Illuminated Echoes is a full-length dance work created by award-winning artist Tommie-Waheed Evans for COCAdance, COCA’s modern and contemporary pre-professional dance company. The piece is inspired by the light installations of artist James Turrell and combines dance, sound, and visual art to create an unforgettable experience.

Evans mixes light, movement, and sound, allowing the audience to take part in a sensory journey that challenges how we think about performance. Like Turrell’s work, which focuses on how we see and understand space, Evans uses light not just to shine on the dancers but to shape their movements and change how the audience sees everything. As the choreography and light shift, a conversation is created between the dancers and their environment. This encourages the audience to see space and movement in new ways.

The performance is made even more powerful with the sound design by Uwazi Zamani. His sound design adds depth to the performance, blending perfectly with the light changes.  The combination of sound and light blurs the lines between dance and installation art.

Illuminated Echoes goes beyond the traditional performance framework and invites the audience to think about the connections between light, sound, and movement. It showcases the collaboration between Evans and Zamani, pushing the boundaries of contemporary performance art. 

About Tommie-Waheed Evans 

2021 Guggenheim Fellow Tommie-Waheed Evans (Los Angeles, California) began his formal training with Karen McDonald before receiving a fellowship at the Ailey School, and a Master of Fine Arts in Choreography from Jacksonville University. He has toured and performed nationally and internationally as a company member of Lula Washington Dance Theater, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and Philadanco. Since 2004, he has created more than 50 original dance works that range widely in scope, length, tone and subject matter. waheedworks, his Philadelphia based dance company, is the primary vehicle for his creative research. The company’s mission is to create a radically collaborative body of work that speaks to the human condition. His work brings together urban street dance styles and contemporary dance vocabulary through bold and raw movements propelled by gospel music and polyrhythmic sounds. 

Artist Talk-Back & Reception 

FRI, DEC 12 | 8:30–10:00PM 

Join us after the Friday, December 12 performance of Illuminated Echoes for an artist talk-back with choreographer Tommie-Waheed Evans. A 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, Evans hails from Los Angeles, California. He began his formal training with Karen McDonald before receiving a fellowship at The Ailey School and a Master of Fine Arts in Choreography from Jacksonville University. He has toured and performed nationally and internationally as a company member of Lula Washington Dance Theater, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and Philadanco. Since 2004, he has created more than 50 original dance works that range widely in scope, length, tone, and subject matter. waheedworks, his Philadelphia based dance company, is the primary vehicle for his creative research. The company’s mission is to create a radically collaborative body of work that speaks to the human condition. His work brings together urban street dance styles and contemporary dance vocabulary through bold and raw movements propelled by gospel music and polyrhythmic sounds.