Seke Chimutengwende: It Begins In Darkness

It begins in darkness is a dance full of ghosts.  It is an environment for processing the fear, anger and confusion which arise from the histories of slavery and colonialism that haunt the present.

In this stark, stripped back performance, five dancers move through a series of mysterious and experimental rites of passage, channelling past, present and future tensions through their bodies and voices.  As if to exorcise the haunted house of history, the dancers whisper, jump, wrestle, shiver, wail and laugh, filling the space with horrors, both real and imagined. 

Seke Chimutengwende is a choreographer, performer, movement director and teacher, and has been researching the connections between horror and the histories of slavery and colonialism since 2019.  You can also see him perform in Forced Entertainment’s If All Else Fails later in the season. 

'Possessions, dancing as haunting, the invisible. Such characterful performances.'  National Reviews Editor of Theatre Magazine, Ben Kulvichit.

Haunting, dance and colonial legacies:
Please join a discussion on the themes within this work, following the performance with Seke Chimutengwende and dance artists in the show.  Professor Imogen Tyler (Professor of Sociology at the University, social activist) will chair the discussion and be joined by Professor Alan Rice (Director of UCLan Research Centre in Migration, Diaspora and Exile, co-chair of the Lancaster Black History Group), Fabiha Askari (Councillor, Lancaster Black History Group, Library Research, Engagement and EDI), and Lela Harris (artist - you can see her exhibitions at Lancaster Univeristy Library and Judges Lodgings).

Suitable for age 12 years and over.