ODE(2)PAC

ODE TO PAC 

Photo by Shoccara Marcus @shocphoto; Courtesy of Dance Canvas, Inc. 

Choreographed by KHILA

The Rialto Center for the Arts

"ODE(2)PAC / Ode to Pac" honors rapper Tupac Shakur’s humanity — his resilience, sociopolitical legacy, and the burden of being misunderstood. Reimagining Alvin Ailey’s 1960 “Sinner Man” section, this premiere is not a conclusion, but a first bloom — The project will continue growing beyond this moment. Support for the development of ODE(2)PAC / Ode to Pac is provided by Dance Canvas, Inc.

Performance by Kaleb “KB” Bland

Set Design by Andre Lumpkin

Full Performance Available Upon Request

Runtime: 11 minutes

Close-up of a young, black male partially covered with a torn worn American flag with stars and stripes, draped over the head and shoulders for Aquilah Ohemeng professionally known as "KHILA"'s new project honoring Tupac Shakur
Part of a person wearing distressed denim jeans, a denim jacket, a white T-shirt with a gold cross necklace, and wide-leg pants with an American flag pattern, all standing against a white background.
Young Black man with short curly hair wearing a white tank top, blue jeans, tan boots, and gold accessories, sitting on a stool with an American flag draped over his shoulder against a white background.
A young black male wearing a hoodie and black pants performing an explosive split leap with an American flag design on the clothing, against a white background for Aquilah Ohemeng professionally known as "KHILA"'s new project honoring Tupac Shakur
A young black male holds a pose: standing on left leg with right leg raised. His hands are tied behind his back with an American flag. He is looking upward and wearing all black for with a hood and face covering. 
Photography by Christina Somphone

  • "KHILA had built a piece that did not ask for permission. It simply existed, fully, and unapologetically, the way Tupac himself existed."

  • “I cannot say enough about this brilliant, jaw-dropping solo danced by the one-and-only Kaleb Bland…I was jumping out of my seat, sorry to those around me for my unchecked kinesthetic empathy.”

  • “ODE(2)PAC was moving. I genuinely don’t know how to describe my thoughts. The message hits close to home in so many different forms, with the wanting to die and the now not being in that place anymore—this entire piece had me crying. The song choices, the interviews, the movements, the pointe, jump rope—all of it.”

  • "Knowing and understanding the meaning of the dance makes this very powerful. The symbolism of him tangled in the jumprope represents the struggles that people have in their lifetime, which makes the audience feel more connected.”

  • "Art and music collide. pac would be so proud."

PASS US NOT:

HOLY GHOSTED

Choreographed by KHILA

University of California Los Angeles - Glorya Kaufman Theater

PASS US NOT: Holy Ghosted, an evening-length group performance reinterprets Alvin Ailey's 1960 work Revelations through the lens of frustrations and aspirations that Generation Z members navigate in a “post-pandemic” United States.

Full Performance Available Upon Request

Runtime: 47 Minutes

Videography by Rachel Lambright

  • “You honor us by having given yourself SO fully to this process and giving us so much to think about and work with. I am inspired by you."

    —Miguel Gutierrez

    Associate Professor of Choreography at UCLA

  • "Your work is gorgeous!"

    —thomas f. defrantz

    Author of Dancing Revelations: Alvin Ailey's Embodiment of African American Culture

  • "Your respect for Ailey’s work and its impact in its own political and historical moment— and your critique of that work emphasizes the ways in which there has been profound generational and civic change– not necessarily for the better, but necessary for new formations for action. You build a perforated line between Ailey and today…"

    —Vic Marks

    UCLA WAC/D Professor and Choreographer

  • "I was so dumbstruck by the metafictionality...It was so so so powerful and your bodies looked so so beautiful. Because of how great the lighting was, I felt like I myself was a part of the glitch…it felt so real I wanted to escape."

    —Yuxuan (Penny) Zhang

    Student at Northwestern University

A group of dancers on stage, some lifting Aquilah Ohemeng professionally known as "KHILA" in a red dress, with a warm, red-toned backdrop.
A woman leaps in the air holding a white umbrella on stage, dressed in white flowing clothing, while two other dancer sit in the background observing.
Aquilah Ohemeng professionally known as "KHILA"wearing a red dress and headscarf performing a dance on a stage with a dark background.
Group of dancers performing on stage, dressed in beige outfits with some wearing skeleton-themed costumes, striking various poses with arms and legs extended in a choreographed routine.
A man sits on a wooden floor in front of a dark background, with a large screen overhead displaying a colorful TV test pattern and the words 'NO SIGNAL' and 'PLEASE STAND BY'. 
Photography by Angel Origgi

Faculty choreographer for Spelman Dance Theatre, creating original and boundary-pushing dance works.

the revolution will not be texturized

Choreographed by KHILA

Spelman Dance Theatre

 Inspired by the 1960s-70s “Black is Beautiful” movement, The Revolution Will Not Be Texturized honors the radical Black Panther Party and the iconic “Soul Train” television show. These two cultural forces uniquely elevated Black consciousness in the U.S., while reclaiming Black identity and pride. Perhaps an unspoken allegiance, both affirmed natural hair textures and styles such as the “Afro.” The five dancers within this work personify the Afro’s hair strands whose choreographic relationships and interdependence mirror the complexities of the Black experience. Similar to the hairstyle, it is their fortitude that continues to uplift them and remain unbound.

“A brilliant, captivating Ancestral Soul Movement by KHILA - deliciously performed...no...devoured...no murdered by Spelman Dance majors..."

—T Lang

Associate Professor, Inaugural Chair of Spelman’s Department of Dance Performance and Choreography

khiladescope

Choreographed by KHILA

Spelman Dance Theatre

“KHILADESCOPE” is the embodiment of our personal attempts to break the societal algorithm we currently find ourselves living in. Mao Zedong once said, “Without a people’s army, the people have nothing.” Also known as the ‘KHILECTIVE’, the cast’s choreographic relationships and interdependence serve as a liberatory response to challenge hierarchical structures. KHILADESCOPE echoes the challenging process of Survival to Thrival amidst not losing your truest self while engaged in that process.

Full Performance Available Upon Request

Runtime: 13 Minutes

“Your piece was fantastic!!..These students did not look like college students at all. With your choreography, they looked like a professional dance company."

—Angela Harris

Founder and Executive Artistic Director of Dance Canvas, Inc.

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the flowers that grew from our tears

An award-winning dance film recognized by the Philadelphia Film Society, UCLA’s Black Women and Femmes Research Initiative, Spelman College, and more for its artistic and cultural impact.

Choreographed and Performed by KHILA

Rooted in the Earth, daunting is the journey of a Black woman. She thought life, with its harsh grasp, was burying her underneath the soil. Unknowingly, it was actually transforming her. Even in the midst of her anguish, no cried tears were wasted. Each one was divinely crafted to water and strengthen her roots ultimately blooming her into greatness while allowing her to flourish resiliently.

Runtime: 28 minutes

Videography by Taj Devore-Bey

  • “A poignant tribute, hallmark, and capstone to the internal narrative and exclamation of the black woman’s lamentation for her multiple roles as mother/healer; worker/ caregiver; widow/grandmother...This needs to be shown to multiple audiences. I thought this was a professional, exceptional work of art that pushes the envelope.”

    —Ruka White

    Assistant Professor of Dance at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee

  • “Clever use of cohesive gestural layered movement vocabulary laced with ancestral soul movement…the film merges styles to generate a new genre. The vocabulary was carefully explored, as a result, the invention revealed a level of deep sophistication.”

    —T Lang

    Associate Professor, Inaugural Chair of Spelman’s Department of Dance Performance and Choreography