Month: August 2022

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August 23rd: College Green Performance, Cathedral Workshops and new Instagram Filter

On August 23rd 2022, we performed our memorial dance on College Green at 6pm outside the ‘Colston Window’ of Bristol Cathedral. Parts of that window have been removed by the Cathedral because of their celebration of Edward Colston. We had a few new people who hadn’t performed the dance before join us, which was wonderful. August 23rd is an important day in the calendar of memory work around enslavement as it is the day designated by UNESCO as the Day of Remembrance of the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans and its Abolition. You can read Jessica’s reflections on this as a Memorial Day HERE.

Our performance took place on College Green, which is also an important site of protest and activism in the city of Bristol, and in the week that Bristol Cathedral opened a new exhibition, ‘All God’s Children’ exploring the Cathedral’s connections to histories of enslavement. If you go into the cathedral you can learn about the connections between people commemorated in the building and their connections to this history.

Recording of the performance of the dance
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VIDEO TUTORIAL – Learn the dance at home!

In this video tutorial, Latisha Cesar and Cleo Lake take you through the new memorial folk dance created as part of the Decolonising Memory: Digital Bodies in Movement project. The video also has some explanation of the key significance and meaning of the movements which were developed through a series of open workshops held between November 2021 and May 2022.

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NEWS! Free Dance Workshop and Mass Dance Performance August 23rd!

Join us at Bristol Cathedral (in the Chapter House) on Tuesday 23rd August for a free dance workshop at either 11am or 12 midday to learn our new memorial dance. Workshops are free and open to all, but spaces are limited in the room so please do reserve your place using the ‘Register’ button below which will take you straight to the Eventbrite sign up to choose a time.

Register

Open to all abilities- please wear comfortable clothing you can move around in, and bring a bottle of water. There are a few small steps to get into the room but ramps can be provided, please let us know if you have any access requirements.

This event is held in conjunction with The World Re-Imagined and is supported by Bristol Cathedral

MASS DANCE @ 6pm!

Whether you’ve attended one of our workshops or not, you are invited to come and join us on College Green at 6pm on Tuesday 23rd August to perform the dance together as an act of memorial. 23rd August is designated by UNESCO as the International Day of Remembrance of the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans and its Abolition and by performing this dance together we memorialise, honour and heal together.

Come along and spread the word!

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NEWS! Emancipation Celebration at The Bristol Beacon

Join us at the Bristol Beacon, this Saturday 13th August to mark Emancipation Day (1st August). Celebrations will begin at 12 midday and go on until 8pm. There will be lots of great activities including poetry and music, food, fashion and stories! The event is being run as part of the ‘Bridging Histories’ project and members of the Decolonising Memory team will be there to run a special workshop at 6pm where you can learn our memorial dance. We will also be performing the dance here to mark this event.

More information is available on the Bristol Beacon’s website:

https://bristolbeacon.org/whats-on/emancipation-day-celebration/

Emancipation Celebration Poster
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Reflections on the workshops, by David Kwao Fianko-Williams

[In this post, David Kwao Fianko-Williams, one of our project participants, shares some personal reflections on the workshop series of the Decolonising Memory: Digital Bodies in Movement Project which ran from November 2021 to May 2022]

6th November 2021 

Memory and Transatlantic Enslavement

The session today, has made me ponder about memory and its intrinsic fluidity.  As Dr Jessica Moody quoted from Toni Morrison’s, The site of memory. Memory is like “water”, and “emotional memory [is like] ‘flooding’”. These words really resonated with me as memory should be free and ever flowing like “water”, not controlled, distorted, or sanitised. Which is why it is important that we collectively work together to decolonise our thought processes regarding this history. So that our memories of this history are in truth, un-sanitised, reflecting the historical realities of the histories of transatlantic enslavement.

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NEWS: The World Re-Imagined Community Launch this Friday!

Join members of the Decolonising Memory team at the community launch of The World Re-Imagined project and art event series at St. Paul’s Learning Centre, 12-3pm where we will be teaching the dance! Come along for the workshop and learn the memorial folk dance with us.

The World-Reimagined is a creative project looking at transforming understanding of the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans and its impact. The even on Saturday launches a trail of globes around the city. There will be food, drumming and language sessions and it’s free and open to all.

Come along and learn the dance! There will be further opportunities to learn the dance in the next few weeks building to a mass dance performance on Tuesday 23rd August to mark UNESCO Slavery Remembrance Day. Watch this space for more information!

Sign up for The World Re-Imagined launch HERE