Touching Utopia

Learning and Teaching New Relations

Maybe a utopia is not a place that can never be, but a place out of sight, protected, that one has to pay attention to notice, where relations can be changed and power relations challenged? In this panel discussion FRATZ Symposium brings together the founders of several local initiatives, that have in common their commitment to create real spaces of change within a specific territory.

We will ask them: Where to start from? How to teach or present new relations that take into account all inequalities when we, ourselves – theatermakers, educators, teachers, … – are still learning how they shaped us? We hope to draw inspiration from our guest speakers for fairer performing arts practices and education.

With: Mikros Dounias, Nasheeka Nedsreal, Tebogo Nimindé-Dundadengar and Anne Sophie Winkelmann

Mikros Dounias is an educational project on the Greek island of Lesvos. Every day, local and refugee children of early childhood age play and learn together in the small forest of PIKPA refugee camp, run with the contribution of the organization “Lesvos Solidarity”. Mikros Dounias, the children, pedagogues and parents of Mikros Dounias, organize our learning processes collectively, beyond any form of discrimination. They respect the rhythm, the needs and desires of each person by encouraging freedom of choice and self-regulation. Outdoor learning brings them closer to the creatures and the elements of nature, reinforcing our relations to ourselves and to everything around us. https://en.mikrosdounias.eu/

Nasheeka Nedsreal is a performer and community organizer from Louisiana. She has performed at several dance institutions and festivals in and around Germany, USA, UK and Croatia. In 2014, Nasheeka founded Soul Sisters Berlin, a collective dedicated to connecting Black women throughout Berlin and Germany. The collective performed its first original piece entitled, Mirror Mirror in the frame of the festival Republik Repair at Ballhaus Naunynstraße, which she co- directed. Further, Nedsreal works as a fashion model, stylist, actress and childhood educator. In 2016, she founded Black and Brown Bodies in Motion, fusion dance classes for BPOC. In 2017, she joined Berlin-based dance collective, Grupo Oito and made her premiere in the performance, Unrestricted Contact at Ballhaus Naunynstraße. In 2018, she began working with choreographer Trajal Harrell on his Porca Miseria dance trilogy, which began its world tour in 2019. In the fall of 2019, she premiered her first full-length solo work entitled New Growth during the festival Postcolonial Poly Perspectives at Ballhaus Naunynstraße and worked there as a dramaturg for the performance An object is an object is what. She is currently a guest dancer at the Schauspielhaus Zürich.
https://nasheekanedsreal.com/
Soul Sisters Berlin

Tebogo Nimindé-Dundadengar (born 1981) is a psychologist and managing partner of the online platform tebalou, which she founded in 2018 together with her business partner Olaolu Fajembola. In addition to selling toys and children's and young people's literature with a focus on diversity, the company advises customers on the topic of diversity in early childhood education. In psychological counselling, she focuses on the concerns of black people and their experiences. Prior to this, Ms Niminde-Dundadengar worked for many years as a lecturer in political education with a focus on discrimination and racism. She is mother of three children and lives with her family in Berlin. tebalou.shop

Anne Sophie Winkelmann has a diploma in intercultural education (2004), afterwards freelance educational consultant: in-depth examination of intersectionality, discrimination, anti-bias, social power relations, personal reflection processes in a social context. For about 10 years, increasing focus on adultism, in further education and workshops, development of a curriculum with the DRK, children's book "Machtgeschichten" 2019. Since 2017: pedagogical expert in the children's shop, reflection and practice development. http://www.machtgeschichten.de/)

Moderation: Marie Yan und Vera Strobel

Where: GRIPS Saal im Podewil
When: October 25th, 2020, 20:00 to 22:00