PERFORMANCE

World premiere

Kids of the Diaspora invite the audience to the festival bar to have a glass of rum and join a conversation over the counter on the topic of deconstructing the concept of minorities. The Cuban bar keeper and DJ “Mujer” (Gabriela García Vargas) gets engrossed in a discussion with her regular guest “Hombre” (Julio Cesar Gispert) in which they question everything they have ever believed in, and in the end, it leads them to spiritual rejuvenation. Accompanied by turntables and percussion, the history of Cuban spirit is illuminated from a very different angle. Kids of the Diaspora (KOTD) was founded in 2017 by the sisters Leni Charles and Cherrie O. in Vienna. KOTD employs fashion, poetry, and social media campaigns to stand up for people from marginalised groups, who have experienced discrimination because of sexuality, gender, skin colour, or a diasporic background. Nothing Can Cross Our Spirit is a journey across time and space, across world history from Krems way “down” to Cuba. It reckons with today’s thinking in categories and interrogates the definition of identity.

Performer: Gabriela García Vargas and Julio Cesar Gispert | Written & directed by: Cherrie O. | Production: Cherrie O. and Leni Charles | Production Assistance: Michelle Havasov, Robin Reantaso
Visual poem with Mara Niang filmed by David Bentigui | Poem: Cherrie O.
Language: Spanish, English, Yoruba

Website Kids of the Diaspora