Five world premières and 12 UK premières featuring artists from ten countries will make up the international festival of performance Fierce in Birmingham in October 2017.
Fierce will explore themes as diverse as the rituals of clubbing, mental health, “fandom” and fan art, activism, queer culture and climate change.
The festival’s artistic director Aaron Wright said, “I’m thrilled to unveil my first programme at Fierce which presents a wide snapshot of some of the most exciting performances in the world today.
“It’s a fresh, exciting, radical programme for a young, diverse city. It’ll be a hugely exciting week to be in Birmingham with many of the artists making their UK debuts and giving Fierce UK exclusive performances, further cementing Fierce’s reputation as one of the most daring, forward-thinking and youthful arts organisations in the country.”
The six world premières will include: dance piece i ride in colour and soft focus no longer anywhere by Last Yearz Interesting Negro, also known as artist Jamila Johnson-Small, an exploration of black and queer aesthetics, $elfie$ by Marikiscrycrycry, Ghana Must Go and Britney Spears by Vivian Chinasa Ezugha which explores xenophobia and cultural stigma and Owen G Parry’s latest installation exploring fan culture fic.the.sky featuring European dance theatre collective Medeber Teatro.
Fierce will also host a range of UK debuts and premières including Andréa de Keijzer and Erin Robinsong’s performance This ritual is not an accident, French choreographer Michele Rizzo’s piece HIGHER which explores “the agony and ecstasy of clubbing” through dance, Simone Aughterlony and Jen Rosenblit’s promenade piece Everything Fits in the Room and Belgian visual theatre artist Louis Vanhaverbeke’s turning into a multifunctional disc jockey in Multiverse.
Fierce, which is being staged for the 17th time, will take place in Fierce’s new festival hub in Digbeth as well as Birmingham REP, The Patrick Centre at Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham School of Art, STRYX, ACE Dance and Music, mac, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, A E Harris, the new Birmingham Conservatoire and various outdoor locations.
The festival runs from Monday 16 until Sunday 22 October. The full programme is available at the Fierce Festival web site.