Perspectives

Anna Chiedza Spörri

«PERSPECTIVES» is an artistic exploration of individual and collective experiences of racism in the form of microaggressions.

Sometimes they come out of nowhere, sometimes they are predictable. Some bounce off, others hit you. They are looks, gestures and statements in everyday life that are offensive and abusive. And then you evade or ignore, ignore, get angry, let it pass, stand up to it. But you can't escape it completely. They hurt, disturb and make you angry. They get in the way, squeeze in, chafe, burst. And leave their mark.

The different perspectives on the topic are expressed relentlessly and powerfully through hip-hop and contemporary dance, dialogue-like scenes, spoken word and original beats, creating space for confrontation, debate and vulnerability.

 

After talk

On Wednesday, 19 March, there will be a talk after the performance. Take the opportunity to find out more about the artists, their working methods and the themes explored in «PERSPECTIVES».

The discussion will be moderated by Naomi Bögli (café révolution) and will be held in German, Swiss German and English.

The after talk is free of charge. It lasts about 60 minutes and does not require registration.

 

Information on accessibility and language

The performance includes spoken text in Swiss German and English (spoken word). Racist microaggressions are reproduced in the piece and could therefore make people affected by racism feel uncomfortable.


To this organizer's website

Ticket Information

Gessnerallee provides several varying pricing categories.

Artists/People

Team

For this production, Anna Chiedza Spörri is working with a majority BIPoC (Black and Indigenous People of Colour) team. For Anna, the artistic collaboration with people affected by racism is essential for this production, as ‘PERSPECTIVES’ tells of racist experiences. In this way, she creates a safe space for the people who tell their personal stories in this production and bring them to the stage.

Anna Chiedza Spörri lives in Bern and works as a dancer, choreographer and activist. With her diverse dance experience and academic training in social anthropology, she focusses on activist art. She fuses her dance styles and works with text and spoken word. She often deals with identity issues, delves into very personal topics and creates an intimacy with her pieces that encourages people to question their own norms. Anna reflects her realities in her art and wants to create access for POC artists as well as promote empowerment. Her current project PERSPECTIVES is a collaboration with café révolution and a co-production with Schlachthaus Theater Bern and has already been shown as a work in progress as part of the OH BODY Festival 2021 as well as PREMIO 2022 at Zeughaus Kultur Brig.

Eshidoreen Paradiso is a dance artist, activist and choreographer from Oslo, Norway. She trained in dance in Paris at the ‘Juste debout’ school, where she learnt about street dance culture. Since then she has participated in battles, theatre plays theatre and performing arts. She is an active co-founder or performative dance artist in various artistic contexts. She participates in artistic projects for stages presented both nationally and internationally. She is a member of the ‘Sister Sister Crew’ and the dance collective ‘bseksten’ with 22 black women.

Sophie Chioma Gerber began her training at the Higher Technical College for Contemporary and Urban Stage Dance immediately after completing her studies at the Sports High School, specialising in dance. During this time, she danced intensively and trained in various styles. Her diversity as a dancer makes her unique; she can offer everything from hip hop and jazz contemporary to fusion and modern. She started dancing at the New Dance Academy in Bern at the age of five. She now gives various lessons and substitutions in the Bern region. She has been actively travelling as a professional dancer throughout Switzerland for two years and has already performed in various productions.

Gifti Tekako is a dancer in Bern who discovered a passion for hip hop as a child, be it in music or dance. It is very important to her to dance for a piece that she can identify with. Gifti has danced in several pieces by Anna Chiedza Spörri, as well as in ‘A seat at the table’ in the Rosengarten, by Anna Chiedza Spörri and Rena Brandenberger. In 2022, she took part in a dance programme at the ‘Ecole des Sables’ in Toubab Dialaw, Senegal, and learned a lot about Germaine Acogny's Acogny technique, taught by Alesandra Seutin, and about Sabar, the traditional dance of Senegal. Gifti is constantly continuing her education and will soon be interning in the All

eyne Dance company's production ‘Far from Home’.

Organizer

Gessnerallee Zürich

The Gessnerallee is a venue for theatre, dance, performance, music and community projects. As a co-producer of selected projects and as a partner for local and global productions, the Gessnerallee is one of the largest stages for the free ...

Location

Halle Ost

Gessnerallee 8
8001 Zürich
+41 (0)44 225 81 10
kasse@gessnerallee.ch

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Accessibility:

Infos Zugänglichkeit:

The diversity agents can be reached regularly from Monday to Friday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. for questions about accessibility.

Use the e-mail address: barrierefreiheit@gessnerallee.ch

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