anitAFRIKA! dub theatre wombanifesto
wombandate
anitAFRIKA! dub theatre is a radical arts centre founded on 7 principles of dubpoetry & dubtheatre: the use of rhythm, language, political protext, orality, urgency, integrity, and sacredness as mediums of social change through storytelling. birthed by d'bi.young in spring 2008 during her professional dubtheatre mentorship with visionary dub aatist ahdri zhina mandiela, this movement provides communities with creative resources that facilitate and promote the ideas of accountability and responsibility between the storyteller and the people: the artist as leader and revolushunary keeper of the sacred.
programming
programming includes residencies, courses, workshops, series, gatherings, speshal events, and festivals which range from paid, to pay-what-you-can, to no cost, in order to keep the centre's art activities accessible to all our communities. there are three terms in a year: september-december, january-april, and may-august. festivals are the storyteller.groundings.fest, mikey smith new works festival, and the word! sound! powah! fest.
there are 5 - 7 spaces available for year-long artist residencies. please contact us for further info on any of our activities.
herstory
adt! is inspired by the seminal work of dubpoetry visionaries anita stewart and ahdri zhina mandiela. trained during the early to mid eighties at the jamaica school of drama (now the edna manley college of visual and performing arts), anita stewart wrote her thesis dubbin theatre: dub poetry as a theatre form on the progressive movement of dubpoetry into a theatrical realm which radically dramatized both the socio-economic tribulations of the jamaican people, as well as their potential for rebellion against their oppressors.
in her unpublished manuscript stewart identifies four major elements of the then emerging artform of dubpoetry -- music, language, politics and performance -- as bridges between the personal and the political and vice versa. stewart's early documentation and analysis of dubpoetry as a working people's socio-political movement, provide the primary lens through which adt! focuses.
in the late eighties early nineties, ahdri zhina mandiela coined and further developed the term dub theatre in reference to her own evolving work as a dub aatist. in the prelude to her dark diaspora... in dub: a dub theatre piece she defines dubtheatre as dramatized stage presentation comprised of varying performance component, including an indispensable/uniquely tailored dance language threading thru oral/choral work proliferating with endemic musical elements.
d'bi.young is a second generation dubpoet who learnt the artform from her her mother anita stewart and her mentor ahdri zhina mandiela. young is building on the foundational work of stewart and mandiela by developing dubpoetry/dubtheatre theory and practice through anitAFRIKA! dub theatre: a launch pad of artistic training that locates itself within art for social change.
adt! collective
d'bi.young - founder, artistic director
d'bi.young is an afrikan-jamaican-canadian visionary who believes in life, love, and revolushun. an award-winning dubpoet, writer, and theatre practitioner, d'bi.young has performed, published, and lectured internationally. she has produced five dubpoetry albums, is the author of two dubpoetry collections put out by women's press: art on black (2006) and rivers and other blackness between us (2007). she is also the playwright of the double dora award-winning show blood.claat (playwrights canada press, 2006). blood.claat recently completed a national canadian tour including opening to rave reviews at the magnetic north theatre festival in vancouver. d'bi.young recently launched a new arts initiative -- anitAFRIKA! dub theatre -- located in parkdale's liberty village. the centre's inaugural conference -- storyteller.groundings.fest -- was held in august 2008 and profoundly impacted toronto's artistic community with it's urgent theme: the storytellers' integrity. presently, d'bi.young is completing her first theoretical publication on dubpoetry. she is the 2007 recipient of the toronto arts council emerging artist award.
jamilah abu-bakare - director of operations
after completing an honours double major in international relations and political science at glendon college, jamilah has re-discovered her creative voice and returned to writing poetry and prose. extensive travels, varied professional experiences and a diverse background have produced a multitalented arts enthusiast, stylist and trilingual writer. as a freelance writer, jamilah has interviewed for sway magazine and contributed a book review to megaphone (vancouver-based). currently, a selection of poems and a short story are being published independently in washington, dc and toronto respectively. in addition to her role as director of operations, jamilah is developing a piece to be performed at the anitAFRIKA! dub theatre following one full year as an adt! artist in residence.
rachael brownell - administrative director
rachael brownell is a jamaican/canadian screen writer who's background in event planning, structural administration and fundraising blends perfectly with the adt!'s creative mandate. rachael has worked with arts and youth focused organizations in jamaica [ashe and little people's theatre) and she sits on several boards aimed at students in toronto. she currently lives in the city where she is working on several screenplays and her first novel.
