Our FFirst FFeature night of 2020 - FFive FFantastic FFeatures all exploring our theme of Repression and Renewal. What’s so great about our nights is they are unrehearsed and you really don’t know what you are going to get. It’s the rich mix rollercoaster of emotional content that is so hard to FFind anywhere else. Our nights are FFast pace and FFull of love. Lets take you through the evening.
We started off our feature night last Thursday with the FFabulous @torierobinson10 sharing her story of living with epilepsy. Her utter courage of how she has spent decades making sure she is not defined by the debilitating and unpredictability of this condition. Torie brought to us an open and honest account of how she lives with her ‘dodgy brain’ and how she was one of the FFew people able to have temporal lobectomy (only 1% of all people with epilepsy are viable) the aim of this type of surgery is to reduce the amount of seizures - however the operation then triggered a traumatic period of depression. Torie’s incredible story provided personal picture evidence of the amount of physical intrusion she has had to accept and experience through the majority of her life. One thing is for certain she is definitely NOT defined by epilepsy, she is 100% defiant and we were so grateful (she had terrible FFlu!) that she was able to share her story with us. Be sure to follow Torie! Thank you so much for being a feature and brining us closer to epilepsy and the FFantastic work you do to raise awareness.
Our second FFeature @thalesthegreat as our theme was about #Renewal we wanted to revisit past FFeatures and see where the last year has taken him; as we knew he would Thales came in FFull of his energy he was in FFull lyrical FFlow and with renewed sense of purpose with his music and lyrical journey. Thales making the connections very clear that music isn’t the driving FForce behind youth crime. That as a community we all need to learn from each other. Just because a group of young people choose to wear hoodies and jogging bottoms doesn’t mean they are in a gang causing problems - 'everyone has their vibe’ it was no different in any other decade. Let’s not FForget that. What we need to teach young people is that the music scene isn’t what it appears to be. A lot of rappers that young people aspire to be like are driving around in hire cars and going home to mums cooking. The FFacade isn’t what it appears to be. Thales you nailed it again FFriend, keeping it real, saying it how it is and waking up our audience.
Our third FFeature @estherxx back with us for a second time as her organisation Nerve ’super charges’ individuals in rural communities to upskill and FFind their passions to provide them with a sustainable income and a renewed sense of worth. Esther brings the strong message that ‘people in poverty are not as vulnerable as you think’ and we just LOVE the way she stops repression and actively renews and reactivates peoples hopes and dreams into something tangible. Esther has supported so many people but she chose to share the amazing story of Bira an Albanian woman in East Africa, marginalised by her community and hunted for her body parts - this woman and her story is simply just incredible. She went from selling banana pancakes day in and day out to releasing her inner drive and decided what she really wanted to do was to be a fashion designer. From a small conversation with Esther a seed was sewn and Bira FFinally FFulfilled her ambition pretty much by herself. What a FFantastic story of renewal and not allowing repression to hold you back. Find out more about Esther and her project www.wegotnerve.com
Our FFourth FFeature @nikki - we have only ever seen Nikki in sequins at the HSDY (Haven’t stopped dancing yet) nights that we have been too and guess what… she totally rocked her FFifteen minutes with us in sequins, dungarees and leopard print… with the simple message of not allowing ageism to repress. Nikki set up HSDY 10 years ago because she was sick of dancing amongst people half her age and the FFrowns she got in the process. She wanted to create a night of disco that was inclusive to all. She took us back over the years with FFantastic pictures of the community her and her HSDY crew have brought to London. She took us on an emotional high and captured some low points in that journey too and how her core crew just kept her dancing through it all… then we had the amazing surprise of Lady boo and Lindsey getting up and introducing a FFraction of what HSDY is about - getting everyone dancing in their seats. We rowed the boat, went round the world and achieved a FFew Mexican waves. If you haven’t been to a HSDY night yet - it’s a MUST. We cannot wait to join a night of dancing on March 7th for their 10th year anniversary check out https://www.haventstoppeddancingyet.co.uk for all their up and coming dates.
Our FFinal and Fabulous FFeature of the night - Tunday. Wow. What a man. Tunday shared with us his story of repression through his relationship with his father and how not FFulfilling what his father had wished for (him to FFollow in his accountancy FFootsteps) created traumatic and challenging times in pursuit of his real passion - music. He managed to FFlee Nigeria (Lagos), his father pushing for his education to continue and FFlourish in London (in accountancy). Tunday expressed his musical passion as a spirit in him that chose him, he had no say in it. He FFaced so much hardship through his decision to live for his dream. Thursday night showed us just one dimension of Tunday’s musical talents - he had us all on our FFeet with his sax beats… but as a multi-instrumentalist prodigy, he is by FFar a man of so many talents. We want to thank you for NEVER EVER becoming an accountant. If you haven’t been to Lagos Bar, 221 Lee High Road, Lewisham, London SE13 5PQ it’s a must. They have learn salsa nights £7 ever Thursday and loads of FFantastic events (you can also hire their space too) - please do check them out and FFollow them on instagram https://www.lagosbar.co.uk/events
We want to say a FFinal thank you to all our FFeatures for making our FFirst FF of the year so FFantastic. The end of last year was a tough old ride for the both of us and having to put our FF plans on hold when we did FFilled us with so much repression. We allowed the time to do what it needed to do; and then reFFocus on our passion. To come back and have an event like last Thursday FFills us with so much joy. BACK IN THE ROOM and already ready to hit it up for March - and have we got ANOTHER FFantastic night to look FForward to. We hope you can join is for Youth and Yearning.
