nora chipaumire ShebeenDUB

Photo Andrew Boyle

nora chipaumire was born in 1965 in what was then known as Umtali, Rhodesia (now Mutare, Zimbabwe). She is a product of colonial education for black native Africans – known as group B schooling – and has pursued other studies at the University of Zimbabwe (law) and at Mills College in Oakland, CA (dance).

chipaumire’s latest work is NEHANDA, a large-scale opera. Before and up to the start of the global pandemic chipaumire has been touring #PUNK 100% POP *NIGGA (verbalized as “Hashtag Punk, One Hundred Percent Pop and Star NIGGA”), a three-part live performance album. Her other live works include portrait of myself as my father (2016), RITE RIOT (2012) and Miriam (2012). She recently released a Radio Opera (2021), has been featured in several dance films and made her directorial debut with the short film Afro Promo #1 King Lady (2016).

Her long-term research project nhaka, a technology-based practice and process to her artistic work, instigates and investigates the nature of black bodies and the products of their imaginations. nhaka bhuku 1 has been published in 2020 at the courtesy of Matadero Publishing House (Spain).

nora chipaumire is a four-time Bessie Award winner and was a proud recipient of the 2016 Trisha Mckenzie Memorial Award for her impact on the dance community in Zimbabwe. She was also nominated for a NAMA award as one of those exiled Zimbabweans making an impact on the arts at home and abroad in 2020. chipaumire is honored to include the acknowledgements of the arts communities in awards such as the recent COVID-19 related “Dance Bubble” grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (2021), a Guggenheim Fellowship (2018), a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant (2016), a Doris Duke Artist Award (2015) and a Princeton Hodder Fellowship (2014). She is currently a Fellow at Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University (2020) and an Artist in Residence at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, LMCC (2019-2021).

Photo Antony Thadicaran

tyroneisaacstuart is an interdisciplinary, artist whose skills originate from Jazz and Hip-Hop Theater. He was educated by the Tomorrow’s Warriors Jazz organization & multi-award-winning Boy Blue Entertainment. From there he went on to achieve a BA in Jazz Saxophone. With over 12 years of professional working experience as a performer across dance and music, his dance practice has grown to become a mixture of Krump (a street dance), contemporary dance, visual art & Jazz music. He has worked with established artists within Hip hop (Joseph Toonga, Theo Godson, Botis Seva), Contemporary Dance (Irene Wernli, Hofesh Shechter Company & Sean Graham) & Jazz (Soweto Kinch, Moses Boyd, Theon Cross, Cassie Kinoshi & Kokorocko). He has been working with nora chipaumire since 2018, and currently stars in her latest opera Nehanda. He is a Steve Reid Innovation Award 2019-2020 recipient, a 2020 Artist in Residence at Clarence Mews Space, a 2021 East London Ideas Fund awardee and a recording artist for New Soil. His debut album, S!CK will be releasing on 11 November 2022. 

Photo Camilla Greenwood

Yinka Esi Graves (London, 1983) is a Dance Artist whose work explores the links between flamenco and other forms of corporeal expression, particularly from a contemporary and African diasporic perspective. With a degree in History of Art (Sussex 2005) Yinka moved to Spain in 2009 to train at the Escuela de Flamenco Amor de Dios in Madrid and then to Seville with teachers such as Yolanda Heredia, La Lupi and Andrés Marin. Yinka’s short pieces have been performed at Sadler’s Wells (UK) and Gibney (NY), among other venues nationally and internationally. Yinka is currently a collaborator in Cuerpos Celestes (MAX Awards 2021 Finalist) by Chloé Brulé and Marco Vargas cía, and Mailles by Dorothée Munyaneza. Yinka is developing her first solo production: The Disappearing Act (2022).

Photo Angel Edwards

Marguerite Angelica Monique Hemmings is a performance artist/educator currently based in Philadelphia, USA. They focus on one’s own body, one’s own way of moving, and connecting to the unseen. They are a master of body ceremonies and a curator of vibes.

Marguerite uses body, text, media, and moving images in their work. As a choreographer they specialize in emergent, improvisational and social dance movement styles and technologies, rooted in the story of the African Diaspora. They are researching the ancestral and subversive role of dance and the dancer throughout the African Diaspora and look to conjure these technologies and intelligence through all of their (present) work.

They direct a multimedia endeavour called we free, which looks at the millennial and gen z approach to liberation through its music, social dance and social media.

Reformed in 2004, London based Trojan Sound System are an institution in Sound System culture. A legendary team made up of selecta Daddy Ad and vocalists; Supa4 Creation, Chucky Bantan and Jah Buck.They relentlessly tour the globe, representing the most seminal Reggae and Ska record label in history.

For the past decade, Trojan Sound System have spread their message of love and unity through the power of Ska, Rocksteady, Roots Reggae, Dub, Dancehall and UK Bass music, headlining club shows, captivating festival crowds and supporting legendary Jamaican acts such as; The Wailers, Luciano, Toots and the Maytals, Big Youth, Sly and Robbie and the late great, Gregory Isaacs to name but a few. Trojan Sound System are the original crew that broke Reggae music and culture back into contemporary clubs and festivals. Transcending age, race and political barriers, Trojan Sound System play music that satisfies the purest of vinyl collectors, while at the same time, introducing a new generation to the roots of Jamaican music and Bass Culture.

Mixing styles and flavours from the past 40 years, the Trojan crew are legendary party starters, ignited by uplifting vocals from MC trio; Supa4 Creation, Chucky Bantan & Jah Buck. Daddy Ad hails from the Roots and Reality Sound System, which he originally founded with Earl Gateshead before refounding Trojan Sound System together with Trojan Records. He has worked with legends including; Eek-A-Mouse, Tappa Zukie, Dennis Alcapone and Horace Andy amongst many others and has always pushed for new sounds and acts to break through. Ad believes many contemporary forms of music are direct descendants of Reggae and its varied sub-genres and his mission has been to cross Reggae back into contemporary clubs and festivals. which they successfully achieved. His experience as a drummer and audiophile has led Ad in a direction to be responsible for the crew’s FXs, mixing and trademark Hi-fi sound.The Sound System’s vocalists have twenty years experience as members of the foundation South London sound systems; Taurus, Sir Coxsone and Saxon. They have been chosen as the absolute cream of London’s Reggae entertainers. Legendary recording artists including; Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Dr Alimantado, Tippa Irie, Big Youth, Ranking Joe, Dawn Penn, Dillinger & Dennis Alcapone have all worked with the Trojan Sound team.