Description
Join us for a special screening of Phoenix Dance Theatre’s dazzling performance of Sharon Watson’s Windrush: Movement of the People, as part of our Windrush 75 celebrations.
This groundbreaking production celebrates the rise of multicultural Britain and features an uplifting soundtrack with calypso, jazz, gospel and reggae. The first contemporary dance work to explore the story behind the arrival of HMT Windrush Empire, bringing some of the first Caribbean migrants to the UK.
Alford Gardner, a passenger on board HMT Empire Windrush, whose memoir Finding Home is due for publication on Windrush Day, was consulted in the creation of this work, alongside a panel of elders from the community, who arrived as part of the Windrush generation.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with choreographer and former Artistic Director, Sharon Watson MBE, DL and Christella Litras, who created the original score, and will be chaired by Colin Grant, director of WritersMosaic at the Royal Literary Fund.
About the Speakers
Sharon Watson
Sharon Watson is CEO and Principal of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Prior to her recent appointment, she was the 7th Artistic Director of Phoenix Dance Theatre. During her tenure at PDT, Sharon received a number of awards and accolades: In 2010, she was named as one of the Cultural Leadership Programme’s ‘Women to Watch’, a list of 50 influential women working in arts and culture in the UK. She was awarded The Sue Ryder ‘Yorkshire Women of Achievement in Business Award’ and named ‘Yorkshire Woman of the Year’ in 2016. Acknowledged at the 2017 Northern Power Women Awards as part of the very first ‘Top 50 Power List’ and in 2018 Sharon won the First English Woman’s Award for Arts and Culture and was presented with an Honorary Fellowship by Northern School of Contemporary Dance.
In July 2019 Sharon received an Honorary Doctorate from Leeds Beckett University for her contribution to the arts. Sharon’s recognitions are testament to her continued passion and drive to contribute to the local and national creative industries through the medium of dance. November 2020, Appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire. In 2021 awarded an MBE in the Queens New Year’s Honours list. She is committed to improving diversity within the arts by supporting the creative voices of women and Black, Asian and ethnic minority artists.
Christella Litras
Christella is a professional singer, songwriter, producer, composer and musician. Christella has composed and Musically Directed several productions including Searching for the Heart of Leeds and Queen of Chapeltown (Leeds Playhouse); Yellow is the Colour of Sunshine (Tutti Frutti); and award winning Windrush- Movement of the People (Phoenix Dance). She also featured as a guest singer in Sting and Katie Prince’s West End Production of Message in a Bottle, musically directed by Hamilton’s Alex Lacamoire. In 2022, Christella composed her first Opera, POWER (Northern Opera), touring later in the year.
Colin Grant
Colin Grant’s books include Bageye at the Wheel, short-listed for the Pen Ackerley Prize, and Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation. He is the director of WritersMosaic, a division of the Royal Literary Fund, and writes for the Guardian, Observer and New York Review of Books. His latest memoir is I’m Black So You Don’t Have to Be.
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