USA / 2016 / 12mins / Dance film

Afro Promo #1 King Lady 1 is an Afro-Feminist manifesto beautifying bodies to claim the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Using a low-tech — do-it-yourself aesthetics, this short film demonstrates how presence, fashion and pop culture can be a vehicle ​for self-invention and self-determination.

Produced by Dance for Film on Location at Montclair State University, The Office of Arts and Cultural Programming (ACP), Jedediah Wheeler, Executive Director. Funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Nora Chipaumire

Born in Mutare, Zimbabwe and based in NYC, nora chipaumire has been challenging and embracing stereotypes of Africa and the black performing body, art and aesthetics since she started making dances in 1998. Her current and ongoing work includes a digital book project – nhaka – a theory, technology, practice and process to her artistic work. chipaumire's notable premieres include Chimurenga, at ODC Theater, San Francisco (2007); Lions will roar…, at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2009); visible, at Harlem Stage, New York (2011); Miriam, at Next Wave Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music Fisher Theater, Brooklyn (2012); The Last Heifer, at PLATFORM 2012 (2012); Parallels, at Danspace Project, New York (2012); and Dark Swan, reconstructed for Urban Bush Women at FOCUS DANCE, The Joyce Theater, New York (2014). After receiving her 2016 Grants to Artists award, Chipaumire traveled to Harare, Zimbabwe to work with the Tumbuka Dance Company, the first and only contemporary dance company in Zimbabwe. chipaumire is a 2018 Guggenheim fellow and a three-time Bessie Award winner. chipaumire received an M.A. and an M.F.A. from Mills College, in 2000 and 2002, respectively. Learn More