The Poetry Meets Series: Poetry Meets Dance
Live Act
by
Jumoke Adeyanju, Mandhla , Luana Madikera, Tanasgol Sabbagh, Poetra Asantewa, Femdelafem The Gardener, Allysa Grace, Johnny Kulo
In the frame of Tanznacht Forum: Feminist School Berlin
The «The Poetry Meets Series» is an international, multilingual community event showcasing visual art and film, spoken word, DJs and musicians, and lyrically endowed artists from Berlin and the diaspora. Hosted by Jumoke Adeyanju, the line-up is a remarkable conglomerate of soulful, multilingual wordsmiths, musicians, and visual stories. This special edition incorporates movement art responding to spoken words.
Live Acts:
↪ Mandhla (Headlinerin | Tanz + Musik)
↪ Luana Madikera (Poetry & Dance)
↪ Tanasgol Sabbagh (Poetry)
↪ Poetra Asantewa (Special Guest from Ghana | Poetry)
Live Acts:
↪ Mandhla (Headlinerin | Tanz + Musik)
↪ Luana Madikera (Poetry & Dance)
↪ Tanasgol Sabbagh (Poetry)
↪ Poetra Asantewa (Special Guest from Ghana | Poetry)
+ Accompanied by a live band – Allysa Grace & Johnny Kulo arranged by FEMDELAFEM
Attention: The places are limited and a registration is necessary. We urgently ask you to cancel in advance if you can't come.
Access Information
The live event lasts a total of 2 hours. Doors open 1 hour before the event starts and the event will end with music and the opportunity to linger and share. Attendants can leave/enter the room at any time. It will be a multilingual event with moderation in German/English and acts in German/English/French/ DGS. Not everything will be simultaneously translated; lyrical elements will also be projected on the wall in written form. Everyone is welcome to attend.
The event will take place in Studio 12 at Uferstudios. For detailed directions, go ↪ here. It is a no-stairs, wheelchair accessible dance studio with three glass doors to the courtyard. It is regularly ventilated during all breaks and the hygiene regulations in force at the time will be observed. The accessible toilet is located in the booth opposite, in front of Studio 3. It is necessary to walk about 6 meters outdoors to reach it. In the event of bad weather, we will provide cleaning facilities. There will be 25 chairs and 15 beanbags freely available for seating. If you would like to reserve a beanbag in advance or if you have any questions about accessibility, please contact Juan Harcha by mail at: harcha@tanzfabrik-berlin.de or by phone at: 030-200 592 70.
Information about our team and our awareness guidelines can be found ↪ here.
Jumoke Adeyanju
Jumoke Adeyanju aka mokeyanju is an interdisciplinary multilingual writer, curator, dancer, vinyl selector and aspiring sound artist. She is the founder of The Poetry Meets Series, co-curator of Sensi.Dance and radio host on Refuge Worldwide.
Jumoke Adeyanju presents her artistic works internationally, performing in English, German, Kiswahili and Yorùbá. Her poetry and translation work were published in the poetry anthology Kontinentaldrift: Das Schwarze Europa (ed. Fiston Mwanza Mujila) in 2021.
Mandhla
Mandhla. is a trans-feminine gender non-comforming multi-media performance artist born and raised in Zimbabwe, Africa. As a current resident in Berlin she brings a blend of experimental R&B and Soul music intertwined with visual projections and performative dancing. Her music speaks of the daily trials that Trans*, enby and femme* immigrant bodies experience daily with love, identity, sex and acceptance. A great lover of visual beauty, fashion, the art of voguing and music, her work is shown on various stages, festivals and artistic institutes such as Whole Festival, Pop Kultur, Münchener Kammperspiele, Gropius Bau, Kulturbraureui and HAU, among others.
Luana Madikera
Luana Madikera is a dancer and multidisplinary artist. She is a member of the tropical band "La By'le and of the FemBlack performance collective as well as a dance educator. Within her pedagogical journey, Luana's expertise shines through her knowledge of urban African dance forms. Luana's knowledge has been meticulously cultivated through a fusion of self-taught prowess and immersive workshops and training (Ghana, École des Sables, Senegal). What truly sets Luana apart is her profound sensitivity, pedagogical finesse, and a sense of humor that infuses joy into her teachings. Her classes and workshops are drenched in Afro-centric wisdom, beautifully accentuating the connection to unique body movements, the grounding connection to the earth, an intuitive feel for the music's pulse, and a deep recognition of the dances' social significance.
Tanasgol Sabbagh
Tanasgol Sabbagh, is a Berlin-based poet. Her work situates itself between stage and page poetry and takes shape in form of embodied performances, audio pieces, video installations and musical collaborations. In 2017 she co-founded the artist collective ‘parallelgesellschaft’, an event series dedicated to exploring the spectrum of the creative and the political beyond the standards of German dominant culture. Together with poet Josefine Berkholz she founded and hosts the auditive literature magazine Stoff aus Luft: A format that tries to examine the poetics of spoken and sound-based literature, rendering it more visible outside the often restricting frame of print.
Poetra Asantewa
Poetra Asantewa is a storyteller and a community catalyst. Her work is focused on investigating, revealing, healing or addressing things that affect her community, city, country or the world. She is the founder of Tampered Press, a literary and arts journal for Ghanaians and Africans, and Black Girls Glow, an initiative to foster collaboration among black women creatives. She is the author of “you too will know me” and “Woman, eat me whole”.
Femdelafem The Gardener
Born in Nigeria, raised in London and currently based in Berlin, Femi ‘Femdelafem the Gardener’ Oyewole is a creative director and multidisciplinary visual artist that brings people together through unique creative experiences. Femi’s extensive experience as a performer in dance, theatre, fashion and film gives him a wide variety of skills that builds his visual art practice as a creative thinker. He likes to play with storytelling through images and investigate how to challenge the psychology of marketing. Femi studied at the renowned BRIT School and London Contemporary Dance School with a BA Hons degree in Contemporary dance. Femi has worked with BlueMan Group, Royal Opera House, DV8 Physical Theatre, and more. He is currently a co-founder of BlackBrownBerlin.com.
Allysa Grace
Allysa Grace is a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist from Austin, Texas, now based in Berlin. Her latest release, Wondercolors, is an edgy catch on cultural identity. The silky, synth-ridden groove highlights her musicianship through peculiar melodies and satisfying cadences. Her lush delivery gives an insight to her experience with a lifetime of musicians. Allysa strives to make music that embodies a shared sense of comradery and timelessness; drenched in her love for a live rhythm-section and a sultry melody.
Johnny Kulo
Berlin-based, Indian artist and producer, Johnny Kulo is the bridge between old-school soul and modern R&B. The son of a reverend, he was inevitably playing drums in church before he could form sentences – exploring several other instruments until eventually realizing his love for songwriting and production. He uses his sultry-smooth voice to tell personal and perceived stories of love, heartbreak and unsettled identity with catchy melodies and relatable lyrics that sit on large arrangements screaming musical excellence above all. His latest EP ‘Bloom’ delivers raw emotions, and notoriously detailed retrospection. It’s barely been half a year he released his compelling debut EP, ‘Desire’.
For all. Especially family and child friendly
Entrance from 19:00
Duration: 20:00-22:00
From 22:00 Music & farewell
Admission free
Registration required
Entrance from 19:00
Duration: 20:00-22:00
From 22:00 Music & farewell
Admission free
Registration required
Live Acts with Luana Madikera, Tanasgol Sabbagh, Poetra Asantewa a.o. | Co-curated & moderated by Jumoke Adeyanu | With the kind support of Musicboard Berlin GmbH.