Art Workshops (all day, drop-in sessions, 12pm – 5pm)
Somali Textile Workshop Join artist Hafza Yusuf (@hafzastudio) Join our engaging design printing workshops and explore the vibrant colours, patterns, and textures of traditional Somali fabric. These classes are perfect for beginners and intermediate learners, and no drawing or painting skills are required. Get ready to create stunning patterns and textures on fabric using fabric pens
Exploring Clay Workshops Join artist Cecily Loveys-Jervoise (@cecilylj) as we get creative with air-dry clay, making your own artistic pieces to take home. You will learn about the origins of clay by exploring ‘found clay’, different types of naturally multi-coloured material that you can use in your own pieces.
Natural Dyeing Workshops Join artist Renata Minoldo (renrrnren) and learn about the powerful properties of plants and discover the beauty of natural colour using flowers, leaves and food waste to create your own beautiful textiles. You will learn a range of natural dyeing techniques in this relaxing and environmentally engaged activity, gaining new skills and making your own unique dyed fabric to take home.
Live Performance and Dance Workshops, 12.30pm – 5pm
12.30pm – 12.50pm Deva: Playground Edition by Pagrav Dance Company
1pm – 1.45pm Kathak workshop by Pagrav Dance Company
2pm – 2.30pm Learn to Beatbox with Bass6 (World Beatbox Champion)
3pm – 3.20pm Deva: Playground Edition by Pagrav Dance Company
4pm – 5pm Breaking Workshop with Rain Crew (Learn to Breakdance)
Performers
Bass6
Come and enjoy an interactive performance with Bass6 (thebass6), founder of the Beatbox Collective, as he guides you through an introduction to beatboxing, creating your own soundtrack using only your body, voice and imagination. Fun for all ages and a great way to start your festival day!
Pagrav Dance Company (by Urja Desai Thakore & Hetain Patel)
Pagrav Dance Company (pagravdanceco) celebrate the ancient tradition of Indian classical dance form Kathak, which expresses stories through movement, especially footwork and facial gestures. In Deva: Playground Edition, two playful and engaging Indian classical performers share their thoughts, their culture, their languages and their identity. This original performance is sure to captivate audiences of all ages, challenge perceptions of a classical dancer and inspire people to think differently.
Rain Crew (Learn to Breakdance) – 3.30pm – 4.30pm
Join Rain Crew (@raincrew) for an exciting Breaking workshop where you will learn the coolest moves to wow your friends and family. You will be introduced to toprocks, footwork and perhaps even some freezes! This workshop is fun for the whole family and suitable to all ages and abilities.
Exhibitions
Guests are invited to cross the road and visit Chisenhale Gallery to view the latest exhibition by artist Benoît Piéron and see an exhibition of recent projects completed by Chisenhale Primary School and London East Alternative Provision in collaboration with artists Renata Minoldo, Edwin Mingard and musician Richard Jones.
This festival is the grand finale of our Summer of Art programme, a collaboration between Chisenhale Studios, Chisenhale Gallery and Chisenhale Dance and supported by Action for Bow.
More About The Artists
Hafza Yusuf is a Somali-British textile designer, art educator and founder of Hafza Studio. Hafza’s love for art and her rich culture led her to pursue a career in textile design, which became a way for her to celebrate the beauty of the Somali culture and preserve Somali textiles and heritage.
Renata Minoldo is an artist and educator exploring rituals, crafts and emotional bodies through textiles, objects and experiences with people. With a background in fashion and visual arts, she is interested in alternative ways to approaching art education and her practice aims to be more sustainable and circular every day. She works extensively in community engagement settings incldunig working with young people.
Cecily Loveys-Jervoise is an artist and art educator who graduated from Kingston School of Art in 2020 and is now a student on Alternative Art MA School of the Damned. Her sculpture and learning projects involve working with unexpected aspects of the natural world and craft to bring people together, form friendships and tell stories through play. She often uses clay she digs in the ground and natural dyes to explore tactility, narratives and fantasy.
Bass6 is a highly experienced beatboxer and has performed and taught at Glastonbury festival, Bestival, Edinburgh Fringe and many more, and won the World Beatbox Championships in 2015.
Pagrav Dance Company celebrate the ancient tradition of Indian classical dance form Kathak, which expresses stories through movement, especially footwork and facial gestures. They explore its potential to empower people and enhance lives, invigorating the form with modern context and renewed presentation, while encouraging new thinking and understanding of the discipline. Pagrav means ‘the sound of feet’.
Rain Crew are an east London based dance crew and arts organisation specialising in Breaking, Hip-hop, House and Krump and with a focus on bringing people together through music, culture and dance. They aim to help people proactively celebrate and share their authentic selves through dance, aiming to use hip-hop as a vehicle for social change with a focus on equity, diversity, inclusion, decolonisation and anti-racism.
