Our Firsts Weekender

Event details
Saturday 5 September | 4pm – 6pm

View the schedule here.

If the above video does not automatically play from 4pm, please view on YouTube here
 

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Tune in here on Saturday 5th September where we’ll be streaming content from artists and young people from across the region as they explore their own digital Firsts.  

OPUS and Culture Central announce line up of content including regional arts organisations Motionhouse, Ex Cathedra, Arts Connect and DanceXchange plus DESIblitz.  

Hosted by Brummie Poet and Actor Adaya Henry with two hours of content covering Music, Dance, Animation and Poetry.  

Ahead of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s 100th Birthday Celebrations; their first ever live streamed performance at 7pm, the city’s artists and arts organisations have responded to the theme of Our Firsts.  The online event will take audiences on a journey from the first time we saw the Earth's image from space with Alec Roth’s Earthrise performed by Ex Cathedra and staying in space, Gravity by Motionhouse; combining hand-to-hand acrobatics with their signature contact choreography inspired by the first moon landing.  

From the ethereal to the global, the stream will also show The Symphony Orchestra of India’s performance of Beethoven. Presented by; DESIblitz the SOI came to Birmingham for their UK debut in 2019. An interview with Zane Dalal and musical icon Zakir Hussain features discussion about the classical music scene in India.  

And from Orchestras to individual musicians creating music during lockdown, Sonia Sabri Dance and Music company will present some short, pre-recorded performances by musicians of different ages specially created for Our Firsts. The performances have been created under the formal guidance of world renowned Tabla Maestro and composer Sarvar Sabri. From the Indian classical genres these musicians will be presenting their new compositions that they have been learning, developing and practising during lockdown.  

Lockdown has also provided new creative stimulus for collaborations between dance leaders, young people and digital artists from across the region. #Dance Connect20 is an ambitious creative inquiry exploring new fusion dance and digital forms that can only be created when collaborators can’t meet in person. 11 professional dance leaders worked with 4 young leaders, 2 digital artists and over 60 young people from their homes to exchange dance styles and ideas, before inviting wider participation through a series of creative challenges, devised by young people for young people. Watch the story of this extraordinary process in Wayne Sable’s new documentary and a new film ‘Afro Shaolin Warriors’, created through the collaboration between Oliver Robert Russell, Christopher Radford, filmmaker Anthony Shintai and young dancers from DanceXchange’s Centre for Advanced Training.  #Dance Connect is funded by Arts Connect, produced by DanceXchange, on behalf of Dance Development Leaders Group (DDLG) and facilitated by independent artistic director Orit Azaz.  

Finally, The West Midlands Weekender will then take us on a short journey of First love in contemporary Britain with Chariot Riders, directed and animated by Kate Jessop, written by Carl Miller and conceived, commissioned and produced by Bobby Tiwana as part of the Love Works Duology with its sister film Little Elephant. Love Works was the culmination of a body of work over 5 years to increase the visibility of South Asian LGBTQ+ voices. Together both films have now screened over 100 times including 20 cities internationally including Australia, Brazil, Europe, India and the USA.  

The stream will be presented by Birmingham poet and actor Adaya Henry who went viral for her lyrical wizardry on why Channel 4 should have located in Birmingham. Adaya will perform a new piece of poetry that takes us into the evening ahead of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO’s) first ever live stream Concert.  

To watch Our Firsts, tune in at 4pm here.  

Our Firsts is so packed with content we couldn't fit it all into 2 hours! Women and Theatre have also produced a series of podcasts, details of which can be found below:

Women & Theatre @ Our Firsts
What was your FIRST step on the career ladder?

Women & Theatre's 'Starting Out' podcast series shines a light on the diverse experiences of young women entering the world of work for the first time.
 
Based on W&T's 2014 production at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, this lively and entertaining podcast series features monologues written by Janice Connolly, Charlene James, Lorna Laidlaw, Manjeet Mann & Susie Sillett; putting women's writing, performance and stories centre stage. The final episode of the series is a discussion, with W&T's Artistic Director Janice Connolly in conversation with young women in 2019, exploring what, if anything has changed.

To listen to all the Starting Out monologues, click here.

You can subscribe and listen to all Women & Theatre podcasts for free via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts from simply search ‘Women & Theatre’.
Launched in March 2020, Women & Theatre's podcast is the company’s first venture into digital storytelling and we have 2 other podcast series that complete our Women & Work trilogy. The For the Past 30 Years series is about women who have spent the last 3 decades working in different sectors is and Prime Time is about women in retirement.
 

To watch the CBSO’s 100th Birthday Celebrations, please head over to their Facebook or YouTube channels. The performance will explore the work, history and future of the CBSO as an orchestra of Firsts, the flagship of musical life in Birmingham and the West Midlands and one of the world’s most renowned orchestras. The varied programme will be conducted by former Music Director Sir Simon Rattle, alongside cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, sitar player Roopa Panesar and Birmingham-born actor Adrian Lester, who will present the performance.