Plein Theater presents the theater performance Sporen van Haar in Dutch theaters in collaboration with Kula Skoro!
Plein Theater and Kula Skoro present the theater performance Sporen van Haar, on the occasion of the Slavery Memorial Year 150 years of the abolition of slavery of the Netherlands. From October 2023, the performance will tour to various theaters in the Netherlands!
Sporen van Haar
The slavery past along the trail of black rice
Sporen van Haar is a multidisciplinary theater performance in which major themes such as strife and survival in the colonies are depicted from a female and African perspective in afro-futuristic forms. The source of inspiration is the West African black rice that was smuggled in the hair of Maroon women, and its significance today.
In the 17th century, enslaved Africans managed to free themselves from the gruesome Dutch plantations in Suriname. What was special was that women smuggled black rice by hiding it in their braided hair. This rice and their ancient knowledge of rice farming from Africa were important for the survival of the Maroons, who built a new life in the Amazon forests of Suriname. To this day, this originally African variety of rice is still cultivated in Africa and in the midland of Suriname, where it, called black alesi, has a spiritual significance in Maroon culture for rituals and honoring ancestors.
Sporen van Haar is praise to Maroon women and black rice, with the grain of rice as a symbol for the (evidence) traces in our present that, along the trail of the rice, lead us back to the transatlantic slavery and African roots. We open the perspective of the Maroon women and the unique, unknown stories that were passed on from woman to woman and are still being told and sung today. They tell us about the risks and dangers they faced, the loss of their own land, resilience, the preservation of their own culture within an extreme system of oppression, a new relationship with the Surinamese forests and their knowledge of earth, nature and agriculture.
Credits
Sporen van Haar is a production by the Plein Theater in collaboration with Kula Skoro and a collective of performing artists, on the occasion of the Slavery Memorial Year 150 Years of the Abolition of Slavery of the Netherlands.
Directed by: Berith Danse | Maroon dance and co-director: José Tojo | Choreography: Dayna Martinez Morales | Actors/dancers and co-creators: Alexandra Loembé, Angelika Naingie, Josè Tojo, Dayna Martinez Morales | | Scenography and concept: Bartel Meyburg | Composer: Ivo Bol | Video design: Bouba Dola | Costume and design: Daphne Karstens | Dramaturgy: Caroline van Leerdam | Light design: Frank Oorthuys | Technique: Frank Oorthuys, Esther Bernart, Gert Scheper | Campaign Image: PaulinaMatusiak&EddyWenting | Poster: Studio Matusiak | Advice; Oumar Mbengue | PR and communication: Elise Vroonhof | Producer: Plein Theater | Part of Black Achievement Month 2023 | Thanks to: Fatou Samb, Tinde van Andel, Ivette Forster, Carl Haarnack, Ruth Sotong-Alexander, Tolin Alexander, Lonnie van Brummelen, Siebren Haan. and others | Bookings from 2024 via: Van Baasbank Productions
Made possible in part by: Municipality of Amsterdam, Municipality of Amsterdam East, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunsten, Fonds 21, Het Prins Bernard Cultuurfonds Noord-Holland, BeamSystems, Kater Audio Techniek and Monsterverbond.
The performance includes two poems by Radna Fabias from the poem collection Habitus (2018), Singel Uitgeverijen and a poem by Babs Gons from the poetry collection; Doe het toch maar (2021), Publisher Atlas Contact.
Sporen van Haar - the Podcast
In Sporen van Haar de Podcast we go in conversation with the makers. Tune in and immerse yourself in the making process against the background of current topics.
Tourdates so far
1 October Try Out Theaterbroedplaats De Sloot, Amsterdam Tickets >>
4 October Try Out Theater Bellevue, Amsterdam Tickets >>
5 October Amsterdam Premiere Theater Bellevue, Amsterdam Tickets >>
8 October National Premiere Koninklijke Schouwburg, The Hague (Day of the Maroons) Tickets >>
13 oktober Kunstlinie, Almere Tickets>>
16 October Stadsschouwburg Utrecht, De Blauwe Zaal Tickets>>
October 21 Theater Zuidplein, Rotterdam Tickets>>
October 27 & 28 Bijlmer Parktheater, Amsterdam Tickets >>
www.sporenvanhaar.plein-theater.nl
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