In spirit of the festivals name „Grenzenlos Kultur“ (engl: „culture without boarders“), Goethe Institut has invited eight artists and cultural professionals working for inclusivity in the arts from Cameroon, Congo, Namibia, South Africa, Rwanda and Senegal to come to Mainz and experience the festival’s performances. The program is meant to foster a pan-African network and exchange. Looking at the program it’s packed with performances to watch, networking events, a scenic boat ride and meet-ups with performing artists. After watching „What we can do together“, Pauline Michel met Christelle Dreyer and Alvarita Benedito Lucungo who talk about their work and the surprises they experienced throughout the trip.
What is your star rating on how barrier-free the festival’s infrastructure is?
Christelle Dreyer: I would say 4 out of 5. And you?
Alvarita Benedito Lucungo: I would give it a 3, because when it comes to things like the stairs, there are not enough markings. For someone who is visually impaired it would help to have markings with yellow tape for instance to see that maybe there’s a pivot here or stairs over there. That’s my only critique.
What did you wish for in coming here and visiting Grenzenlos Kultur?
CD: I wished to have my mind opened up to new perspectives and new ideas and new ways of not just experiencing theatre, but also learning from the festival: how it’s run, what performances are shown, their various themes and how the festival practices inclusivity in various ways. I am looking forward to absorbing everything and learning. And also just having fun. It’s a festival, it’s a great space to enjoy.
AL: I am super excited for the fact that this is an opportunity for networking. And also just to brainstorm, someone said we are stealing ideas, which is a really nice way to put it. In the performing arts industry in Namibia, there is still a lack of accessible infrastructure for performing artists. There was a time when I performed and I almost fell off the stage simply because there was no significant marking on the stage and it was a very badly lit environment. Being in a space that focuses on inclusivity in performing arts is a great opportunity for me to see what accommodations we can make and to take impressions back home, to then see how I can work with policy makers and those who are big in theater in order to make things a little bit more inclusive back home.
What surprised you during your visit here?
CD: What surprised me personally was that as much as we are worlds apart and so different continentally, there are so many similarities when it comes to working with theatre and the means that we use to make it more inclusive. I am speaking of the performing arts industry that I come from in South Africa. Yes, there’s so many differences but there’s also so many similarities in the way things are done. I know that there’s so much to still learn and to grow. But coming here I thought, wow, maybe we’re not that bad in comparison as I thought we were.
AL: Something that I am still in awe of in the context of this festival is just how accepting everyone is. Seeing so many artists living with a disability on stage is really inspiring. It’s waking up something within me that I thought was becoming dormant. I spent most of my time trying to obtain my credential so I put a little bit of a hiatus on pertaining to my music. Visiting Grenzenlos Kultur is waking up a lot of those feelings again and I’m super excited to finally release the album I am working on. It has definitely inspired me to go ahead and push for it.
You both have built impressive careers as artists and also as activists for disability rights. How did you start?
CD: I started dancing at a very young age, about 25 years ago. I was a teenager and I got into it through a school’s program. I fell in love with dance, I’ve been dancing for all this time across different platforms and genres of dance. It has also led me to theatre and acting. And just because of the platform I’m given within the media and the theater and arts industry, where I’m on stage, gave me the space to be an activist. Personally, I wouldn’t say I am an activist, though—more a voice for the voiceless. Simply because I’m on stage, I can be a physical representation of what possibilities look like for someone young living with a disability. I am passionate about empowering young people, the disabled youth. When you’re an adult you already have your ideas and your identities, but kids who are young still have a long way to go. So if I can inspire them by being passionate and doing what I love, so they can see that they can do what they love and thrive — whatever it is, it does not have to be theater –, then I think it’s a job well done.
AL: My journey began in 2018 when I was 15. I auditioned for a talent show called „Song Night Namibia“, and to my shock, I actually got in. Never sung before, never written anything. It was the first time I performed with a live band. It was through rehearsals with my mentor, Lisa Ellis, that I realized I actually have a passion for singing. This is something I see myself doing in the foreseeable future. In May 2019, I debuted my album „Fin“. I taught myself how to songwrite, compositional work as well, and how to play the guitar. I started working independently with Zash Domingo, who is currently my producer and since then, I’ve been putting music out ever since there, here, off and on. Last year I had complications with surgeries. It was through the feeling of losing my eyesight completely that I wanted to start doing advocacy. It made me want to start bringing awareness to congenital glaucoma, because there’s not much known about the condition. There are not many symptoms, so many people have it and they don’t realize it until it’s too late. It’s very aggressive, and it takes your eyesight away within months. Because of what I experienced, I decided it would not be fair for me to have all of this information and sit on it. I started putting out videos on TikTok. It was through those advocacy videos that I then got into contact with people from Enable Africa which brought me to the Inclusive Africa Conference.
What do you wish to experience in the other performances that you will see?
CD: I want to be shocked. I want to see something that I’ve never seen before. I want my mind blown. I want to see inclusion in a way I’ve never seen it before.I want to be like, I thought I knew everything, but clearly not. That’s what I’m waiting to experience.
AL: I’ll have to benchmark off of what Christelle said. I definitely want to be in awe. I want to go back to the hotel and just have a moment of silence and take in just what fantastic work is being done.
Many of the performances you’ve seen so far were theatre performances in German and did not offer any translation in surtitles of audiodescription. What was your experience of these performances?
CD: I like to see different things to expand my own creative ideas and not just the same things all the time. So, the variety and the newness of it was amazing. Obviously I didn’t understand a lot of it in terms of language, but some of the pieces I could still follow even if I didn’t know what the words are. You can pick up on scenes, and you can also see how the different actors perform. The stage presence, musicality, staging and then the lighting design and the set design was also interesting in some of the pieces.
AL: There were definitely moments where it was difficult to keep engaged with the performances due to the language barrier. We had briefings before some of the plays so we got some information on what to expect and the performers played their roles well. That helped to follow along.
If you were the next curator or director of the festival, how would you change Grenzenlos Kultur?
CD: I would like the choreographers and the directors to be disabled people as well. That there are not only disabled performers, but disabled lighting designers, disabled set designers, disabled directors, choreographers. People with disabilities are not just performers, they are creators in total. It’s become normal to perform as a singer or dancer in a wheelchair on stage. But I wish for the lighting to be designed or the set being constructed by someone with a handicap. I would want it to be inclusive not just one way, as an inclusive performance on stage, that we have now become accustomed to, but behind the stage as well.
AL: I would make more arrangements for audiodescriptions and surtitles for the visually impaired and audience members who are deaf or hearing impaired – and for them to be translated to more different languages to make sure that all members of the audience can enjoy what the performance has to offer. And regarding the program: I would incorporate more other mediums of performing arts, too: more dance and music, too.