Production Details / Press Releases
I LIKE TO RIDE MY BIKE AROUND THE CITY IN SUMMERTIME. The trees are a vibrant green, some with colorful blossoms, the air is crisp, and the German Berliners are a bit less angry than usual. Just a bit. When I ride my bike I approach events I would not have witnessed otherwise. Last summer, I was riding my bike home and I came across a protest. I observed the demographic of the participants in this march, they seemed to range from various ages, sexualities and genders. One thing they all had in common was whiteness. Then I noticed they were carrying a sign with a symbol on it. I am not entirely certain what the German political party symbols are, but my African and Jewish ancestral genes inform me that when you see a swarm of white people equipped with signs baring symbols moving in your direction, you run the other way.
Later on that day I did research and found out that the symbol I witnessed was for an environmental organization that mobilizes people to be more conscious of environmental issues.
Ah! that explains it. I had to ponder why white people showed up in the masses and shut down major streets to progress environmental policy, but the same number did not show up for black and brown trans lives.
Social media magnifies tragedy. Share culture desensitizes tragedy. The frequent shares of the undoing of policy set in place for the protection of lgbtqia rights versus the steadfast protection of animals and other living species is staggering. Intersectionally marginalized humans have been historically classified into species and neglected, but actual animals have been cared for, tended to, and preserved on reserves, parks, zoos, plantations.
Plantations.
Plantations.
How do we, as people of color who are marginalized implore those in positions of dominance to care and make space? How do we persuade those that are considered human that we are human too? And once we have done all this, will it even matter?
Adrian Marie Blount (Godxxx Noirphiles)
BOOKS TO READ TO UNDERSTAND THE PIECE:
Black Quantum Futurism: space time collapse 1: The Congo to the Carolinas (Moor Mother and Rasheedah Phillips)
Eating the Other (Bell Hooks)
Why I am No Longer Talking to White People About Race (Reni Eddo-Lodge)
Google: Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome by Dr Joy DeGruy
The drag collective House of Living Colors focuses on the climate crisis, showing that a diversity of identities is as essential for the survival of our society as is biodiversity for nature. Endangered Species draws on the knowledge and experience of queer and trans people of color and their ancestral and spiritual connection to nature. In a multimedia performance combining voguing, spoken word, live music and other, non-Western art forms, they make it clear: QTBIPoC are indispensable for the evolution of our world, our society, our community.
HOUSE OF LIVING COLORS is an open drag and performance collective particularly for queer and trans black and people of color (QTBIPoC) that was created after several experiences of exclusion from the mainstream queer community.
[Source: play bill]
TFB Nr. 1415
Cast & Credits
PERFORMANCE: GodXXX Noirphiles (Adrian Marie Blount), Lola Rose (George Scott), Sophie Yukiko-Hasters, Lux Venerea, Ixa Red Pill (Kyle Mckay), Mandhla Ndubiwa, Isu Mignon Mignonne
DRAMATURGY, CONCEPT, CHOREOGRAPHY, COSTUMES: Adrian Blount
DRAMATURGICAL ASSISTANCE: Keith King
ASSISTANT CHOREOGRAPHY: George Scott, Sophie Yukiko-Hasters
PROJECTION, ANIMATION: Xixi Diana Yam Yam
SOUNDDESIGN: Ixa Red Pill (Kyle Mckay)
ASSITANCE SOUNDDESIGN: Mandhla Ndubiwa
A production by House of Living Colors in co-production with SOPHIENSÆLE.
TANZTAGE BERLIN 2020
ARTISTIC DIRECTION: Anna Mülter
MANAGEMENT: Johanna Withelm
ASSISTANCE MANAGEMENT: Ece Tufan, Mascha Wendel
DRAMATURGICAL ADVICE: Alexandra Hennig, Isabel Gatzke
The 29.th Tanztage Berlin are produced by SOPHIENSÆLE.
Funded by Senate Chancellery for Culture and Europe.
Supported by Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore, mapping dance und Tanzfabrik Berlin e.V.
Sophiensæle
Video Documentation
The video documentation is produced on behalf of the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. The purpose of this contract is to document productions in the field of contemporary dance in Berlin. The master recordings are archived by the University Library of the Berlin University of Arts. Copies of the recordings on DVD are available for viewing exclusively in the reference collections of the following archives (at media desks in these institutions):
University Library of the Berlin University of Arts
Mediathek für Tanz und Theater des Internationalen Theaterinstituts / Mime Centrum Berlin
Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin (HZT)