Joana Tischkau in conversation with Zara Julius: Between Afropunk, Vinyl and Roberto Blanco.

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Joana Tischkau is a German choreographer and performer. Her works uncovers repressive representational regimes by drawing on postcolonial theories, feminist discourse and popcultural phenomena. Her first dancing memory goes back to Kaoma’s 1989 hit Lamabada which was played at a childrens birthday party. This led her to enroll at her neighborhood dance school for training in Jazz dance, videoclip dancing and Hip Hop. Looking old enough to get in, she continued her movement practice in Clubs, Discos and at urban dance battles, winning twerking competitions long before twerking was even a thing. In 2010 she decided to make it official, left Germany for the UK, to study Contemporary Dance and Theatre at Coventry University, mastering the art of accessing somatic experiences while rolling on the floor and across bodies. She went on to pursue her MA in Choreography at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen, developing her artistic practice into a hybrid mash-up where the the writings of bell hooks meet beatboxing, whiteness is turned into a workout, Youtube tutorials become her only source material and Roberto Blanco is hailed as an Afro-German Hero. She subversively distorts cultural practices, codes and meaning inscribed onto bodies of Colour within the context of western art and dance history. She works as a freelance choreographer, dancer, community dance artist and movement facilitator and has performed her works at the Tanzplattform Deutschland 2020, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Danshallerne Copenhagen and Hebbel am Ufer Theater Berlin.

Zara Julius is a multidisciplinary social practice artist, social researcher, and vinyl selector based in Johannesburg, South Africa. With a background in anthropology, religious studies and photography, her work is concerned with the relationship between aesthetics and culture, African futures, and the interplay of identity, faith, religion, urbanity, migration, race, and desire throughout Africa and its diaspora. Working with sound, video, performance and objects, Zara Julius’ practice involves the collection, selection and creation of archives through extensive research projects. Concerned with the ethics of representation, Zara’s use of co-productive methodologies help ensure her subject areas are triangulated. The bulk of Zara’s projects have focused on mapping the sonic and spiritual mobilities of religious rapture and rupture with congregants of syncretic religions, and on (post)apartheid narratives around race and place as they pertain to intimate archiving practices. As a vinyl selector, Zara’s sets reflect her desire to travel land, seas and time. Her collection explores organic and bass heavy sounds from Africa and the Diaspora. She selects vinyl regularly in Southern Africa, most notably at The Orbit Jazz Club, MTN Bushfire, Rocking the Daisies, Red Bull Music Festival and AFROPUNK Johannesburg. In 2017, Zara toured London, being hosted by Touching Bass, Balamii radio, Hoxton FM, and Total Refreshment Centre. She has played alongside artists such as Nubya Garcia, Madala Kunene, Shabaka Hutchings, BLK JKS, DJ Kenzhero, Andrew Ashong & DJ Spinna. Zara has also gigged in Cuba and Colombia. In 2017, Zara created KONJO with Paul WaxOn - a recurring live music event where she curates parties with a Pan African focus.

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