Our Bodies Back at Sadler’s Wells Online

Breakin’ Convention’s Artistic Director and Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Jonzi D is back with another impressive exhibition of his collaborative creative outpourings during lockdown. In partnership with BCTV, Sadler’s Well’s Digital Stage and Breakin’ Convention present Our Bodies Back, a visually thrilling and profoundly thought-provoking poetic representation of the legacies of colonialism that continue to violently impose meaning on the Black female body within the rhetoric of anti-Blackness and misogynoir.

In this production, the body interlaces poetic dialogue with an ode of empowerment, orchestrated through space, and narrated by the acclaimed American poet and performance artist jessica Care moore. Choreographed and performed by Axelle Munezero (Ebony) in Montréal, Bolegue Manuela (b-girl Manuela) in Hanover and Nafisah Baba in London, the body and spoken word communicate the shared experience of trauma and transcendence from pain to a place of pride and power, demanding their bodies back.

Fingers in perfect poise pointing directly at the camera remind us that we make the system. We, the people, accept and maintain structures of oppression. The stretch of a leg corresponds with the words that elevate the Black female dancer to celebrate her body that hosts “the brain full of power and history.”

Saxophonist and MC Soweto Kinch joins in with the talking body and the edifying spoken word with sound design that accentuates the voices of “girls raised by wolves / taught to disappear / to be quiet” whose indomitable call in unison echoes: “We want our bodies back / we will take them / protect them / remember them.” Recall those killed by brutal police force and the desensitised media. Remember those violated by the colonial system that posits the Black woman as the polar opposite to the white man in whose image rights were conceived. With another relevant, engaging and inspiring production, Breakin’ Convention has been a friend with depth, coolness and vibes this lockdown period.

Marissa Khaos

Our Bodies Back is at Sadler’s Wells from 19^th August. For further information visit the theatre’s website here.

Watch the trailer for Our Bodies Back here: