About this event
When
Fri 16th Oct - Sat 17th Oct 2026
7:30pm & 5:00pm
Price
£12 - £40
Duration
45 minutes
Booking Info
Content warnings: flashing lights, loud music and theatrical smoke/haze
The Brutal Joy by Justine A. Chamber. Photography by Dan Loan
UK Premiere
Emerging from traces of family gatherings on the South Side of Chicago, The Brutal Joy is a scored improvisation which unfurls Black vernacular line dance alongside sartorial gesture in the lineage of Black dandyism—as intellectual discourse, reverie, and devotion to Black-living.
The Brutal Joy is a choreography of movement, sound, and light. As a counter-archival practice, it offers a way “of knowing the past in excess of the fictions of the archive” (Christina Sharpe). It serves as the other citation—a collection of footnotes, physical anecdote as theory, and an otherwise imagining. The Brutal Joy is a reservoir for inherited gesture, individual and collective affective memories, and under-documented histories.
Fierce says:
“Justine is an iconic figure within the Canadian contemporary dance scene and what a treat it is to bring her to the UK for the first time. With dizzyingly hypnotic movement, light, and sound, Justine and her collaborators conjure the lineages of Black vernacular dance and music, making them visceral, undeniable, and monumental. P.S. She’ll also be adapting her seminal work Dinner Party for Fierce Feasts, another not-to-be-missed event.”
This performance is presented by Fabric and Fierce Festival as part of THIS IS DANCE
THIS IS DANCE is an international season of dance in Birmingham presented in partnership with Fabric, Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham Rep, Fierce Festival, Midlands Arts Centre and Sampad Arts, bringing exceptional dance from both across the globe and the local community.
