For over 30 years Bed-Stuy’s own Maimouna Keita African Dance Company has celebrated the rich art and heritage of Africa and its diaspora through extensive classes and performances. Named after Bambara singer and dancer Maimouna Keita and led by her granddaughter, Artistic Director Marie Basse-Wiles, the company also produces an annual conference that hosts dance, music, and cultural workshops helmed by masters from Senegal, Mali, Guinea, and the US. It’s Showtime NYC!, is a company of dancers with a history of performing on New York’s streets and subways. 

Find out “What time is it” when It’s Showtime NYC! performs a highlight from Pyramid, a brand new work by Flexer and artistic director Cal Hunt and composer cellist and bonebreaker Johnathan “Akuma” Moore. Culminating a community residency at Herbert Von King Cultural Center made possible through SummerStage, a space many company dancers consider a second home, the work explores how New Yorkers are, by nature, archaeologists. Be it graffiti, hieroglyphics, or freestyle dance on the street, lived stories are shared to those willing to pause and take in the messages.

Performer/Documentarian Kash Gaines debuts the live premiere of Caged Birds featuring a cast sharing intimate stories of perilous encounters with law enforcement inside and outside the MTA system. See the craft they’ve honed performing on the city’s biggest stage intersecting with their future ambitions. This performance is in conjunction with the broadcast and streaming premiere of Caged Birds Fly on ALLARTS.

The Missing Element brings together a singular collaboration between breakers, krumpers and flexers and the world champion beatboxers of The Beatbox House.

Woven throughout the evening and pre-show is a special preview of pianist, composer, and producer Harold O’Neal’s Rule The World: Breaking At The Olympics. A member of the Dynamic Rockers, one of the world’s most legendary breaking crews, the album’s release is set for August 2, celebrating breaking’s debut at the 2024 Paris Olympics on August 9 and 10.

Presented in partnership with Works & Process, Caged Birds, Pyramid, Maimouna Keita African Dance Company, and The Missing Element are all Works & Process commissioned projects with residency support from Works & Process LaunchPAD.

Beatbox House performance funded by a grant from the Omomuki Foundation’s Live Music for Dance program.