Nora
Chipaumire
(Zimbabwe/USA)
Zimbabwean
artist, Chipaumire began her work as both choreographer and
solo artist in 2000. Since then, her work has been shown in
numerous San Francisco Bay area venues such as ODC, Venue
9, 848 Community Space, Temescal Art Center and the Berkeley
Art Center. Chipaumire has also been presented in important
bay area festivals such as Summerfest (2003), Afrosolo African
Diaspora Series (2003) and Women on the Way Dance Festival
(2002). In addition, Chipaumire has received artistic residences
at the Berkeley Art Center (2002) and Berkeley High School
(2000). In New York City, Chipaumire's work has been presented
by Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, BRICstudio,
Embora Wellness Center and as part of the Lincoln Center summer
series, “color outside the lines”, 2004. She has
participated as a dancer and choreographer in CORD’s
Movement (R)evolution Dialogues: Contemporary Performance
In and Of Africa, (2004). Internationally, Chipaumire has
performed her work in Montréal, Canada (2004 / 2005).
As a dancer, Chipaumire has worked with various companies
locally, nationally and internationally, including Molissa
Fenley and Dancers (NYC), Dimensions Dance Theater (Oakland,
CA), and Compania De La Danza Narciso Medina (Havana, Cuba).
She also has had the privilege of working with esteemed Bay
Area choreographers such as Thaïs Mazur, Anne Bluthenthal,
Laura Elaine Ellis, Robert Moses, Mary Amentrout and Leyya
Tawil, as well as New York-based Crystal Brown.
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Chipaumire
is a graduate of the University of Zimbabwe’s School
of Law and holds graduate degrees in dance (M.A.) and choreography
and performance (M.F.A.) from Mills College (Oakland, CA).
She has studied dance formally and informally in her native
Zimbabwe, USA, Cuba and Jamaica. Among other interests that
influence her work, Chipaumire includes fashion design,
fashion modeling, photography, film acting and radio, and
club DJ-ing. (Chipaumire worked as a radio DJ for the Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Co-operation (ZBC) before moving to the USA.
Chipaumire
has taught students of all ages in recreational studios,
public schools as well as community college in the San Francisco
bay area, New York City, Montréal, Canada and Harare,
Zimbabwe. She is currently a full time member of the renowned
New York City based American dance company, Urban Bush Women.
“Nora
Chipaumire is a remarkable solo artist who investigates
the collaborative process within cultural, political,
economic, and technological identities of African contemporary
life. Her work is transnational, unafraid, and eager to
burn cultural, creative, and geographic boundaries whilst
illuminating what it means to be Zimbabwean/woman/black
/human in an increasingly borderless world. She views
the theatrical stage as a "harrowing place of purging
and paradoxically a place for reclaiming strength"
(The Village Voice).
| choreography
/ performance
Nora Chipaumire
original
music
Alex Potts
costume
/ lighting design
Nora Chipaumire |
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