TF'24 : MASTERCLASS | Tell Me a Tale - Voice and Movement

Following the success of last year’s two week festival of new and emerging Black work and artists, Talawa Firsts festival is returning.

This July at our base in Croydon, Talawa Theatre Company will host two amazing weeks of new work, workshops, rooftop club nights, their first Don’t Flick short film screenings and more, themed around obsessions and chance encounters, encouraging all festivalgoers to stay curious!

Facilitator bios

MOVEMENT DIRECTOR / TANAKA BINGWA 

Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Tanaka Bingwa migrated to the UK at the age of 10. He later moved from Surrey to further his dance career at the University of East London. Studying Dance: Urban Practice he developed his knowledge and technique in dance styles varying from contemporary to breakin’ and hip hop. As a creative artist, he has choreographed pieces in response to immigration and ‘blackness’ today. He went on to graduate with a First Class Degree.  

Some of his credits include: Danny Boyle, Shakespeare Globe Theatre and Guildhall school of music and Drama. He is an energing movement director in the theatre realm and plans on continuing on his path. He has ties to renowned artists such as ‘Anne-Marrie’, ‘Nile Rodgers’, ‘GHETTS’, ‘Alicai Harley’ and  ‘Boy Better Know’. Furthermore, Tanaka has worked with hip hop theatre company, Spoken Movement and is a member of contemporary dance company, B-Hybrid Dance. He is also an active member of hip-hop theatre company, Boy Blue Entertainment. He has also made a mark in Just Us Dance Theatre in their production ‘Born to Protest’.  

Tanaka has performed on many platforms such as the BBC Headquarters, The Greatest Dancer,  Barbican Centre and Adelphi Theatre. As a cast member of the 5*, multiple award nominated production, ‘Blak Whyte Gray’ Bingwa toured domestically and internationally. He was also part of the cast of Free Your Mind in Manchester directed by Danny Boyle with collaborative artists such as Es Devlin and Gareth Pugh. He was also a cast member for the critically acclaimed multiple award winning hip hop theatre production, REDD. He is also an original cast member for the 5* production which premiered in May 2024 CYCLES. Bingwa has aspirations of maintaining a career in Hip Hop theatre and affecting real social change through his art and one day becoming a university lecturer in Dance. 

VOICE COACH / JOHN PFUMOJENA

John Pfumojena is an award-winning Zimbabwean Composer, Musical Director, Actor and Theatre Director. His music is published by Warner Chappell Music, and he is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford (Exeter College).

His work includes Composer for UK Theatre's Best New Play Enough of Him; Musical Director and Vocal Arranger For Black Boys play; Composer and Musical Director Richard the Second play; Composer The Jungle play; Director Sizwe Banzi is Dead play; Creator and Director Bunker of Zion Theatre production. John is the recipient of the OBIE Awards Special Citation (New York) and Best Supporting Actor in a Play – Broadwayworld San Francisco Awards and has received nominations for Best Music & Musical Direction for the Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland and the Black British Theatre Awards. Additionally, John Pfumojena is a former Visiting Lecturer at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and LAMDA – London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. 

Host or Publisher Talawa Theatre Company