Grant Recipient Details

Location

New York, NY

Artist Website
https://www.companychipaumire.com
Project Title
Nehanda
Fiscal Year Awarded
2021
Grant or Program
National Dance Project Production Grant
Grant Amount
$56,500

Nehanda is a radical pedagogical opera about the legendary female spirit Nehanda, venerated by Shona people. This opera is based on Rhodesian case law, The Queen v. Nehanda, 1898. In the late 19th century, Nehanda’s medium Charwe Nyakasikana orchestrated the first anti-British uprisings in Southern Rhodesia. She was captured, tried, and executed by the Rhodesians, and in an act of extreme hatred, her remains (bones) were sent to England. Today a contentious restitution, reparation, repatriation dispute remains.
 
Nehanda is an indictment of the colonizing invaders, it de-colonizes the colonial narratives, exposing past injustices that shape the present political realities in Zimbabwe. Effectively, this opera is a rebuttal of empire, a legal and philosophical defense for revolutionary movements, particularly, early Zimbabwean freedom fighters.

Estimated Artist Fee: $35,000 - $65,000.

Presenter Partners

  • Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (New York, NY)
  • Peak Performances at Montclair State University (Montclair, NJ)
  • Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University (Fairfield, CT)

Tour Coordinator

Thomas O. Kriegsmann
Producer & Booking Manager
ArKtype
Tel. (917) 386-5468