The Watermill Center. The inaugural Dance Out East culminates week-long creative residencies, provides unique insight into the process and preparation of new choreographed works that will sequence into the Works & Process Underground Uptown Dance Festival at the Guggenheim Museum.

Event Tickets $25/$20 members

Visit: http://www.danceouteast.org

Dance Out East: Djapo by Marie Basse Wiles and Omari Wiles

The Watermill Center with Works & Process at the Guggenheim

Saturday, January 11, 2 pm 

West African dance cultural icon Marie Basse-Wiles and her son, Ballroom Icon Omari Wiles (CATS: The Jellicle Ball) co-create Djapo bringing together dancers from the Maimouna Keita School of African Dance (MKSAD), founded by Basse-Wiles, and Les Ballet Afrik, founded by Wiles. For 32 years MKSAD has brought together the African diaspora in an annual conference and Basse-Wiles has trained generations of renown 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, creating AfrikFusion informed by Afro Club Culture, Vogue, and West African dance. See excerpts from this new work that is the continuation of a rich dance history.

Djapo is commissioned by Works & Process and has received Works & Process LaunchPAD residency support at Bethany Arts Community (2024) and The Watermill Center (2025). Djapo is supported by the New York State Council on the Arts.

DANCE OUT EAST

Dance Out East celebrates dance on the East End of Long Island, builds partnerships to support artists and their creative process, and illuminates for the public how works are created. The inaugural 2025 Dance Out East is a collaboration with Works & Process in partnership with The Church in Sag Harbor, Guild Hall of East Hampton, and The Watermill Center.

WORKS & PROCESS

A non-profit performing arts organization without walls, Works & Process champions performing artists and their creative process each step from studio to stage. Works & Process platforms artists from the world’s largest organizations and amplifies underrecognized performing arts cultures by providing rare, longitudinal, and fully-funded creative residencies, and commissioning support. Works & Process presents at the Guggenheim Museum, 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 Manhattan West and 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 Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont.

Stay connected: @worksandprocess

worksandprocess.org

THE WATERMILL CENTER

Founded in 1992 by avant-garde visionary Robert Wilson, The Watermill Center is an interdisciplinary laboratory for the arts and humanities situated on ten acres of Shinnecock ancestral territory on Long Island’s East End. With an emphasis on creativity and collaboration, Watermill offers year-round artist residencies and education programs, providing a global community with the time, space, and freedom to create and inspire. Watermill’s rural campus combines multifunctional studios with ten acres of manicured grounds and gardens, housing a carefully curated art collection, expansive research library, and archives illustrating the life and work of Artistic Director, Robert Wilson. Watermill’s facilities enable Artists-in-Residence to integrate resources from the humanities and research from the sciences into contemporary artistic practice. Through year-round public programs, Watermill demystifies the artistic process by facilitating unique insight into the creative process of a rotating roster of national and international artists.

Stay connected: @watermillcenter

watermillcenter.org