Blackness... From Battersea To Brasil

From Battersea To Brasil Aminita has been creating empowering theatre Around the world...

The Cast of ' AfroAbelhas Brasil ' Photo - Tempo Festival Brasil

"I travelled nearly 6000 miles to find the same prejudice and I experience back home, minus the surreptitious nature of british racism "

Its an indescribable honour to work with Hot brown honey let alone have the queens thereof pass the baton allowing myself and Elsabet Yonas to inspire and ignite women of colour from the favelas of Rio to boundary-break and celebrate themselves through their art. Under the Guidance of Yami Lofvenberg ( Hot Brown Honey ) and support from the British council we were able to explore the Brasillian black female experience only to find it wasn't too dissimilar from our own. Shortly after arriving in Rio I came to the stark realisation that I had travelled nearly 6000 miles to find the same prejudice and racism I had experienced back home, minus the surreptitious nature of British racism. In the rehearsal room the cast described being judged negatively for wearing their natural hair, being hypersexualised for their blackness within brasil and being hypersexualised for their brasillianness within wider world.

Musical Directing Rio was my first official MD role, I have assistant directed and composed as a devisor on many projects however this would be a stage of artistic development for me, a push to the next level in my creative career. Up until this point my practice as a musician had worked mainly with just the human voice, creating music without instruments using equipment such as a loop station and this worked to my favour with the language barriers presented by working abroad.

'We formed new bonds, A Global Sisterhood'

by day 3 of rehearsals it was unanimous within the room that we were united. By discussing our shared experiences we felt seen and understood in ways that, as a black female artist, we often don't get to feel. With the help of translators provided by the British council and some of the cast being bilingual, we kept talking and finding new commonalities and differences to enjoy about one another. With such fierce and talented women it really wasn't difficult to create stunning vignettes utilising the many disciplines in the room, and everybody felt safe to try things they hadn't before, we had a graffiti artist singing songs, dancers spitting rap verses and actors throwing down dance moves. By learning from and inspiring one another we formed new bonds a Global Sisterhood.

for more check out: AFROABELHAS BRASIL

Tempo Festival

Hot Brown Honey