In this immersive anti-genre performance, “rock star of dance” (The New Yorker) nora chipaumire invites audiences into a world of sound, painting, sculpture, and performance.
On the FringeArts stage, chipaumire uses large-scale plastic paintings to construct a Zimbabwean shabini—an informal bar set up in private residences, where citizens gather to invoke the possibilities of resistance and insurrection.
Audiences freely explore this space populated by musicians, revolutionaries, tricksters, and sellouts, scored by a sonic backdrop of whirling Zimbabwean music and the threat of barking dogs.
Invoking the many meanings of dambudzo—the Shona word for trouble—and the radical ideas of African thinkers including Dambudzo Marechera, this thrumming, resonant work resists categorization, creating a space for an affecting confrontation of colonialism.
“Dambudzo is a name, a desire, a lament, an inspiration, even a loathing—a poem—that speaks to the 1980s before the fall of communism and the end of apartheid.” nora chipaumire
“An artist of tenacious intensity” —New York Times
DAMBUDZO is a commission of Wiener Festwochen and Festival d’Automne à Paris, produced by nora chipaumire, and developed in residency with Callie’s Berlin.
Performance Information
September 18-20, 2025
Sept 18 + 19 at 7pm
Sept 20 at 2pm
Pricing
$35 Standard
$15 Students & 25-and-Unders
$2 FringeACCESS
FringeArts Member discounts & benefits available
Venue
FringeArts
140 N Columbus Blvd
Philadelphia PA 19106
About the Artist
nora chipaumire
nora chipaumire was born in 1965 in what was then known as Umtali, Rhodesia (now Mutare, Zimbabwe). She is a product of colonial education for black native Africans — known as group B schooling — and is invested in knowledge acquisition and sharing outside of prescribed parameters.
Creative Team
nora chipaumire
Concept/Creative Director
nora chipaumire
Tatenda Chabarwa
Joyce Delores Edwards
Fatima Katiji
Jonathan Kudakwashe Daniel
tyroneisaacstuart
kei soares cobb
Shamar Watt
Gilbert Zvamaida
Bhundu Boys Music Recordings
Mieke Ulfig Film Production
Vusumuzi Moyo Sound Engineer
Kwamina Biney Sound Engineer
Heidi Eckwall Technical Director
Soren Kodak Technical Director Assistant
Jay BeardsleyTour/Company Manager
Amélie Gaulier Company Management
Supporters
Funded by the Visual Arts Project Fund of the Goethe-Institut.
nora chipaumire inc. is supported by the Mellon Foundation.
Icon Producers
Mark and Tobey Dichter
Co-producer
Nancy Lanham
Photo: Guto Muniz
Accessibility
Dambudzo is an ambulatory installation dance piece where the audience is encouraged to move through and around the space. Limited chairs will be available for those who need them. Assisted Listening Devices and Sensory Kits Available. Venue social narrative is available online. Check PhillyFringe.org for additional services for specific shows.
Health & Safety
Masks are optional, vaccines are not required. More information about FringeArts COVID policies can be found here.