Theatre doesn’t exist in a vacuum and the attitudes, cliches, and prejudices we see on stage and in creative practices simply mirror our society. In this episode, we invite back two Things I Am Not artists - Yasmeen Ghrawi and Lanna Joffrey - for a conversation with Zrinka Bralo, CEO of Migrants Organise. Topics include attitudes towards refugee women, the difference between solidarity and charity, and the need to create space in society and the arts for mutual listening

#bonusepisode #refugeewomen #migrantsorganise #solidarity #refugeeswelcome 

Zrinka Bralo was born in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where she worked as a journalist and came to the UK as a refugee. She is now CEO of Migrants Organise, an award-winning, grassroots organising platform for dignity, justice, and welcome for all migrants and refugees. Under the banner of Solidarity Knows No Borders, Migrants Organise is leading the grassroots coalition building the Fair Immigration Reform Movement for systemic change of the UK’s current hostile environment immigration policy. Zrinka is a refugee from Sarajevo, where she was a journalist during the siege in the1990s. She is a founder of the Women on the Move Awards that celebrates the achievements of migrant and refugee women and the winner of the 2011 Voices of Courage Award by the Women’s Refugee Commission in New York.  

Find Yasmeen’s and Lanna’s bios and monologues on https://thingsiamnot.com/

Producing Artistic Director: Lara Parmiani

Concept: Emmanuela Lia

Director: Becka McFadden & Lara Parmiani

Website design: Daiva Dominyka

Social media: Catharina Conte

Original Music: Angelina Rud & Martin Bakero

Has this conversation resonated with you? Please send us your responses via www.thingsiamnot.com/responses Over the coming weeks and months, our interactive website will gradually morph into a digital gallery featuring audience responses. 

You can also reach us via email info@legalaliens.org, on Instagram at @legalalienstheatre or on Twitter and Facebook at @LegalAliensITC 

LegalAliens’ Lara Parmiani and Becka McFadden sit down for a chat with Tamara Rojo, artistic director of the English National Ballet. We ask how migration and artistry intersect in a field dominated by the expressivity and technical ability of the dancing body. What acts of translation might still be necessary? And what’s it like to lead a national company in a country you arrived to as a foreigner? This discussion is part of an interview series with migrant women in leadership positions in the UK. 

Tamara Rojo was born in Spain and trained as a dancer in Madrid. In 2012 she was appointed Artistic Director of English National Ballet in 2012. She combines this role with her dancing career, performing as Lead Principal with the Company.

She won a Gold Medal at the Paris International Dance Competition and a Special Jury Award unanimously given by a judging panel led by Natalia Makarova, Vladimir Vasiliev and Galina Samsova, who asked her to join Scottish Ballet.

Within six months of joining English National Ballet, Tamara was promoted to Principal, and went on to dance the full range of the Company’s principal roles. Derek Deane created the roles of Juliet (Romeo & Juliet) and Clara (The Nutcracker) for her. Her performances as Clara broke all box office records at the London Coliseum and The Times named her “Dance Revelation of the Year.”

Tamara joined The Royal Ballet as a Principal at the invitation of Sir Anthony Dowell shortly after her highly acclaimed Guest Artist debut with the Company in Sir Peter Wright’s Giselle, and danced there for 12 years.

She is a member of the Board of Creative England and Creative Industries Federation, the Anglo-Spanish Society, a Patron of the Ipswich-based DanceEast Academy, Patron of the Flamingo Chicks and Adviser to Spain’s Superior Council of Artistic Studies.

Find out more about Tamara here: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=660961344

https://www.tamara-rojo.com/

#bonusepisode #migration #womeninthearts #ballet #englishnationalballet #tamararojo

Producing Artistic Director: Lara Parmiani

Concept: Emmanuela Lia

Director: Becka McFadden & Lara Parmiani

Website design: Daiva Dominyka

Social media: Catharina Conte

Original Music: Angelina Rud & Martin Bakero

Do you like Things I Am Not? Please SUPPORT US! Go to https://thingsiamnot.com/support-us/ to send us a donation. It will help us carry on!

You can also reach us via email info@legalaliens.org, on Instagram at @legalalienstheatre or on Twitter and Facebook at @LegalAliensITC