Choreographer Omari Wiles on Collaborating With His Mom, Dance Luminary Marie Basse-Wiles

As the founder of Les Ballet Afrik and one of the choreographers behind the recent CATS reimagining, The Jellicle Ball, Omari Wiles has become a fixture of New York City’s dance scene, known for mixing house and vogue styles with African dance. Wiles’ mother, Marie Basse-Wiles, is also a New York legend: A pillar of the African diaspora dance community, she is the co-founder, co-CEO, and artistic director of the Maimouna Keita School of African Dance in Brooklyn. Works & Process commissioned mother and son to create a new piece together for the upcoming Underground Uptown Dance Festival. Omari took a moment to discuss the work, Djapo—which features dancers from both the Maimouna Keita School and Les Ballets Afrik—ahead of its January 12 premiere.

Works & Process has supported the creation of your work in the past. How is this time different?
Djapo is an opportunity for my mom and I to put our creative minds together to give more visibility to African culture. No ballroom, no voguing. This piece is really tapping into Senegalese and Malian music and dance.

When people come to see Djapo, what should they expect to see?
A great show, for one! They should expect to see Senegalese and Malian culture, presented in a way that is going to feel like a music video. It’s going to feel like we’re watching club culture and how that has evolved within those two countries. We’re going to see how TikTok and social media have influenced the pop and urban culture of Senegal and Mali. Musically, we are taking live instruments and percussion and having a DJ mix and master that into a club sound, into Afrobeats.

How are you and your mother influencing each other from your respective spheres of practice?
My mom is very traditional. She has so much knowledge that I don’t have when it comes to the Senegalese and Malian dance rhythms. I’m taking those [traditional] steps and creating sequences with them that [don’t follow traditional structures]. We’re creating our own way of speaking the language, playing with the relationship between the music, the dancer, and the steps. She looks at me and she sees how my brain starts to think, and then she starts to smile, and we start to smile at each other. That energy fills the room. Then we start to challenge each other more. I’m always telling her, “Don’t take it easy, give me some of those hard steps!”

How are the dancers rising to the challenge of this hybrid work?
Something I love about working with Works & Process is being able to have residencies where we get to spend a lot of time with the dancers. We sit together, eat together, and talk about the piece and how it feels on their bodies. A lot of my company members are not so familiar with Senegalese dance styles. It’s challenging for them, but at the same time it is feeding their creativity and their excitement as artists to continue their education and their growth.

What do you hope people take away from seeing Djapo?
I hope that they see Senegal and Mali and their potential. [My mother and I] are not the pioneers of this work. We’re wanting to further the support and visibility for these cultures. We want to give a sense of unity amongst the elder and younger generations and a sense of respect for what we have and what they have taught us. My life’s work, when I fuse African steps with voguing, contemporary, and house, is that I’m always paying homage to my elders. I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want Africa to lose that. I hope the audience is inspired and motivated to continue that connection.