The New Embassy: BLACK MAGIC / BLACK POWER

Syrus Marcus Ware, Britta Badour, Courage Bacchus, Jaz Fairy J and Rodney Diverlus

The New Embassy: BLACK MAGIC / BLACK POWER

Syrus Marcus Ware, Britta Badour, Courage Bacchus, Jaz Fairy J and Rodney Diverlus

7:00pm

Tuesday, April 26

Consider Disabled, Deaf and Mad futures through a riveting set of performances by Black artists. Curated by Syrus Marcus Ware, this New Embassy event (originally aired April 26, 2022) from the Toronto International Festival of Authors explores the effects of the pandemic and white supremacy with performances by spoken word artist Britta B., actor and Deaf Olympian Courage Bacchus, and dance/movement artists Jaz Fairy J and Rodney Diverlus.

This event is presented with ASL interpretation and visual captions.

The New Embassy is a digital mini-series of spoken word, poetry, prose, theatrical readings, music and dance, inspired by Toronto’s renowned, historic Bohemian Embassy. It introduces a new generation of artists shaping Canada’s ever-evolving literary scene. This event is presented as part of the CoMotion Festival.

CW // This event contains strong language and images of a sexual nature. Discretion is advised.

This event is currently re-released as part of Harbourfront Centre’s 2023 KUUMBA Presented by TD Bank Group, Toronto’s largest Black Futures Month celebration. The video is available to watch for free throughout the month of February. Learn more here.

Curated by Syrus Marcus Ware
Produced by Toronto International Festival of Authors
Co-Presented with CoMotion Festival
The New Embassy event series is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts through the Digital NOW program.

      Harbourfront centre logo     Canada Council for the Arts logo

Performance
Virtual

Consider Disabled, Deaf and Mad futures through a riveting set of performances by Black artists. Curated by Syrus Marcus Ware, this New Embassy event (originally aired April 26, 2022) from the Toronto International Festival of Authors explores the effects of the pandemic and white supremacy with performances by spoken word artist Britta B., actor and Deaf Olympian Courage Bacchus, and dance/movement artists Jaz Fairy J and Rodney Diverlus.

This event is presented with ASL interpretation and visual captions.

The New Embassy is a digital mini-series of spoken word, poetry, prose, theatrical readings, music and dance, inspired by Toronto’s renowned, historic Bohemian Embassy. It introduces a new generation of artists shaping Canada’s ever-evolving literary scene. This event is presented as part of the CoMotion Festival.

CW // This event contains strong language and images of a sexual nature. Discretion is advised.

This event is currently re-released as part of Harbourfront Centre’s 2023 KUUMBA Presented by TD Bank Group, Toronto’s largest Black Futures Month celebration. The video is available to watch for free throughout the month of February. Learn more here.

Curated by Syrus Marcus Ware
Produced by Toronto International Festival of Authors
Co-Presented with CoMotion Festival
The New Embassy event series is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts through the Digital NOW program.

      Harbourfront centre logo     Canada Council for the Arts logo

Performance
Virtual

Featured Authors

Syrus Marcus Ware
Dr. Syrus Marcus Ware is a Vanier scholar, visual artist, activist, curator and educator. Using painting, installation and performance, Syrus explores social justice frameworks and black activist culture. His work has been shown widely across Canada in solo and group shows, and his performance works have been included in local and international festivals. Author of picture book Abolition is Love (Triangle Square, 2023), and illustrator of picture book I Promise (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2019), Syrus holds a PhD from York University in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, and is Assistant Professor at the School of the Arts at McMaster University.

Read more about Syrus Marcus Ware

Britta Badour
Britta Badour, better known as Britta B., is an award-winning artist, public speaker, and poet living in Toronto. She is the recipient of the Breakthrough Artist Award (Toronto Arts Foundation, 2021) and Lecturer of the Year (COCA, 2021). Britta holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Guelph and teaches spoken word performance at Seneca College. 

Read more about Britta Badour

Courage Bacchus
Natasha “Courage” Bacchus is a former three-time Deaf Olympian Sprinter. She began working as an actress in 2019, and has since performed in The Black Drum, The Two Natasha’s, 21 Black Futures and season four of The Corner on Netflix. Bacchus has participated as an art collaborator with numerous theatre and film productions in Canada. She’s held multiple positions including an interdisciplinary visual artist, art accessibility consultant and activist for IBPOC Deaf art community in terms of expanding IBPOC Deaf artists representation.

Read more about Courage Bacchus

Jaz Fairy J
Jaz Fairy J is an inter-disciplinary artist working with choreography, movement direction, movement meditation, sound healing, performance art, collective gathering and games, and intuitive/ancestral creative healing practice. She believes that art and creation are a portal to the divine, and in that, she is in a continuous investigation around how her work can create more space for healing. Based in Toronto, Jaz Fairy J has created over 20 original dance works presented in Toronto, Montreal, New York, Seattle, Berlin, UK, Turkey and more. She worked on Fox Production’s Rocky Horror Picture Show under the direction of Kenny Ortega in 2016, and her film collaboration In My Bones will premiere September 2021.

Read more about Jaz Fairy J

Rodney Diverlus
Rodney Diverlus (@rodneydiverlus | He/Them) is a Haitian-Canadian movement artist who has performed internationally in dance theatre and multidisciplinary performance, and has developed his distinct movement aesthetic that brings together jazz, contemporary and Afrikanic movements. Described by the Toronto Star as "one of Toronto's fastest rising dance talents," Rodney is working on new world premieres for Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, Toronto Dance Theatre and Tapestry Opera, and is the recipient of the 2019 Canadian Stage Award for Direction. He is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter—Canada and the Wildseed Centre for Art & Activism.

Read more about Rodney Diverlus

7:00pm

Tuesday, April 26

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