Greta Mendez MBE Curates A Time To Breathe Festival

Curated by Greta Mendez MBE, new cross-genre festival A Time To Breathe (26th - 31st October) will span Batuke, contemporary dance, Calypso, choreo-poem, Lover's Rock and more. Marking the month of Black History, the festival will be a time to share songs, dance, laughter and memories, brought together by a host of history makers and children of the Windrush generation who have made a massive contribution to the arts and culture in the UK.

In a celebration of the end of lockdown, A Time To Breathe performances will take place in-person at the venue formerly known as Stockwell Playhouse. Artists involved include Carol Leeming MBE FRSA, whose poem The Loneliness of the Long Distance Diva featured as part of the Olympics opening ceremony, her music was featured in Trainspotting and she has recently been recruited to BBC Open Music Programme to work on 2022 BBC Proms. Also joining the festival programme is Dennis Bovell MBE who has been at the heart of reggae and Lovers Rock, as a music producer Bovell has worked with legends such as Fela Kuti, The Slits, Janet Kay and Maddness as well as collaborating with Gaudi, Lee 'Scratch' Perry and The Orb.

The multidisciplinary programme will include live performances from the likes Queen of Bantu, Jordana Mba with Bantu & Mba which combines Flamenco, Afro-beat, soul and Latin Rhythm through two fearless warriors. Meanwhile, pioneers such as musician and actor Lorna Sutara Gee, whose extensive career has seen her awarded multiple BBC Radio London Reggae Awards for best Female Artist and the 1992 New York Tamika Reggae Artist will take to the stage in a celebration of Lovers Rock. Acclaimed dancer and choreographer Gerrard Martin's duet, A Journey to Love, will reflect the journey to self-love and seeks to uncover the vulnerability and intimacy of male romantic love.

New work, Skin(s), comes from Batuke Arts & Friends led by Iris de Brito who has worked with the likes of Cher and Jay Z as well as acting as a consultant for Strictly Dance Fever with Graham Norton. Skin(s) was borne out of a collective need to respond to the events of the Black Lives Matter movement and the issues that resurfaced surrounding identity. Dancers will take audiences on a journey through the colour line as black women and as women living in a multiracial body. Elsewhere, classical ballet, contemporary & African dance vocabularies are mercurially fused in Ballet Soul's electric "We born - we breathe - we die" (OTHELLO) whilst Akeim Toussaint Buck's Sib Y Osis is a dance theatre performance encapsulating a journey of contentment, play, fear, rage and joy, exploring an emotive journey shared by siblings. Dancer and choreographer Richard Lessey's work MUSING ON MARVIN: # 1, 3 & 9 remains as socially relevant today as it has been for the past 400 plus years.

Alongside live performance, talks from the likes of Dr Carol La Chapelle will shine a spotlight on Carnival performance from the evolution of traditional characters to the emergence of the Dancing Mobile as a neo-Caribbean performance genre. The phenomena of the Dance Styles of Lovers Rock will be explored by speakers Yasmin V Foster and Sheba Montserrat from the position of sonic embodiment and collective consciousness.

Curator Greta Mendez is choreographer, former dancer and carnivalist who has shaped contemporary British performance for over forty years. As well as curating and producer of the festival, Greta will present Who Am I ?..F#@K !, exploring neglect, bulling & colourism with the pulsing sounds of Calypso, text and dance.

2021 has been a year spiced with accolades for Mendez, she was awarded an MBE, the subject of the artist NT work at Kettle yard reviewed by The Guardian's Kadish Morris, featured in a painting by Naki Narh for Museum of Colour Respect due series, and a published author in collection with other artists entitled, Creating Socially Engaged Art: Can Dance Change the World?.

In 2012, Greta was recognised by the Trinidad and Tobago government for outstanding Achievement in Arts. Her last film, Kashmir's Ophelia (2012), a sharp allegory that provided a commentary on the violation of human rights in Kashmir's most heavily militarised zones, won an honourable mention at the 2013 International Film Festival for Peace, Inspiration & Equality, as well as a Platinum Award at the 2013 Documentary & Short International Movie Award. Mendez is currently completing her film 'Ah! Hard Rain,' which examines why some people become refugees.

Co-Producer, James Scotland founded Khaos, an artist-led, London-based, and internationally-minded theatre company, with a mission to create theatre accessible to all. Galvanizing communities through art to take social action. Khaos is now the New Vic Kiln Associate Company for 2021/22. James has staged provocative re-imaginings of American plays; ANSWERS by Tom Topor, and Dutchman by Amiri Baraka, at the Tristan Bates Theatre in the West End. In New York City premiere of The Ballerina by Anne- Sophie Marie. James' recent credits include Assistant Director at the Young Vic theatre and Co- curation of The Sunday Art Club, an interdisciplinary performance platform.

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