Tavaziva Dance is looking for two new Trustees to join our current Board at an exciting time for the Company.

In its 20^th anniversary year, Tavaziva is;

• about to embark on a national tour of GREED, in a new version for 2025
• commissioned to play a major role in Wandsworth’s year as London’s Borough of Culture
• commissioned to create a work to open the National Gallery’s new Education Centre
• already developing a new production, sharing work in progress with several national and international partners.

First established in 2004, Tavaziva Dance is led by Zimbabwean choreographer Bawren Tavaziva, a unique artist whose work brings ballet, contemporary and African dance together to create a style rarely seen in the UK. Bawren is also a musician and composes original soundtracks for each of his productions. Tavaziva Dance’s celebrated works include BOY’S KHAYA (2021-23); Izindava (2017-19); Africarmen (2015-17); and GREED (2013). The Company is active in bringing that unique perspective to education and training in the community, and to young and early career dancers. Its latest audition call-out received over 350 applications.

Tavaziva is funded as a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) of the Arts Council England, one of a handful of such African Diasporic companies based in the UK, alongside support from various other sources including Trusts and Foundations and earned income, which it aims to increase.

We are looking for new Trustees who are passionate in their belief in the value and importance of the performing arts in today’s cultural landscape and who have experience in at least one of the following areas to supplement the extensive experience of current Trustees:

• finance
• business management
• fundraising
• marketing

As a Trustee you will help shape Tavaziva’s future by contributing to our longer term strategic, creative and organisational development and planning, as well as ensuring our charitable objectives are met. In addition to attending four Board Meetings a year, Trustees will be invited to attend events and performances.

If you are interested in joining Tavaziva’s Board, please contact us at getintouch@tavazivadance.com with some details about yourself and why you are considering becoming a Trustee by 12/03/25. If you would like more information about the role, please contact our Executive Director, Dr Mercy Nabirye on mercy.nabirye@tavazivadance.com.

Tavaziva Dance are thrilled to be working with inspiring choreopoet, Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa to document our new piece, REQUIEM commissioned by The National Gallery. 

Safiya is a British-born Barbadian-raised choreopoet, performer and spoken-word champion. Safiya’s debut poetry collection Cane, Corn and Gully (Out-Spoken Press, 2022) celebrates the legacy of Black Barbadian women, and is the first book to feature dance notion of the enslaved using colonial manuscripts. Cane, Corn and Gully was shortlisted for the prestigious Rathbones Folio Prize and Felix Denis Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2023. Safiya is a member of the Obsidian Foundation, and her work has been published in notable journals including The Poetry Review, Poetry London, and Wasafiri. Safiya is also a PhD Student in Cultural Studies, her practice-led project involves developing ancestral dance techniques to unearth present-day narratives of Black Barbadian women. Her first play and exhibition of Cane, Corn and Gully, debuted at the Ilkley Poetry Festival 2022.

As part of Safiya’s PhD scholarship, funded by the White Rose College of Arts & Humanities, Safiya will be undergoing a ‘Research Employability Project’ with Tavaziva Dance. For her debut poetry collection Cane, Corn and Gully, Safiya developed Labanotation to document Afro-diasporic dance cultures by integrating social commentary. Safiya will be observing the choreographic process of Tavaziva’s new work and will then transform her documentation into a bespoke visual art piece on canvas to become part of Tavaziva Dance’s living archive.

For more info about Safiya, see her website here: https://www.safiyakamaria.com/

Tavaziva Dance will perform a new piece by Bawren Tavaziva at the National Gallery in London on Friday 28 February and Saturday 1 March 2025.

Requiem, commissioned by the National Gallery to mark the opening of The Roden Centre for Creative Learning, is a story of arrival, of different peoples coming together, of learning through art, and of communion.

When Bawren Tavaziva arrived in the UK as a young dancer from Zimbabwe, the first place that he visited was the National Gallery and it holds significant meaning for him and the trajectory of his life and career in the UK, and it is fitting that this association should be celebrated with this new piece.

We welcome visitors to join us for one of these special free performances! More information here:

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/events/tavaziva-dance-requiem-01-03-2025

 

Tavaziva Dance are looking for dancers to join our upcoming UK tour of Bawren Tavaziva’s GREED. 

We are looking for dancers who:

• Are highly skilled in Contemporary and/or African dance styles
• Have professional performance experience
• Hold a UK passport or right to work in the UK

We welcome dancers of all ethnicities, gender identities and cultural backgrounds.

Dates of engagement:
Rehearsal & Production, London: Feb to Mar 2025 (approx. 6-8 weeks)
UK Tour: Apr and Jun 2025 (approx. 5 weeks)

Fee:
£573 per week for Rehearsal & Production
£601 per week for Tour

Audition details:
Date: Thu 9 Jan OR Tue 14 Jan 2025 (3hrs, either am/pm)
Location: bbodance, Battersea, London, SW18 1TA

To apply:
Please email the following to getintouch@tavazivadance.com with the subject line GREED Audition – Name Surname:

• CV
• Headshot
• Showreel

Deadline to apply: Mon 16 Dec 2024 at 10am
Invitations to audition on either Thu 9 or Tue 14 Jan 2025 will be sent before Tue 24 Dec 2024. 

2024 marks the 20th anniversary of Tavaziva Dance, founded by artistic director Bawren Tavaziva in 2004 after working as a dancer for companies in Zimbabwe and in the UK.

To mark this anniversary, Bawren plans to return to the stage after many years with a solo performance reflecting on his arrival in the UK and his subsequent creative journey. Profound in meaning and elegiac in tone, Bawren’s new piece, Natural Born Suit, will be the work of a unique and mature artist working at the height of his powers.

As part of his choreographic and spoken word research and development for this new piece, Bawren will present an early excerpt from Natural Born Suit as a work in progress in London, Milton Keynes, Gateshead, and Norway, and invite audience feedback as a welcome contribution to his creative process, prior to embarking on a major tour with the full piece in 2025/2026.

 

Artistic Director Bawren Tavaziva will be in residence at the renowned In2It International Dance Festival in Kristiansund, Norway from 24-29 September 2024.

During his residency, Bawren will share ‘work in progress’ on a new Solo piece which he is developing for performance in 2025, working title Natural Born Suit, which will be a reflection on his arrival in the UK from Zimbabwe and his subsequent creative journey.

Bawren will share the piece and invite feedback from the Festival audience of fellow dancers, choreographers and other artists as part of his choreographic and spoken word research and development for the new Solo.

After a summer hiatus, we are looking forward to being back in the studio for Tavaziva Company Class!
Dancers, join us to practice Bawren Tavaziva’s unique technique, a dynamic synthesis of contemporary, ballet and African dance. Be ready for a highly energetic and physically challenging class involving technique, pair and creative work. 

Venue: Espinosa Studio, bbodance, Ensign House, Battersea Reach, Juniper Drive, SW18 1TA
Dates: Starting Thu 19 Sep 2024
Time: 11:00 – 13:00h, studio open from 10:30h
Price: £8 per class
Click here for more details and to book

Check out the Museum of Colour’s new digital exhibition, A Very British Rhythm featuring Bawren Tavaziva amongst other extraordinary dance artists of colour who have significantly influenced the UK dance world over the past 250 years. All shots were captured beautifully by Zimbabwean photographer, Hopeful Sandati.

 

We are delighted to welcome Sam Mataure as a new Patron for Tavaziva alongside Peter Kyle CBE. Sam will work to represent and strengthen the Company’s partnerships and connections in Africa. 

Sam Mataure is one of the top drummers on the African continent. An exponent of African music across all its genres, he has deep roots in Afro – jazz and African rhythms. He is a highly skilled musician whose career has seen him perform and record with legendary African musicians including Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, Angelique Kidjo, Baaba Maal, Salif Keita, Habib Koite, Thomas Mapfumo, Oliver Mtukudzi, Vusi Mahlasela (South Africa).

Besides recording and performing, Sam has extensive experience in artist management (10 years with Oliver Mtukudzi), concert promotion, festival management and events management. He is currently running the Victoria Falls International Jazz Festival and has founded and managed other festivals including the Mutare Jazz Festival and Harare Jazz Festival.

We are delighted to welcome two new Trustees to the Tavaziva Board of Directors. Sinibaldo De Rosa (PhD, ResMA) and José Hendo bring their expertise to support the delivery and growth of the Company ambitions.

Sinibaldo De Rosa (PhD) is an ethnographer, dramaturg, and notator researching dance and ritual for people at the margins across multiple performance practices and contexts. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on the project Negotiating Abjection: Performance and Politics among Turkey’s Diasporas in Lombardy at Università Statale di Milano. In 2022, he earned an Advanced Diploma in Movement Notation (Laban) from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse de Paris (CNSMDP) after reconstructing extracts of Donald McKayle’s Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulders (1959) and completing the project Staging Kurdish Alevi Rituals: 4Kapı 40Makam also thanks to the support of an Ivor Guest Research Grant and a Study Grant from the British Institute in Ankara. His AHRC-funded doctoral research (University of Exeter and Cardiff University, 2020) on contemporary adaptations of the Alevi semahs for the stage was funded by the AHRC SWW DTP and by a Research Grant at the Orient Institut-Istanbul. Since 2021, he serves the Society for Dance Research as Events Secretary and works as Associate Lecturer at Roehampton University, Bird College and Rose Bruford College. Sinibaldo is also a member of the artist-led collective Interval and a massage therapist for his own company Ursa Major Movement and Massage.

José Hendo is a Ugandan-born British eco-sustainable designer who takes a fresh approach to fashion design, challenging the throwaway culture. She is the founder of the José Hendo brand, Bark To The Roots (B2TR) initiative and the R^3 Campaign. José promotes the use of organic eco-textiles and recycled materials to create unique – often avant-garde – garments and accessories.

José chooses to work extensively with barkcloth, considered to be the oldest cloth  made by man and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Material in 2005. As the tree regenerates another bark to be harvested every year for up to sixty years, this organic cloth is the best ambassador for sustainability.

In 2014 José launched her BARK TO THE ROOTS (B2TR) initiative and is now connected to the Bukomansimbi Organic Tree Farmers Association (BOTFA) in Uganda who has preserved this heritage of making cloth. The same year, propelled by the Rana Plaza building collapse, she also launched her R^3 (Reduce Reuse Recycle) Campaign utilising workshops, talks and exhibitions. José currently has her barkcloth garments in permanent exhibitions in museums and institutions across the world and her work has won multiple awards.