Brighton: authentic stories told by a cast of black performers

Fragments of Us sees FUBUNATION, commissioned by Talawa Theatre Company, offering free outdoor performances on Saturday, May 23 at 12.15pm & 4.30pm and Sunday, May 24 at 11.45am & 2.15pm at Big Top at Black Rock (age guidance 12+; references to mental health and some water gun fights).

Fragments of Us comes promised as a deeply personal and poetic exploration of identity, resilience and collective memory. Using movement and spoken word, the piece offers a rare opportunity for audiences to engage with authentic stories told by a cast of black performers whose lived experiences lie at the heart of the work, explains Waddah Sinada who set up London-based FUBUNATION in 2019 with Rhys Dennis.

Their vision, as Waddah says, was to add to black culture by creating more visibility and representation for dancers of colour in contemporary dance.

Their objective is to build more diversity in the audiences that come to theatres and other dance platforms. Their movement language combines contact improvisation forms with influences of hip hop and African dance styles.

“I started my practice before that but the company was formed in 2019 by myself and a good friend of mine and sometimes creative partner. We were at a space where we were feeling that within dance theatre we were not seeing the kind of work that we wanted to be in, the kind of work that represented people like ourselves from our background and with our dance disciplines. Both of us had backgrounds in street dance and hip hop and went on to train more classically. We built a dance language that was informed by all of these things. We were a concoction of a variety of different influences and that is what FUBUNATION came out of.

“It has had a bit of a snowball effect. We just trying to do things and sometimes you find what you're doing is snowballing as you find more opportunities. It has been a bit of a slow graft. We were looking for choreographic residencies at places where they would give us time to research and explore and have a play without the pressure of having to deliver a show. After doing things of that nature I came across Talawa Theatre Company and they gave me a dance residency back in 2018 or 2019.”

And the association with the company has continued.

“Fragments Of Us was commissioned by Talawa. It was born out of the sheer interest of their artistic director who admired and appreciated our work. The title alludes to what it is about. We are working with a cast of five young men and it is exploring fragments of their lives, their past and their present and their thoughts. It's like a collage that gives you a deeper insight into who these individuals are. It is very much informed by our cast. It has been built by them on their personal reflections and on their memories. It's a little bit of a window into these men from all different walks of life but we're trying to peel back the layers and highlight the complexities of all of them.”