AfroReggae

12 Artists, 5 Ways, Endless Possibilities 

During Summer 2010, 9 artists from Grupo Cultural AfroReggae, an innovative group of international performance artists from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are joining forces with 3 dancers from Northern Ireland's Bad Taste Cru to work with young people across Liverpool.  This month-long visit will include an intensive programme of workshops, community events and performances between 27 July and 21 August.  

Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatres in association with People's Palace Projects are bringing these 12 artists to the city in an innovative partnership with Liverpool Primary Care Trust (PCT) and Liverpool City Council, who are supporting the visit as a highlight of the 2010 Year of 5 Ways to Health and Wellbeing.

Forged out of the police massacre of 21 people in their local community in 1993, Grupo Cultural AfroReggae have gone on to establish an international profile for their pioneering work in taking young people out of the drug/gang culture of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas (shantytowns). The main band AfroReggae supported The Rolling Stones concert to two million people on Copacabana Beach, and has played major stages from the Carnegie Hall to the Barbican.

AfroReggae's courage, perseverence and the sheer magnetism of their music have harnessed the ingenuity and creativity of their communities to provide positive alternatives and endless possibilities for young people.

"Culture is our weapon"

Grupo Cultural AfroReggae now runs over 70 projects across a range of disciplines including music, dance & theatre, circus, and radio & new media with over 3,000 young people in Rio de Janeiro.  They have established five cultural centres in five of the largest favelas surrounding Rio.

Since 2006 AfroReggae have been working in the UK, supported by People's Palace Projects, a theatre company based in the East End of London. For this residency in Liverpool the 9 chosen artists will be building on the outreach work the Everyman and Playhouse have been doing over the last 5 years with young people across the city .   

Originally hailing from Omagh, Bad Taste Cru (BTC) have been operating since 1990 as a graffiti and skate crew, and have been together as a break dance collective for 11 years. They have held the UK Street Dance Champions crown [2008] and are now recognised as an internationally renowned break dance crew based in Newcastle upon Tyne as Associate Artists at Dance City. They use creativity within break dance and hip hop culture as a catalyst for conflict resolution and to communicate with people around the world. 

Their dancing has seen them perform in Lithuania, San Francisco (USA), Poland, Holland, Germany, Edinburgh and Northern Ireland and on stages as diverse as Breakin’ Convention (Sadlers Wells), The Place, South Bank Centre and most recently at the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House. They are fresh home from a fortnight working with AfroRegage in Brazil.

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