DIY: 2018 – Nwando Ebizie: Afro Diasporic Ritual as Afrofuturist Technology

Exploring neuro-mythology, Haitian Vodou dance practice, atypical perception, sensory deprivation and immersion for neurodiverse artists of colour

Deadline for applications: 5pm, Mon 2 July
This DIY is supported by The Marlborough Pub & Theatre and Live Art UK's Diverse Actions initiative

Project summary

Taking Afro Diaspora Ritual Movement and rhythm as an Afrofuturist technology, this workshop will connect participants with an ancestral movement, geared towards the future self.

Joining inner life (imagination, mythic ancestral past, individual neurology) with outer life (the group, the present moment, the senses). Building up movement, rhythm and song we will work towards group improvisation and emotive release. The mythic and the scientific will meet in movements of sensory deprivation and immersion, inviting participants to challenge assumptions and bias about their own perceptual frameworks.

We will work with the tools that defeated oppressors armies. Dances of healing and self-preservation. Actions that have been suppressed and maligned, designed to shift centres of awareness, connecting internal self to group action.

Guest leaders will include Haitian dancer Karine Label, with more to be announced.

How to apply

The online application asks for a short paragraph detailing your background, experience and why you would like to take part.

This workshop is particularly for people of colour – early, mid career or experienced. We will work physically every day, so a commitment to this and an interest in exploring the ideas detailed above is essential.

As a neurodiverse artist, I am very open to people with neurodiversity and atypical perception who want to find ways of exploring their realities in this Afrofuturist/Afro ritual context.

Dates, times and location

Dates: 6 – 9 Sep 2018
Location: Marlborough Pub & Theatre, Brighton

The artist

Nwando Ebizie is a multidisciplinary artist with an international focus whose work converges around performance art personas, experimental theatre, neuroscience, music and African diasporic ritualistic dance. Carving out her own particular strand of Afrofuturism, she combines research into the neuroscience of perception (inspired by her own neurodiversity) and an obsession with science fiction with a ritualistic live art practice. She has curated happenings for Wellcome Collection and released records supported by Gilles Peterson. She has performed in Tokyo (Bonobo), Rio de Janeiro (Tempo Festival), Berlin (Chalet), Latvia (Baltais Fligelis Concert Hall) and Zurich (Blok) as well as across the UK from Home MCR to Barbican to Southbank Centre.

For questions about this DIY, please contact Nwando.