About
Nameless Yet Her Heart Is Like the Waters of the Sea imagines one of Lua Shayenne’s ancestors: a forgotten woman taken as an enslaved person from Ghana who perished during the Middle Passage. Through song, dance and the traditional Guinean rhythm of Soko, Shayenne pays tribute to ancestral stories, centring on a tranquil and tumultuous sea, holding the memories of lost spirits.
Commissioned by KUUMBA 365, this work responds to Charles Campbell’s installation how many colours has the sea, a portal into a realm where spirits lost in the Middle Passage find solace. The exhibition features large-scale sculptures, “Breath Portraits,” visualizing the breath of the Black community, and an audio installation that captures the sea’s contrasting calm and chaos.
Choreographer, performer: Lua Shayenne
Percussionists: Cécé Haba and Yohance Francis Parsons
Costume Designer: Courtney Roy
About Lua Shayenne
As the Artistic Director, choreographer, curator and producer of LSDC, Lua Shayenne’s creative leadership has been recognized with a K.M. Hunter Dance Award nomination and the 2013 BMO Seeds Fund Award for Artists working in the community. She is the creator and interpreter of the dance theatre children’s series Tales and Dances Around the Baobab, of which Yassama and The Beaded Calabash is the fourth tale.
Through LSDC, Shayenne boldly envisioned and launched the YENSA Festival in 2022, a biennial festival highlighting the incredible multiplicity of Black women dance practitioners and nurturing an environment where they can have substantive conversations, take risks and be given due recognition.
Her performing highlights include HOLOSCENES tours in the United States, the UK, Abu Dhabi, Australia, Italy and Toronto. She teaches at Toronto Metropolitan University’s dance program and brings African dance, music, storytelling and culture to grassroots organizations and schools across Canada and Europe.
Video Presentation
Lua Shayenne’s performance was presented in the Harbourfront Centre Theatre on Saturday, February 1 as part of KUUMBA30.