Category: Performances

Lions Will Roar, Swans Will Fly, Angels Will Wrestle Heaven, Rains Will Break: Gukurahundi

Artist’s Statement from company nora chipaumire (an africanallstarscollective!) I wanted to make a work that tackled the African brands: Africa as violent/ Africa as disease and dying/ Africa as famine and hunger/ Africa as exotic/ happy/ Africa the silent/ ancient/ darkness. I felt the shame and sadness of my fellow Zimbabweans, uprooted and on the… Continue reading Lions Will Roar, Swans Will Fly, Angels Will...

visible

visible is a performance work that explores epic journeys, myths, dreams and memories of the known world and an imagined future in an unknown land. nora chipaumire and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar conceived a landscape that unlocks the personal narratives of those who leave their homelands, by choice or not in search of “warmth of… Continue reading visible

Miriam

With Miriam, nora chipaumire created her first character-driven work—a deeply personal dance-theater performance that reverberates with tensions: between public expectations and private desires, between objectification and power, and between darkness and light. Miriam invites the audience into an immersive experience of being an outsider, requiring the engagement of all five senses. The inspiration for Miriam…...

R̶i̶t̶e̶ Riot

In this solo inspired by the iconic The Rite of Spring, celebrating its centenary in the same year, nora chipaumire explored the contemporary demands for sacrifice, embodied in performance and by the performer. The genesis of rite riot began with chipaumire’s fascination with The Rite of Spring and the role it played in the European art… Continue reading R̶i̶t̶e̶ Riot

dark swan

The award-winning dark swan was first created as a solo in 2005 by and for nora chipaumire. The work has grown into a much-celebrated group work and has been performed by the NYC-based Urban Bush Women, amongst others. Tumbuka Dance Company was the first African contemporary dance company to perform this work.   dark swan… Continue reading dark swan

portrait of myself as my fa̶t̶h̶e̶r̶

Zimbabwe-born Brooklyn-based dance maker chipaumire continues her investigations on the black body, on Africa, on aesthetics and on art and ideas. portrait of myself as my father takes place in a simulated boxing ring in which chipaumire and Senegalese dancer Pape Ibrahima Ndiaye, also known as Kaolack (who performed with Compagnie Jant-Bi for many years),… Continue reading portrait of myself as my fa̶t̶h̶e̶r̶

#PUNK 100%POP*N!GGA

#PUNK 100% POP *N!GGA (verbalized as “hashtag punk, one hundred percent pop, starnigga”) is a three-part live performance album inspired by chipaumire’s formative years in Zimbabwe and the energy and rebellion of punk and 1980s New Wave music. Each part explores one of three sonic ideologies: Punk, Pop, and Congolese Rumba (in that order), which… Continue reading #PUNK 100%POP*N!GGA