Points of View
From the back of the stage, a single searchlight points in the direction of the audience, and as it does, it sweeps across the forms of seven dancers in Stephanie Lake’s “Seven Days.”
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Okwui Okpokwasili’s arms undulate, reach, and circle in the near dark under an oval projection of rippling water. Her arms babble out from her expressive back, capable of relating tales both epic and intimate. Notably, this is how I first encountered her work, nearly a decade ago, in “Bronx Gothic”—through her incredibly articulate spine and upper body coming into its own, conveying the metamorphosis of adolescence. In this moment, her explorations inside the framing of two steel concentric circles channel something else, a possible transference. Performers Bria Bacon, Kris Lee, and Katrina Reid, flank her on small stools, their faces veiled by wigs made of long strands of red beads. These headdresses are mysterious design elements, but they also function as part of the soundscape, becoming percussive instruments as heads swing side to side. Okpokwasili commands and conjures from the center and the ritual grows as, one by one, the performers migrate there to partner and then supplant one another.
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From the back of the stage, a single searchlight points in the direction of the audience, and as it does, it sweeps across the forms of seven dancers in Stephanie Lake’s “Seven Days.”
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