Wounds of the colonial past – Healing together for a shared future

The partnership tours the performance ‘ŠRÁMY/la débattue’, which deals with the intergenerational wounds and traumas inflicted by European colonisation of the African continent, as told from an Afrodiasporic perspective by Stéphanie NDuhirahe. Encountering heavy topics in a performative setting can create a shared emotional space, offering an immediate connection to a presumed past.

The performance is process-oriented and can be adapted to different locations and audiences. In each new location, performers from local marginalised communities are invited to add their voices and perspectives to the story, making colonialism echo through today’s inequalities.

Circus, as an art form, is a cornucopia appealing to wide audiences. Expanding this idea, other art forms are integrated to tell complex (hi)stories in an accessible way. The partnership pursues an intersectional approach to addressing diversity and inclusion through the medium of circus. The key objective is to strengthen the European network to contribute to decolonising circus arts, bringing more diversity on and off the stage, creating inclusive settings for deaf artists and audiences, and working towards more accessibility and equity for racialised and disabled communities in general.