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sweat variant / Okwui Okpokwasili & Peter Born, my tongue is a blade

  • February 21 - 22, 2026
  • Hudson Hall

    327 Warren Street
    Hudson, New York 12534
Ticket Price $30.00 Buy Tickets
Description

US premiere

my tongue is a blade is a three-hour movement performance-practice that is a work with relation, memory, and reflection. It asks: What are the limits of our attention and how does that test the strength of our bonds? Four performers commit to remembering each other, holding each other, bearing each other, and sustaining the world that contains them. This rich visual and sonic landscape is an invitation to the audience to witness this practice and resonate within it. 

sweat variant is the collaborative practice of artists Okwui Okpokwasili and Peter Born, partners in their work and their lives. Since 1996, they have been working at the intersection of dance, theatre, and visual art to make challenging and rigorous work that reaffirms that which has been deemed marginal as the true center through the exploration of Black interiority. Okpokwasili and Born have created the Bessie Award-winning pent up: a revenge dance and Bronx Gothic, and their work has been presented worldwide. Okpokwasili has earned numerous accolades, including a Doris Duke Artist Award and a MacArthur Fellowship.

my tongue is a blade will be performed by Okwui Okpokwasili, Bria Bacon, Kris Lee and AJ Wilmore. 

Performance details: This is a 180 minute durational piece – We encourage audiences to come and go throughout the piece. Entry is rolling through the duration of the installation, and space is available on a first-come, first-served basis with two slotted entry times. Guests are welcome to arrive any time at or after their ticketed admission and stay for as long as they like.

Date & Time

Feb 21 - 22, 2026

Venue Details

Hudson Hall

327 Warren Street
Hudson, New York 12534 Hudson Hall
PS/21 Inc

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About PS21

A vibrant center for contemporary performance in the Hudson Valley, PS21 “presents work that challenges and invites” (The New York Times): adventurous productions by leading and emerging American and international artists in music, dance, and theater, and visionaries creating entirely new genres. On our open-air Pavilion Theater stage, across our expansive, unspoiled grounds, and in the diverse surrounding communities, PS21 cultivates and presents productions that transcend aesthetic boundaries and revitalize existing artistic languages and grammars. Throughout the year, we host developmental residencies for dancers, musicians, actors, and creators of original, even unclassifiable new work. Rooted in community collaboration, PS21’s programming engages creatively with critical global and social issues. It is a mecca for innovative and original artistic voices, a destination for performance that can be experienced nowhere else in the region. PS21’s Pavilion Theater is a green-energy marvel surrounded by 100 acres of unspoiled meadows, trails, and woodlands that are a haven to wildlife and visitors across the region.  Integrated into our unspoiled campus, the theater embodies our commitments to the public: open, inviting, and optimized for their enjoyment and encouraging citizen expression and participation.

 

Photography
PS21 will take photos of this event for use in social media and on our website. The photos sometimes include audiences. Your attendance at this performance indicates you consent to appear in PS21 photography. If you would prefer not to appear in any photos, please let a staff member know, and we will be glad to accommodate your request.


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