We use cookies to make your site experience better. Tracking cookies enables us to provide a functional Accessibility Toolbar, and easily log into your account (if you have one). For more information on how we use your data, read our privacy policy.

Imagining new accessible worlds
Member

Learning Modules

  • Cripping the Arts Symposium 2019
  • /
  • Brownton Abbey

    • Brownton Abbey

    Celestial beings from queer dimensions transform the historic Harbourfront Centre into a kaleidoscopic off-world temple as Brownton Abbey, the UK-based Afro-Futurist performance party with a Space Church theme, hits Toronto. Created by and centering queer people of colour, especially those with d/Disabilities (s/Super Powers), Brownton Abbey features an international collective of UK and Toronto-based artists.

    The genre-defying event fuses a hyped party, performance art and the personal/political as a catalyst to celebrate intersectional identities. Take up space, drench yourself in contemporary ritual, and get transcendental on the dance floor. If you would like to dress up, please feel free to interpret the theme of Intergalactic techno church realness.

    Brownton Abbey is creatively co-produced by Tarik Elmoutawakil and Rob Jones.

    Performer Loren O. Delaney.
    A photo of Loren O. Delaney. Her hair is in long braids and her face is painted. She is standing against a red background, holding a clear balloon in each hand, and looking straight at the camera.
    Tarik Elmoutawakil dancing in Brownton Abbey.
    A photo of Tarik Elmoutawakil dancing in “Brownton Abbey”. He is wearing goggles and neon bobbles on his head. He is wearing a silver top and neon-pink-and-green bottoms. He is joyously holding up streamers, and the photo is washed in blue light.
    Yousef Kadoura performing in Brownton Abbey.
    Yousef Kadoura performing in “Brownton Abbey”. He is kneeling on stage, wearing draped scarves and loose clothing. He is holding a bundle of sticks and looking at a book that is open in front of him.
    Audience member dancing at Brownton Abbey.
    An audience member dancing at “Brownton Abbey”, awash in blue light with spots of red light sprinkled across them and the crowd behind. The person has their arms out mid-dance move, and their mouth is open in a wide grin.
    Rachael Young performing in Brownton Abbey.
    Rachael Young performing on stage in “Brownton Abbey”, wearing a dress with an incredible oversized metallic skirt. Stage lights wash the scene in purple and blue.
    Ebony Rose Dark performing on stage in Brownton Abbey.
    Ebony Rose Dark performing on stage in “Brownton Abbey”. They are wearing a hot pink body suit, and the stage is lit up green. Above them a large black “V” is projected on a white background.
    LAL performing on stage in Brownton Abbey.
    The band LAL in a performance of “Brownton Abbey”. Streamers cascade down from the ceiling. One person is at centre stage, obscured in shadow, with a purple spotlight on them.

    Performers

    A black and white portrait of Tarik Elmoutawakil.
    A black and white portrait of Tarik Elmoutawakil, a mixed/black person with a short dark beard wearing a snapback. Tarik is holding a spiky rubber ball and looking off into the distance.

    Performer: Tarik Elmoutawakil

    Tarik Elmoutawakil (UK) is the lead artist for Brownton Abbey. He is fixated on creating light playful atmospheres with deep theatrical experiences as a mode of brown and queer resistance, harnessing the elevation, celebration, and centering of otherness.

    A performer wrapped entirely in stretchy white fabric.
    A black and white photo of a performer wrapped entirely in stretchy white fabric. The person is pushing against the fabric, creating bulging shapes across the top. The backdrop is a pleated black curtain.

    Performer: Ebony Rose Dark

    Ebony Rose Dark (UK) is an interdisciplinary artist specializing in dance. Their latest work explores themes of sexuality, desire, BDSM, and black disabled bodies.

    Black and white portrait of Rachael Young.
    A black and white portrait of Rachael Young smiling at the camera. Rachael is a Black person with her hair in braids, and she has a thin gold ring in her septum.

    Performer: Rachael Young

    Rachael Young (UK) is an award-winning artist whose interdisciplinary performances traverse the boundaries between live art, dance, contemporary theatre, and socially engaged practice. Her work creates spaces for intersectional realities to be explored and celebrated, and for alternative narratives and forms to evolve and be heard.

    Black and white portrait of Lasana Shabazz.
    A black and white portrait of Lasana Shabazz, a black person with their mouth wide open. They are wearing round glasses with dark lenses.

    Performer: Lasna Shabazz

    Lasana Shabazz (UK) is a performance artist, dancer, theatre-maker, and writer whose work grapples with themes of race, sexuality, and, ultimately, transcendence

    Black and white portrait of Yousef Kadoura.
    Black and white portrait of Lebanese Canadian actor Yousef Kadoura wearing a dark collared shirt and looking into the camera.

    Performer: Yousef Kadoura

    Yousef Kadoura (Canada) is a Toronto-based actor, writer, and producer who has dedicated himself to performance and storytelling as tools for education and social justice. He is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada and the Curator in Residence at Tangled Art + Disability.

    Black and white portrait of Syrus Marcus Ware.
    A black and white portrait of Syrus Marcus Ware, a Black person with his hair in thick braids. He is wearing a black t-shirt and looking into the camera.

    Performer: Syrus Marcus Ware

    Syrus Marcus Ware (Canada) is a Vanier Scholar, visual artist, activist, curator, and educator. Syrus uses drawing, installation and performance to explore social justice frameworks and black activist culture. Syrus is a core-team member of Black Lives Matter Toronto and of BlacknessYes!/ Blockorama. Syrus is a PhD candidate at York University.

    Black and white portrait of the band LAL.
    A black and white portrait of the band LAL, with both of the two members adjusting a scarf over the lower half of their face.

    Performers: LAL

    LAL (Rosina Kazi / Nicholas Murray) (Canada). Known as “musicians with a deeper social message,” LAL released their debut album “Corners” in 2002 and have since carved out a strong diaspora voice in the Canadian music scene, which remains largely unexplored by mainstream media. LAL introduces a political edge to the electronic underground, bridging the gap between art and social justice.

    Crip Shorts

    LUCID

    Scroll to top
  • Contact Us