Black Victorians by Artistic Director and Choreographer Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE is inspired by nineteenth century studio photographs of black men, women and children – Black Chronicles II curated by Renée Mussai at the Autograph Gallery in London.
Exploring a complex, but often forgotten black presence in pre-Windrush Britain, this performance calls attention to previously hidden figures and challenges historical and contemporary perceptions.
Picture dancers dressed in restrictive Victorian costumes, shedding them in rebellion as they dance in African, contemporary and hip-hop styles re-imagining a moment in history. Their movement will invoke their origins in powerful ways, bringing voice and body to the portraits that inspired us.
This is an opportunity to experience history as told through choreography.
Artistic Director and Choreographer Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE is a globally respected creative artist. Since starting her journey as Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Bullies Ballerinas Jazz Dance Company (1990- 2000), her work has taken her to over 21 countries. Her unique creative process aims to bring to life the talents, strengths and shared stories of local communities and artists in inspiring and unforgettable ways.
Black Victorians is back for its 3rd year of touring this summer thanks to the support of FESTIVAL.ORG. And this year, as well as some UK dates, we have some International dates in Aveiro (Portugal) and Antwerp (Belgium).
We are thrilled to be extending the cast of Black Victorians in Summer 2023 with new dancers Rudzani Moleya and Stefano Addea who will join the original cast on some of the Tour Dates.
2023 TOUR DATES
FRI 14 JUL – SUN 16 JUL – Festival Dos Canais (Portugal)
THURS 27 JUL – SUN 30 JUL – Gratis Festival (Antwerp)
SAT 12 AUG – Kensington + Chelsea Festival (Kensington, London)
FRI 29 SEPT – SUN 1 OCT – Bournemouth Arts By The Sea Festival Bournemouth, Dorset) – More info to come, please check the website.
Watch This Space For More Dates Coming Soon.
Date: Monday 1st May 2023
Location: Thomas Steers Way, Chavasse Park, Liverpool, UK
On 1st May 2023 1,000 volunteers came together to celebrate Eurovision, Ukraine and Liverpool.
Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE from Jeanefer Jean-Charles & Associates and local choreographers; Lisi Perry and Grace Goulding invited local communities from across Merseyside and beyond to come together to create a vast human artwork – a giant Ukrainian flag and the iconic Eurovision heart, right in the centre of Liverpool at Chavasse Park documenting an unforgettable moment in Liverpool’s history.
Edward Morgan, Executive Director, and Alison Grist, Broadcast Director from Northern Town Film company, captured this mass spectacle using drones and up close cameras to create a 2-minute film which forms part of EuroFestival – celebrating Liverpool as the host city for Eurovision 2023.
With a specially commissioned soundtrack by DJ Walde, and lyrics by Pete Wylie – the message is bold and simple; by standing together in the heart of Liverpool, we welcome the world to the Eurovision Festival 2023.
Jeanefer Jean-Charles & Associates
Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE
Photo credit: David Edwards
Paul Doyle – Co-Choreographer
Kirsten Peters Roebuck – Recruitment Manager
Natasha Khamjani – Show Support
Chloe Robinson – Assistant Dance Artist
Tomo (Christopher) Tomlinson – Movement Assistant
Daz Scott – Jeanefer’s Projects Assistant
Julie Karlsen – LIPA Movement Volunteer
Kathryn McEvilly – Movement Volunteer
Mary Lamb – Design Consultant
Molly Lacey Davies – Design Consultant Assistant
Along with 500 individuals from all over the UK, 22 local groups took part in the film, including:
OOMOO – Open Door Charity
The Choir with No Name Liverpool
Men!Dancing! & 50 Moves
Gods Dance Group (Growing Older Disgracefully)
Daisy Inclusive UK
Anchor Women’s Club
The Hammond Dance School Powered by Hip Hop (UC Crew)
Barbara Johnston Stage School
LIPA 6th Form Dance & Musical Theatre
The Dance Depot Theatre School
Batala Mersey
Merseyside Polonia
Jan Williams Theatre School & Christopher Linzie School of Dance
Gateacre School
Create Dance Wirral
7th Liverpool Boys Brigade and Girls Association
Stagecoach Wilmslow
Natalie Green School of Dance
Off The Ground Youth Theatre
George Ferguson School of Irish Dance
LIPA Core Group
For further information about EuroFestival please visit the EuroFestival website.
Jeanefer Jean-Charles & Associates
Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE
The People’s Flag, a brand new, mass participation film, led by Mass Movement Director Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE and local choreographers Lisi Perry and Grace Goulding presents an unforgettable moment in Liverpool’s history with over 1,000 people from local communities coming together to create a unique, warm welcome to all Eurovision-comers in the centre of Liverpool.
For more information visit the EuroFestival website.
If so, we’d love you to join us for this large scale community project, a mass movement film to welcome the world to Liverpool in the run up to Eurovision.
This powerful spectacle will be led by Mass Movement Director Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE with local choreographers Lisi Perry and Grace Goulding. It will be filmed by Northern Town production company.
This opportunity is open to individuals aged 18+
No experience necessary.
Come and get involved!
Applications are now CLOSED.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO APPLIED TO BE PART OF OUR FILM TO WELCOME THE WORLD TO LIVERPOOL IN THE RUN UP TO EUROVISION.
Absolutely not! You just need enthusiasm, community spirit and be available for the rehearsals & filming!
The film will be shown on Culture Liverpool’s digital platforms as part of the Eurovision welcome. Given the scale of the project, it also has the potential to engage national press and/or Eurovision coverage.
No, this is a voluntary project bringing the community together for a very special celebration.
Unfortunately not. Our age range is 11+ to ensure that everyone taking part can meet the demands of the filming day and the logistical requirements of mass movement.
Those aged 11-17 must participate with a Community Group and have appropriate permissions and chaperones.
This is a mass movement film. This involves specific camera equipment and filming logistics such as drones and a cordoned off performance space. There won’t be a live audience for the filming day, but as soon as the film is released you can share it anywhere you like!
Mass movement is a large group of people coming together as an ensemble to move and create imagery. It’s most often seen at opening ceremonies like the Olympics or the Jubilee celebrations.
Written and directed by Julie McNamara and Hassan Mahamdallie, Quiet Rebels is based on the true life but forgotten stories of white working-class women who fell in love with men of the Windrush generation. A drama-noir, with film, music and movement, set in a dystopian, authoritarian state England where people who marry across the race lines are considered traitors.
The cast included Lottie Bell, Joe Conteh, Deni Francis, and Fiona Whitelaw.
Quiet Rebels premiered at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry on 10 September and completed its run at The Albany in London on 11 November.
For more information, please click here.
Simon Kenny, Designer
Gabriel Finn, Lighting Designer
Stephen Rudder, Filmmaker / Visuals
Mohammed Ali, Digital Artist
Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE, Movement Director
Awate Abdalla, Composer / Sound Designer
Troi Lee, Deaf Rave
Paul Burgess, Creative Captions Designer
The Reviews Hub
Anna Ambelez
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, September 2022. Photos by © Rehan Jamil.
Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE was among a cast of contributors appearing in an ITV documentary.
Our Jubilee, an alternative social history of Britain told through the personal stories of Black Britons in the Queen’s Jubilee years was first broadcast on ITV on 16 Oct 2022.
Jeanefer’s involvement in the documentary came about after filmmaker Jason Osborne (recipient of the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund and co-founder of Project Must Entertainment), heard about Jeanefer’s work on The Thank You Dance in this year’s Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant.
Our Jubilee is told through the prism of the Queen’s Jubilee years and how the experience of being Black and British changed over the 70 years of her reign. The documentary was filmed in 2022 before the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Our Jubilee is available to watch on the ITV Hub.
Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE is bringing her show Black Victorians to Derby Festé on Saturday, 24 September as part of a national tour.
The dance performances at 12.45pm and 3.30pm will form part of day 2 of Derby Festé, which will feature music, dance, performance and large-scale installation.
Exploring a complex, but often forgotten black presence in pre-Windrush Britain, this performance calls attention to previously hidden figures and challenges historical and contemporary perceptions.
Black Victorians is inspired by nineteenth century studio photographs of black men, women and children.
The Guardian,
Sanjoy Roy
To download a PDF copy of the programme please CLICK HERE
Click here to view this years line up.
#Festé22
Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE from Jeanefer Jean-Charles & Associates is working as Creative Consultant with Liverpool Choreographer Grace Goulding on a mass movement dance piece celebrating Knowsley’s rich sporting heritage.
The piece will form part of the grand finale of a week-long Sporting Legends Relay, which will feature walking, cycling, horse riding, running, and toddling, celebrating both sporting legends and grass-roots sports heroes from the borough.
The final dance piece will take place outdoors at Liverpool Football Club, and will tell the borough’s stories through movement, fusing sports and arts, and bringing together local dance schools, sports people, and sporting audiences in a celebration of Knowsley.
For more information, visit the Knowsley Borough of Culture 2022 website.
Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE worked as Creative Consultant with Liverpool Choreographer Grace Goulding on a mass movement dance piece celebrating Knowsley’s rich sporting heritage. The piece formed part of the grand finale of a week-long Sporting Legends Relay, which featured walking, cycling, horse riding, running, and toddling, celebrating both sporting legends and grass-roots sports heroes from the borough.
The final dance piece took place outdoors as the finale of a week-long Sporting Legends Relay and told the borough’s stories through movement, fusing sports and arts, and bringing together local dance schools, sports people, and sporting audiences in a celebration of Knowsley, spearheaded by celebrity and local sports heroes including Katerina Johnson Thompson, John Conteh, and Steve McMahon.
The Knowsley Borough of Culture 2022
Jeanefer Jean-Charles has been awarded an MBE in this year’s Queens Birthday Honours List.
Creative Director and Producer Jeanefer Jean-Charles from Jeanefer Jean-Charles & Associates is among well-known faces from the arts recognised in the Platinum Jubilee Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Jeanefer, with over 20 years’ experience devising, creating, facilitating, and directing dance and movement for performance, receives an MBE for services to dance.
For over 20 years Jeanefer has designed and delivered artistic solutions for some of the world’s most iconic events including a section for the Queens Platinum Jubilee Pageant, the Coronation Festival at Buckingham Palace, all four of the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremonies, The F.A. Cup Final 2016 Opening Ceremony at Wembley, and the first-ever Big Dance – which broke a world record.
HM The Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours List 2022 marks the public service of individuals across the UK in celebration of Her Majesty’s 70 years of service.
Jeanefer Jean-Charles & Associates,
Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE
Date: Sunday 25th June 2022
Location: Port of Tilbury
Taking place from the 2 – 25 June, T100 People featured a series of events, walks, talks and community celebrations along the Thames Estuary, including the return of The Thank You Dance to Thurrock, a section of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant created by artistic directors and producers Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE from Jeanefer Jean-Charles & Associates and Ali Pretty from Kinetika and featuring Thurrock key workers, volunteers and community members.
T100 People culminated on Sunday 25 June with a spectacular finale at the Port of Tilbury, as The Thank You Dance came home to Thurrock.
Jeanefer Jean-Charles & Associates,
Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE
Haus of Kraft: Beneath the Seams was a spectacular sustainable fashion show and the culmination of the Haus of Kraft fashion program.
The programme highlighted the damage that fast fashion does and invited 10 women from Coventry to team up with women from commonwealth countries, to learn and share sustainable fashion skills, and to design their own sustainable clothes, taking them from rags to runway.
These designs were then showcased and brought to life in a fashion show that fused dance, mass movement, music, spoken word, and upcycled design.
The event brought together artists, dancers, and writers from Coventry and beyond, with different professional and community dance groups bringing each design to life.
The show told the incredible stories of the designers, of fast fashion, of hope for the future, and of the threads that connect people all over the planet.
Artistic Director: Jeanefer Jean-Charles
Designer & Collection Design Director: Marsha Roddy
Composer and Sound Designer: DJ Walde
BBC CWR,
City of Culture reporter
Don’t miss this ground-breaking celebration of Coventry, Haus of Kraft: Beneath The Seams, directed by world-renowned Creative Director and Producer Jeanefer Jean-Charles from Jeanefer Jean-Charles & Associates and designed by Designer Marsha Roddy.
WHEN: TUE 26 APR 2022 @ 19.30
WHERE: QUEEN OF FLANDERS, ASSEMBLY FESTIVAL GARDEN, LITTLE PARK STREET, COVENTRY, CV1 2UR
Fusing arts, movement, music and spoken word, their upcycled creations go from rags to runway using only waste textiles and sustainable materials. Much more than a fashion show, this spectacular event is layered with stories about the threads that connect people, places and the planet.
In response to the global impact of fast fashion, the Haus Of Kraft Coventry collective team up with artists and writers from commonwealth countries to create a catwalk like no other.
Date: 16 October to 17 October 2021
Location: London Borough of Newham
Client: Rosetta Arts
Newham Unlocked Festival: Plaistow and Green Street was a month-long celebration of unity and community with two landmark events on the weekend of October 16 and 17.
The weekend programme included a specially commissioned Mass Movement parade of 60 dancers from six community groups accompanied by a live band and a fun-packed programme on the outdoor stage in Plaistow Park with performances by singers, poets, dancers, DJ’s and more.
The powerful dance parade in the centre of Queen’s Market was inspired by Green Street as a celebration of the local community.
Chief Executive, Rosetta Arts,
Sanaz Amidi
As part of a 2019 exchange project with the city of Norwich and the town of Tilbury, Jeanefer Jean-Charles worked with Norwich City Council and Kinetika to deliver an integrated public engagement programme, culminating in a spectacular procession, part of a city-wide celebration.
People Power Passion was a five month-long programme, part of Luton’s Pilot Year of Culture bringing Luton’s communities and cultures together. This was part of the city’s strategic vision for the arts, culture and creative industries which includes plans to bid for UK City of Culture 2025.
Commissioned by Luton Town Council, Jeanefer Jean-Charles worked as Performance Director for The People’s Launch, an explosive immersive performance outside the Town Hall, looking back on the 1919 riots in Luton.
Jeanefer Jean-Charles was commissioned by the Greater London Authority and The Mayor’s Office, to create a Human Shamrock featuring 200 volunteers in Trafalgar Square. The piece was rehearsed in secret to kick off London’s St. Patrick’s Day 2019 celebrations with Tourism Ireland.
Irish Central
‘How do you find work and how do you navigate your way through the wilderness?’
Jeanefer Jean-Charles’s talk was focused specifically for freelance choreographers and dance artists and Jeanefer ensured there was an opportunity for the attendees to discuss and reflect on this engaging and highly relevant question.
In March 2018 Jeanefer Jean-Charles stood once again alongside the Paralympic flame, this time as Performance Director for the Paralympics Flame Ceremony in Stoke Mandeville.
Working as part of the Walk the Plank team, Jeanefer coordinated the performance that accompanied the iconic moment the flame was passed from Stoke Mandeville to Seoul in Korea.
This experience built on Jeanefer’s previous role as Mass Movement Coordinator for the Opening Ceremony at the London 2012 Olympics.
See a video of Channel 4’s coverage of the event.
– Walk The Plank
In February 2018, Jeanefer Jean-Charles held a creative development day for local artists from Norwich and Great Yarmouth. The embryonic development workshop was essential ahead of the celebration surrounding 250 years of circus in the UK and culminated in a carnival extravaganza in June and July 2018 with events in both Great Yarmouth and Norwich.
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Jeanefer Jean-Charles was invited to speak at Out Door Arts UK (formally ISAN) Making Waves: Critical Mass 2017 National Outdoor Arts Conference, a two day event in Milton Keynes.
Her presentation explored the impact of her involvement in Outdoor Arts with a particular focus on the Manchester Day Parade, which Jeanefer has worked on for several years, with Walk the Plank and Dance Manchester.
Working as a Creative Partner with Kinetika to oversee the mass movement for a large-scale outdoor event in Tilbury, commemorating The SS Empire Windrush at Tilbury Cruise Terminal. The event was part of an exchange project with the Lord Mayor’s Parade in Norwich and featured a parade with over 300 local artists and young people, showcasing Kinetika’s beautiful carnival costumes.
Jeanefer Jean-Charles was appointed Mass Movement Director for a new musical theatre production, The Silk Road in Beijing, China, October 2017. It was produced by UKCI, and was a training & performance project attached to the Beijing University, featuring 100 schoolchildren.
CEO – UKCI,
Ian Kellgren
Jeanefer Jean-Charles was invited to lead a training session on pitching in 2017, part of OffSite – an Outdoor Arts development programme produced by Déda. Artists gained support in both verbal and written pitching. Other guest speakers were Phil Hargreaves, Creative Producer for Déda and a freelance producer and Graham Callister, Director of Creative Programmes at Birmingham Hippodrome.
Jeanefer led a successful follow up session in March 2018 at the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Jeanefer Jean-Charles choreographed the original and iconic handshake featured in the 1998 Walt Disney film, The Parent Trap. Jeanefer worked with a young Lindsay Lohan and actor Simon Kunz who played Martin, the family butler.
Jeanefer Jean- Charles was appointed Creative Director for Newcastle’s New Year’s Eve Parade in 2014, an event to celebrate the Rugby World Cup arriving in the city the following year. Together with her carefully selected team, consisting of Assistant Director Vicki Igbokwe and Creative Assistant Helen Wilson, Jeanefer guided a group of local artists, leaving behind a meaningful legacy.
Jeanefer Jean-Charles created the first-ever Big Dance, which took place on Saturday 22nd July 2006 in Trafalgar Square, London. This large-scale dance event was the centrepiece to Big Dance week and an exhilarating finale to BBC One’s Dancing in the Streets.
Jeanefer Jean-Charles & Associates,
Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE
Jeanefer Jean-Charles was Movement Director and Co-director for Dancing Voices, a public art commission produced by East London Dance in partnership with Westfield Stratford City.
Dancing Voices captures the multitude of dance ‘languages’ set against a backdrop of iconic East London locations, celebrating the changing landscape of the area and featuring over 100 local dancers.
Film Maker: Jevan Chowdhury
Music: danbeats
Assistant Artists: Martha Wilkinson and Franqui Radford-Mathurin
Creative Projects Manager: Emma Kerr
Jeanefer Jean-Charles was appointed Choreographer for the Manchester Day Parade (2015) produced by Walk The Plank in partnership with Dance Manchester.
In 2016, Jeanefer delivered masterclasses with local artists and group leaders, ahead of Manchester Day Parade 2016. Jeanefer shared her methods for approaching mass choreography, preparing and empowering the artists and group leaders to create spectacular parade choreography.
Jeanefer has returned every year since, working as Mass Movement Director for the People’s Parade.
As Creative Consultant, Jeanefer Jean-Charles facilitated a Dance to Health Review Day with Aesop (Arts Enterprise with a Social Purpose).
As the sole representative of the Arts industry, Jeanefer was invited to respond publicly to the ideas proposed in BOP Consulting and Aesop’s first joint paper, ‘Active Ingredients‘. The event took place at King’s College London in September 2018 to mark the launch of the paper. The aim of the Active Ingredient’s report, is to deepen the understanding of the ways in which arts interventions in health and social contexts actually work – and to improve the ways these are designed and their impacts measured.
Dance to Health has been developed as a sustainable social enterprise. Six pilots in London, Cheshire and Oxfordshire have been underway in partnership with dance organisations and Age UK, health and wellbeing centres, housing associations and Jewish Care. An evaluation team is studying the process, quality assurance, health/artistic/social outcomes, health economics, and the best social enterprise model for Dance to Health to grow successfully.
Dance to Health Project Manager – Aesop,
Karen Hamilton
Jeanefer Jean-Charles produced a choreographic framework for a Big Dance commission in Liverpool. Appointed by Merseyside Dance Initiative, Jeanefer collaborated with Lisi Perry, the North West Big Dance Coordinator Mira Balchandran Gokul and 25 artists. This framework was rolled out across Big Dance hubs in the North West of England.
Merseyside Dance Initiative were the North West hub lead for Big Dance 2012, which provided the opportunity to celebrate community dance across the nation.
Artistic Director Sonya Moorhead and outdoor arts experts Walk the Plank, presented a collaboration with Mr Wilson’s Second Liners – New Orleans meets 90s club classics rave band.
Drawing upon a rich tapestry of cultural references, Voodoo Rising is a euphoric fusion of music, movement, fire and pyrotechnics; inspired by the Louisiana Bayou and hedonism of 90’s clubland.
As Choreographic Consultant, Jeanefer Jean-Charles joined the team for the R&D period, which included a spectacular performance at Arts by the Sea Festival in Bournemouth, October 2016.
Voodoo Rising was designed by world-renowned designer Dan Potra and Graham Massey – Pioneer of Electronic Music for the first phase of the R&D, supported by Arts Council England.
Jeanefer Jean-Charles is delighted to be Creative Consultant for Tavaziva, a national touring dance company and National Portfolio Organisation led by Bawren Tavaziva. His choreography is a unique synthesis of Contemporary, African and Ballet.
Jeanefer has delivered ongoing consultancy, advising on the strategic planning of Tavaziva’s Learning and Participation Projects, specifically their boys dance programme. She has delivered training days for their teaching team and joined Bawren in leading the recruitment of a new cohort of male dance artists.
Jeanefer Jean-Charles was appointed Creative Consultant, 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 for the Dance Enterprise Ideas Summit with East London Dance.
The Dance Enterprise Ideas Fund was established in 2015 to enable dance creatives to research, test and/or launch new artistic and entrepreneurial ideas.
Jeanefer collaborated with Cultural and Creative Consultant Anamaria Wills for the first year of the programme and continued for the Ideas Summit in March 2018.
Jeanefer and Anamaria guided applicants through practice pitches and feedback before their projects were pitched to a panel of dance experts.
