FSU welcomes back Nora Chipaumire as she returns to Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC) for her third Choreographic Fellowship (January 28 – February 15, 2015) to develop portrait of myself as my father. The piece will feature Senegalese performer Pape Ibrahima Ndiaye and Chipaumire. Please join MANCC for an informal showing of portrait of myself as my father on Thursday 2/12 at 5:30pm (For more information, email info@mancc.org).
Born in Mutare, Zimbabwe and based in New York City, Chipaumire has risen to prominence through her uncompromising commentaries on stereotypes regarding Africa and the black performing body, art, and aesthetic. She is a three-time New York Dance and Performance (aka “Bessie”) Awardee: in 2014 for dark swan performed by Urban Bush Women, in 2008 for her dance-theater work, Chimurenga, and in 2007 for her body of work with Urban Bush Women, where she was a featured performer for six years (2003-2008) and Associate Artistic Director (2007-2008). She is a 2012 Albert Award in the Arts recipient and a 2011 United States Artist Ford Fellow. She is also the recipient of the 2009 AFROPOP Real Life Award—for her choreographic work on the film Nora—and the 2007 Wesleyan University Mariam McGlone Emerging Choreographer Award.
Her current project, portrait of myself as my father, showcases Chipaumire’s continued investigations on race and gender, considering the black body, Africa, and the self through the lenses of cultural traditions, colonialism, Christianity, and liberation struggles. The work will feature a boxing ring, an arena that suggests strength, courage, and violence, where the “players” find that the value of black masculinity perishes under scrutiny. To naturalize the setting and create the impression of a “scene” occurring in a public space, audience members will be invited to move around the performance space and get close to the performing body, becoming a part of the piece itself.
Chipaumire plans to use her MANCC residency to work on the interactive aspects of the performance, develop the soundscape, and refine the continuity of themes throughout the piece.
January 28-February 15 – MANCC Returning Choreographic Fellow Nora Chipaumire in residence
Thursday 2/12 at 5:30pm – Informal Showing: portrait of myself as my father