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.