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Afro_Vibes x De Balie 2020

Performing Arts Festival

This year, De Balie was the heart of the Afro_Vibes 2020 festival for all online activities. People from all over the world visited debalie.nl for interviews with African makers and artists who were unable to attend the festival in person, online presentations, talkshows and live streaming of performances. Watch here the programmes and three of the movies that were screened durning the festival.

Entanglements & Intersection

Jay Pather (curator of the Afro_Vibes Festival) opens the festival with a keynote on the festival’s theme this year: Entanglements. He enters into conversation with poet and activist Jerry Afriyie, Geoffrey van der Ven and Nora Chipaumire, an internationally celebrated Zimbabwean choreographer and performer, living in New York. We open the evening with a video presentation of her recent work (Another) Township Manifesto, a provocative performance in honor of the famous South African visual artist Zwelidumile Geelboi Mgxaji Mslaba ‘Dumile’ Feni. Moderator: Nancy Jouwe.

Women & LGBTQI+ leadership

On Friday we bring together influential women and LGBTQI+ directors and artists to discuss their best practices. We open the evening with a short performance of Together, a work of choreographer Donna Chittick. Intersectional queer and anti-racist activist Naomie Pieter who effortlessly mixes the organisation of protest rallies and designing choreographies gives a keynote on women leadership. Afterwards she enters into conversation with Donna Chittick and Tieneke Sumter, activist and a leading face of Survibes, a Surinam-Dutch LHBTQI+ group. Moderator: Jennifer Muntslag.

Sustainable art in a post Covid-19 world

During this programme we investigate the art sector in times of COVID-19. What will the sector look like once the pandemic is over? Babacar Cissé opens the programme with a short performance of Le syndrome de l’exilé, in which he examines the human experience of exile. Saundra Williams, artistic leader of the education department Production and Stage Management (Amsterdamse academie voor theater en dans) gives a keynote. Afterwards she enters into conversation with Babacar Cissé and Jennifer Tosch, founder of the Black Heritage Tours. Moderator: Maarten van Hinte.

Afro_Vibes is an annual festival featuring contemporary theater, dance and music from Africa. The festival’s theme this year is Entanglements / Inseparably Connected. While there are undeniably differences between people, there is an entanglement that encompasses all of us. Even in moments of physical isolation, there is a sense of community. Because we know that an individual action by one of us can affect hundreds of us. We all go through this together and we can only solve it together. It is this interwovenness and associate intimacy that Afro_Vibes puts at the forefront this year.