Ancient Futures at Upswing and Unlimited Theatre

Ancient Futures

An outdoor Afrofuturistic performance blending circus, storytelling, Sound System Culture and West African folklore. 
 

Starting with the arrival of flamboyant Afrinauts, this collaboration between diverse-led contemporary circus company Upswing and Leeds-based theatre makers Unlimited is a joyful celebration of what future might be. Working with Grime artist Afrikan Boy and Quantum Poet Oneness Sankara, Ancient Futures incorporates Sound System culture – a cornerstone of Jamaican music – and West African folklore. Drawing inspiration from past and present experiences of people of African descent, it imagines the new rituals we need to live in a more positive society that enables Black and Global Majority people to reclaim space. With a cast of five Afrinauts performing circus, acrobatics and hip hop, and an MC/Griot leading their ritual, this Afrofuturistic show combines sci-fi, fantasy and history.

Ancient Futures is built on a 'super fiction' created by writer Oneness Sankara that imagines the return of fantastical visitors from a society rooted in West African culture that have emerged in our dimension. These Afrinauts arrive in a public space and explore what it might be to live amongst us. They set up for their daily ritual: a dance party, service, celebration that fuses West African Mythology with a pop sensibility; opening a pathway to an alternate place and a vision of a more powerful, joyful and equitable future for all.