An African Odyssey

AFRIDYSSEY

AFRIDYSSEY is an explosive and wildly original African dance production that tells the stories of African refugees forced from the lands of their birth and find refuge in Germany. Afridyssey premiered in June 2013 at the height of the Lampedusa refugee crisis and was received with standing ovation by the Hamburg public. Afridyssey is a visually stimulating, multimedia dance theatre piece about survival, resilience, and how a changing socio-political landscape urges us to open our eyes to the way we interact and integrate migrant communities in society.

Nupen embarked on a 12 month research project interviewing refugees from Ghana, Togo, Benin and Ivory Coast. The result of her exploration is a stylistically varied mix of reportage, history and biography in dance about the past and present experiences of these groups of Africans as well as their fragile hope for a better future. Part of this exploration has also incited an exploration into the choreographer‘s own migration and place in German society.