Dahlak Brathwaite is a hip-hop-rooted performance artist, spoken-word poet, actor, musician, and writer. He has toured the United States with his one-man show, Spiritrials, since 2015. He first gained prominence when he appeared twice on HBO's Def Poetry Jam. As a CalArts artist-in-residence he has further developed… Read moreShow less
Dahlak Brathwaite is a hip-hop-rooted performance artist, spoken-word poet, actor, musician, and writer. He has toured the United States with his one-man show, Spiritrials, since 2015. He first gained prominence when he appeared twice on HBO's Def Poetry Jam. As a CalArts artist-in-residence he has further developed Spiritrials with director Roberta Uno and choreographer Toran Moore to create the project Try/Step/Trip which he has performed at venues such as Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, San Francisco's CalArts Center for New Performance, and the American Conservatory Theater. Since 2004, Brathwaite has toured over 200 colleges throughout the United States and Europe with the ill-Literacy artists collective and been a featured performer at the Los Angeles Get Down Festival. He has toured nationally and internationally with the hip-hop theater production of Word Becomes Flesh and Scourge, both under the direction of Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Additional collaborations include a track with acclaimed Bay Area rapper George Watsky and performances with Princess Cut. Brathwaite is a presenter through the CalArts initiative ArtChangeUS: Arts in a Changing America and a U.S. State Department International Exchange Fellowship's OneBeat Fellow, through which he has performed for the State Department's hip-hop diplomacy program, Next Level. The role, which placed him on Team Uzbekistan, has taken him to Guatemala, Israel, Nigeria, the Philippines, Turkey, and the Dominican Republic.
