Happy New Year everybody! And if you’ve just joined us, welcome to the colourful world of Mandinga Arts. We hope you all enjoyed the festive celebrations, and are ready to kick start the year with our quarterly newsletter.
For those of you suffering from post-festivity blues; fear not. The Mandinga team has just the tonic. Have a gander through our latest news, and be prepared to scribble all over your brand spanking new 2014 diaries. You won’t want to miss these up and coming performances...
Contents
Night of Festivals Touring: Boston
The Great British Carnival
Dance Around the World
Horniman Museum Lates
HiStArt Conference, Hamburg
Board Away Day
Look Out For...
Night of Festivals Touring 2013: BostonLast September, Mandinga travelled to Nottingham to take part in the first of four touring events for Night of Festivals. Created by ArtReach, the festival celebrates the values of freedom and independence by bringing together an eclectic and exciting mix of live music, carnival arts, art installation, moving image and street theatre. On the 12th & 13th of October 2013, we continued the tour in the sleepy market town of Boston, Lincolnshire. Together with Frankie and Rosie (team members of the fantastic local arts organisation Transported), Mandinga involved local community groups in rehearsal weekends and ‘pop up’, carnivalesque performances throughout the town.On market day, Mandinga characters, Rhythms of the City, and Paraiso School of Samba dazzled onlookers in the town centre. The community groups and individuals who took part in Boston were so enthusiastic and full of energy. Although severe downpours cleared the streets at times, they still went out to perform for themselves and for the sheer fun of it, which was so refreshing and encouraging to see.We unveiled our three, new Animal Farm dog puppets in Boston, which were animated by volunteers new to performance; let alone puppetry! Since then, our ‘pack’ has grown to six. We’d like to send out a massive thank you to all the fabulous volunteers who performed with us. We hope to visit Boston again in the future.
Night of Festivals continues to tour until August 2014. See the Look Out For... section for locations and dates for your diaries.
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The Great British Carnival: Bridgwater
On 2nd November, following our appearance in Margate in August 2013, Mandinga joined forces once again with The Great British Carnival to entertain the crowds at Bridgwater Carnival in Somerset; an extension of the traditional Guy Fawkes’ Night celebrations. We were accompanied by fellow Londoners, Rhythms of the City, and the Isle of Wight’s Shademakers.
Not only did Mandinga Arts design and decorate the GBC truck, we also brought costumes for the fabulous, London based, community dance group Flexy Squad. They had prepared for the event with a workshop with London School of Samba’s Mariana Whitehouse, and took to our apparel like ducks (or rather, frogs) to water. It was an early start for all involved and spectators were already pitching up along the parade route as we arrived in Bridgwater. Whilst Mandinga and Flexy Squad prepared for the evening’s main event, ROTC were entertaining the masses with a taster set on the GBC truck, in front of the Town Hall.
As darkness descended, the night skies of Somerset were illuminated by over 300,000 light bulbs, used in the decoration of 117 ‘carnival carts’. Over 2,000 people were involved in the creation of these themed floats. Many carried costumed crews; dancing whilst standing astride giant, mechanical moving parts. Other participants in the 2 mile long parade stood in tableaux; harking back to the traditions of British Carnival.
 
Bridgwater Carnival was also our new intern Anna DeFreitas’ first official outing with Mandinga; “It was a long day, but it was really rewarding to see how well the crowd responded to us. The kids loved Mandinga’s frogs and monkeys, and people were applauding Shademakers’ skeletal knights on horseback as they passed. And if anything kept me going, it was ROTC’s amazing Samba beats.”
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Dance Around the World
The 13th annual Dance Around the World festival was held on 2nd and 3rd November, 2013. Celebrating music and dance culture from across the globe, this year’s two day event gave members of the public a chance to try their hand at (amongst other things) Middle-Eastern, Cajun and Eastern European dance.
In a nod to this multicultural event, Mandinga Arts’ Co-Artistic Director Julieta Rubio, choreographer Elsa Perez, and their dance troupe, all dressed in Mandinga’s rainbow costumes. They, and regular Mandinga collaborator Herney Melendez, brought the first day’s events to a close with a beautiful display of Latin American dance. The event culminated on the Sunday with a riotous Ceilidh that was enjoyed by all.
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Horniman Museum Lates: Day of the Dead
On 7th November, the Horniman Museum hosted an extraordinary event inspired by Mexico’s Day of the Dead; a celebration combining Christian feast days (All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day) with an ancient festival honouring Mictecacihuatl, the Aztec Goddess of the Underworld.
In keeping with the conventions of the festival, Mandinga Arts were joined by friends and regular performers, who donned a selection of ghoulish costumes and giant puppets to process through the galleries of the museum. We were also joined by staff from the Institute of Physics; who, after attending just a one hour workshop with choreographer Manuela Benini, were astounding both audiences and our seasoned performers with their energy and enthusiasm...Mandinga performers in the making!
Manchi Chung, an Institute of Physics staff member who performed in full costume, said, “I had an amazing time volunteering as a skeleton with Mandinga Arts. The make-up, costume and movement training workshop provided was top-notch (above and beyond expectations), and they’re a warm, friendly bunch to boot. An excellent time was had by all who were involved!”
Project Coordinator at the IOP, Natasha Plaister, who coordinated the IOP staff involvement, said of the day, “It was great fun to get out of the office and do something completely different, and it really helped to bring us together as a team.”
 
Our Katrinas, led by choreographer Elsa Perez, and including Mandinga’s Co-Artistic Director Julieta Rubio, kept the audience spellbound as they spun about the Horniman’s conservatory floor. Special mention should also go to Guillermo Monroy and our ghostly Mariachi band, for providing the musical accompaniment that got everyone up and dancing!
Also creating a spooky spectacular were puppeteers Theatre of Dolls, and ‘Immersive Theatre’ company Copperdollar. Twitter was abuzz with praise for the event and all those taking part; “The band were excellent! Tequila!”; “The dancers were fab!”; “An amazing night”.
To see additional pictures of the event, please check our Facebook Album, or visit the Horniman Museum’s Flickr account.
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HiStArt Conference, Hamburg
Co-Artistic Director Charles Beauchamp visited Hamburg, Germany, in November, for the HiStArt conference. HiStArt (High Street Art) is an international project, focussing on the setting of higher standards and development within street theatre and carnival arts. Charles was invited to speak at the event, created in partnership with the UKCCA, Haus Drei (Germany), Aalborg Karneval (Denmark), and the Szarnyas Sarkany festival (Hungary).
Charles spoke to fellow delegates on how Mandinga Arts has successfully collaborated with UK cultural institutions, such as the British Museum, the V&A, and the Horniman Museum, to create carnival spectaculars within a more conventional cultural setting; something which other European carnival groups are struggling to convince their galleries and museums to get involved in.
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Board Away Day
It’s becoming an annual fixture that Mandinga Arts hosts a Board Away Day and festive lunch for our ever supportive board members, and this year was no exception. After meeting to reflect on 2013 and discuss Mandinga’s future development plans (as well as consume a ridiculous amount of festive nibbles), the Mandinga team visited the Natural History Museum’s Darwin Centre to see interactive film – Who do you think you really are? The technology used in the film (large screen projection, augmented reality, interactive handsets) gave the board an insight into what Mandinga hope to achieve in the coming years with a potential digital project based on Animal Farm. And the film itself? Really interesting! Well worth a visit.
Photo (left to right): Sydney Rae, Mandinga’s Finance Consultant; Anna DeFreitas, Project and Administrative Assistant Intern; Ruth Tompsett, Mandinga Board Member; Charles Beauchamp, Co-Artistic Director; Brigid Ferry, Mandinga Board Member; Julieta Rubio, Co-Artistic Director.
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Look out for...
On the 16th January, Co-Artistic Director Julieta Rubio, takes her annual R&D trip to her homeland, Colombia. This year, she will be focussing on the creation of new musician outfits and a set of Baiana costumes for Animal Farm, using bunny rabbits as inspiration!
That’s right, Night of Festivals Touring continues this year in Slough! Event dates are the 30th & 31st May 2014. We’ll be involving 70 community participants in performances spread over the two days.
Northern Europe’s largest carnival takes place in Aalborg, Denmark this May. This year’s theme will be “Trendy Times”; a celebration of fashion trends throughout the centuries. We’re so excited to be heading out to Denmark to join our friends at Aalborg Karneval on 17th & 18th May.
Our yearly local favourite, Waterloo Carnival, will be back again this year. Keep up to date with Waterloo Carnival’s Facebook page to hear announcements on this year’s theme. Carnival takes place on 4th July 2014.
The final location for the Night of Festivals Touring project is Leicester. Events take place on the 16th & 17th August 2014 – you won’t want to miss this celebratory finale to the tour!
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