Nora Chipaumire: Portrait of Myself as My Father
Sound designer, composer, audio engineer, technical director
Premiere: Peak Performances, Montclair University 2016
Tour: 2016-17
In this visceral exploration of African masculinity, Zimbabwe-born, Brooklyn-based choreographer Nora Chipaumire (Miriam, 2012 Next Wave) is joined by the specters of her estranged father (performed by Senegalese dancer Pape Ibrahima Ndiaye, also known as Kaolack, and Jamaican-born dancer Shamar Watt). In a makeshift boxing ring, under the harsh glow of halogen worklights, the three trade jabs steeped in Chipaumire’s trademark synthesis of contemporary African movements. Clad in boxing gloves, football pads, and sacred West African gris-gris (or talisman), they teeter between combat and play, exploding and exploiting stereotypes of black manhood in an uncompromising exchange.
Selected Press:
New York Times
New Yorker
Chicago Tribune