Tania Camara
Oreo Variations
jump → access · about · artist · reviews · credits · websites · Updated 29 April 2021
Presented by STUN + Word of Warning
A choreographic development, work-in-progress, for livestreaming.
Donning a camouflage of Oreo-filling, Tania explores the masks we wear to put our heads above the parapet in a climate of systemic racism.
Now that it’s over, re-watch the livestream on YouTube below.
Access
Time: Friday 1 May 2020, 7pm.
(N.B. Rescheduled from 23+24 April in STUN Studio at Z-arts.)
Location: livestreamed simultaneously on Word of Warning’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube channels (in accordance with UK Government Guidance + Exceptions on p5).
Age Advisory: 16+ (parental/guardian discretion).
Content Warnings: please click here.
Duration: approximately 30 minutes.
Features: live + recorded audio, and choreographed movement.
For specific age + access information please get in touch by emailing info@habmcr.org.
About
Oreo, coconut, Bounty Bar — micro-aggressions used to disempower a black person deemed to be ‘acting white’.
A semi-autobiographical solo about being a successfully educated black woman within western society, Oreo Variations interrogates racial micro-aggressions and their effect on mental health within private and public personas — focusing on public figures such as British MP Diane Abbott + Portuguese politician Joacine Katar Moreira.
Exploring the racial term ‘Oreo’ in relation to experiences of episodic racism within higher education and employment, Tania challenges the notion of whitening her physical and phenomenal self to achieve success in society, asking you to open-up and join-in to celebrate a moment of freedom, a moment of clarity.
Please note this isn’t the developed show we planned to present at STUN in April — rather than attempt to show something not designed for livestreaming, Oreo Variations is an exploration of one action-based section (developed over four days following Tania’s residency in Senegal with Kaolack, a Czech-based choreographer specialising in Traditional + Afro-Contemporary dance practices).
Artist
A Manchester-based solo performance artist, Tania Camara works across devised theatre, dance, site-specific, live art, installation, video + photography. A graduate of the University of Amsterdam with an MA, she uses her cultural heritage, past experiences, research + the interdisciplinary structure of Batuku (incl. singing, dancing, drums + spoken word). Tania’s current practice focuses on personal accounts of memory, collective and ancestral, to uncover her racial and cultural identity; the concept of self and other; belonging and the black performing body.
Tania is a member of The Lowry’s Class of 2020.
Reviews
★★★★ A tour de force of a performance …utterly compelling.
— The Grouchy Critic on Oreo at HOME
Captivating and thought provoking. Food for thought.
— Number 9 Reviews on Oreo at HOME
Credits
Creator, Performer, Producer: Tania Camara
Dance Mentor: Pape Ibrahima N’diaye (a.k.a. Kaolack)
Livestream Producer: Ricardo Vilela at Sagitta Media
Original Lighting Designer: Kamini Patel
Image of Me, myself and my Oreos from SPILL Festival of Performance 2016 by Guido Mencari.
Commissioned by STUN (Sustained Theatre Up North), developed with the support of HOME, Divergency + hÅb.
Supported using public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Thanks to Peader Kirk.
Websites
taniacamara.com | Facebook event | Tania Camara on Facebook | @TaniaCamara2