Kan du si noe om motivasjonen for etableringen? Hva er det som driver deg?
What drives me/us is the spirit of Ubuntu*; the one consciousness of the self, Livity, and the awareness of the purpose I/we are created to serve in this cosmos.
The motivation is that Bergen, Vestland has vast resources for community development but the establishment of our artistic model does not exist and there is a lack of development for professional dancers in Bergen, Vestland, thus motivated us to create Vestland Danseteater.
Hva er den kunstneriske visjon for kompaniet?
OUR VISION is to be the artistic epicentre for the minority groups of people in Norway, and the world at large.
Du fikk nylig tilskudd fra Kulturrådet til forestillingen Figure-ring / New Voices, som er Vestland Danseteater sitt første prosjekt. Kan du fortelle litt om dette prosjektet?
Figure-ring/New Voices is a long overdue creative conversation in Bergen, Vestland dance space, and the unveiling of the vast underground of dancers and artists with multi-cultural backgrounds.
Hvordan har korona-pandemien påvirket hverdagen din?
Affected my everyday life? I should be asking that question to the privileged ones who do not live in isolation, who do not have to deal with social distancing, racial profiling, the list goes on. What corona pandemic did was simply extending our box to fit all of the ordinary people, brown, black, white, green, yellow around the entire global population. Two weeks into the lockdown the comfortable fellow humans went bananas, now imagine those born and grown up into the box because of man-made decisions!
I live in and with fear, anxiety and stress every day. This is the reality norm of my life in Norway thus FIGURE-RING/NEW VOICES because I can not breathe. UNTIL THE DAY the Oppressor takes HIS knee OFF my economic freedom NECK, THE FIGURE-RING CONTINUES.
How I deal with all this, on a spiritual level, is what we share through iNfi9t flow (Iflow)**: a state of mind and an overstanding of ones consciousness when maneuvering in space to the pure and unlimited rhythms of the I. Iflow is our way of being in Vestland Danseteater (in the dance world they will soon dub it «a new signature or dance technique»). But we love to keep it free and simple so that all souls can experience, explore the trans between body, mind and soul rather than using a fancy discriminatory word which excludes the masses.
I, together with the community Simba Arts, will keep building bridges and edutain the masses to get rid of social distance. Like my sister, JAH9 said, «This is absolutely not the time for social distancing. Physical distancing maybe, but social closeness is needed now more than ever”.
I lys av debatten i det siste, har rasisme vært et tema i kunsten din og har det påvirket kunstnerskapet ditt? I så fall hvordan?
What influences me is my journey as I pass the valley of the dead and try to stay awake. What influences me is my kids, my wife, my mentors and brothers (Brian Geza, Philmon Chigwida, Tendai Fulukia) and the community in its many colors and forms. What influences me is the masses of people in the rural areas and in the cities who are zombies – not independent thinkers. What influences me is the mother nature. Racism is a fraction of my artistry.
I live in and with fear, anxiety and stress every day. This is the reality norm of my life in Norway thus FIGURE-RING/NEW VOICES because I can not breathe.
However, Racism has played many tricks on my/our ART and it still does. Racism is an issue not only in my ART but in the community at large, period! I have so much I went through before, and a million more coming post-COVID-19.
HOW? I will explain more of my story and experience at the right time.
Om Figure-ring / New Voices
Er tuftet på den afrikanske livsfilosofien Ubuntu og er Vestland Danseteaters debut-prosjekt på initiativ fra dansekunstner Simbarashe Norman Fulukia (Simba). Et samfunnsprosjekt som leter etter svar rundt egen identitet og hensikt i et nytt hjem, der egenskaper og drømmer er uendret, mens rammene rundt en er endret. Kunstnerisk team og utøvere er bergensbaserte kunstnere med innvandrerbakgrunn, alle med sine unike historier. “Figure-ring” er å utforske utfordringene rundt integrering, arbeidsledighet, utestengelse og mangel på identitet i et nytt hjem. «New voices” er nyfunnet mot, åpenhet, løsninger og veien videre som kunstner og medmenneske. Danseforestillingen feirer kultur og mangfold og skal treffe publikum på tvers av bakgrunn og sosial status.
Simbarashe Norman Fulukia (aka Simba)
Ubuntu driven professional dancer, festival director, producer, philanthropist, creative social entrepreneur, humble servant of the mother nature from Zimbabwe based in Norway. He is the founder and creative director of Simba Arts an arts organization with 23 years of experience promoting dance, youth culture, and working to empower the skills and voices of young /oppressed people in Zimbabwe & Norway through innovative programming. Simba coined Bømlo Dance Day, founded + continue to direct Bergen Afro Arts Festival, Afrikanere i Vestlandet (AiV). He is also the creative-director of Bergen’s first minority contemporary dance theatre company; Vestland Danseteater (VDT). Simba coined;iNf9t flow (Iflow). He is a graduate at the National Ballet of Zimbabwe (DFC), Kunsthøgskolen I Oslo (KHIO), and a former dancer with the Norwegian National contemporary Dance company, Carte Blanche (2009-2015). Simbarashe was also a dance instructor at Bømlo Kulturskule (2015-2018), now a student of pedagogy at the University of Tromsø (UiT) (2019-2023).
Fotnoter
*UBUNTU is an African Philosophy which means «I am because you are/Humanity to others» (vi er gjensidig og avhengig av hverandre).
**iNf9t flow (Iflow). Teknikken Infinite Flow (iFlow) er et bevegelsesspråk bygget på kreativitet, kroppsbevissthet og høy energi-intensitet med solid forankring i den afrikanske filosofien Ubuntu.
Infinite Flow-teknikk fokuserer hovedsakelig på å gjenoppdage sin flyt som danser og menneske gjennom å skape ubegrensede bevegelser og kroppsrytmer som er overskridende, helende og meditative, akkompagnert av Mbira-musikk. Tradisjonelt har Mbira blitt brukt i forbindelse med Shona-folkets nattlige Bira-ritualer, og kan beskrives som både transcendent og beroligende. Infinite Flow-teknikken regnes som Vestland Danseteaters kunstneriske signatur.
