ndemeh

An autobiographical solo performance portraying memories of strong, beautiful and Black women. Colleen explores her personal diasporic identity by revisiting tidbits passed on to her from her grandmother, mother, sister, and other influential women. Tidbits of their cultures, stories, foods, dances, clothes, hair, songs and words. 

The family recipe she is desperate to learn, the dances she watched her sister do her whole life, or simply the way these women carry themselves. Colleen carves a space for us to celebrate black women in a world that hates them, through its intersecting racism and sexism. In this world, acts of self-love are revolutionary; they are forms of resistance. Putting the body on stage is an act of protest. The work serves as an urgent declaration that black women are important, beautiful and magical. 

Movement-based performance, with audience interaction. Run time of 40 min. 

Residencies

Brote Residencia Creativa : Buenos Aires, Argentina; Aug-Nov 2016 

Denmark Arts Center : Denmark, Maine, USA; March 2017

Casa Muñecas : Buenos Aires, Argentina; Sept-Nov 2017 

Performances

Centro Cultural de la Memoria Conti, Buenos Aires, Argentina Nov 2018

Encuentro Nacional de Mujeres, Chaco, Argentina Oct 2018

Festival Mujeres a las Tablas, Neuquén, Argentina Sep 2018

Centro Cultural Tierra Violeta, Buenos Aires, Argentina Aug 2018

Club Cultural Matienzo, Buenos Aires, Argentina Jul 2018

Performática Dance Festival, Puebla, México Mar 2018

Real Art Ways, Hartford, Connecticut, USA Feb 2018

Thanks to OiHoy for their support of this work through subsidized rehearsal space. Fabiana Castro for the space and support to make this work grow.

[Fee support for Colleen Ndemeh Fitzgerald may be available to nonprofit organizations through the New England States Touring (NEST) program of the New England Foundation for the Arts. Visit www.nefa.org for more information.]