Black Victorians
Black Victorians
Duration: 35 minutes
This powerful and moving dance performance by Artistic Director and Choreographer Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE is inspired by nineteenth-century studio photographs of black men, women, and children. 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.
“Inspired by formal portrait photography of black Victorian Britons, Jeanefer Jean-Charles’s sensual dance work restores life and humanity to its forgotten subjects.”
The Guardian
Sanjoy Roy
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)
SAT 30 SEPT – SUN 1 OCT – Bournemouth Arts By The Sea Festival (Bournemouth, Dorset)
SAT 4 NOV – The British Museum (Great Court, London)
Two performances of Black Victorians will be take place at the British Museum on 4 November 2023, one at 1:30pm to 2pm and another at 3:30pm to 4pm.
2022 TOUR DATES
FRI 24 JUN – SUN 26 JUN, VARIOUS TIMES – Birmingham International Dance Festival
SAT 2ND JUL – SUN 3RD JUL, VARIOUS TIMES – Handsworth Park (North Birmingham)
SAT 30 – SUN 31 JUL – Merchant City Festival (Glasgow)
SAT 13 – SUN 14 AUG – Kensington and Chelsea Festival (London)
FRI 26 AUG – The Big Feast (Stoke-On-Trent)
SAT 27 AUG, 2.15PM & 6.15PM – Greenwich & Docklands International Festival 2022 (London)
SUN 18 SEPT, 2PM & 4PM – Lancashire Encounter (Preston)
SAT 24 SEPT 12.45PM & 3.30PM – Derby Festé 2022 (Derby)
SUN 16 OCT, 1PM & 3PM – Wilderness Street (Ilford)
Cast & Creative Team
Designer: Marsha Roddy
Producer: Alison Holder
Composer: Danilo DJ Walde
Poet: Anthony Anaxagorou
Rehearsal Director: Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster, Cherilyn Albert
Writer: Hassan Mahamdallie
Creative Consultant: Martha Stylianou
Stage Manager: Cynthia Franklin
Creative Dance Artists: Melissa Bravo, Dani Harris-Walter, Oluwaseun Olayiwola, Nosiphiwo Samente, Duja Sinada, Rudzani Moleya, Stefano Addea
Supported by
Black Victorians is produced and co-commissioned by FESTIVAL.ORG, Brighton Festival, Hatfair and Without Walls and is currently touring across the UK.
Black Victorians is inspired by Black Chronicles – The Missing Chapter, an ongoing archive research programme led by Autograph focused on unearthing nineteenth-century photographs of black presences in Britain.
Black Victorians is accompanied by a display of the Black Chronicles’ Exhibition In A Box presented in association with Autograph, London.
