Three exciting acts are appearing in the second half of Our Voices, Our Lives on 7 March 2020 at Aberystwyth Arts Centre. They are Dancing Queer, Louise & the Feathers, and Kittie Belltree. Your host is Helen Sandler. Details below. TICKETS>>
Shrouk El-Attar’s Dancing Queer
Shrouk El-Attar (She/They) is an electronics design engineer who was born in Egypt and has been living in the United Kingdom as a refugee since 2007. She is an activist for refugee rights in the UK, and for LGBT rights in her native Egypt.
She performs as a belly dancer in an act called “Dancing Queer”, to raise funds for legal defense fees for LGBT people in Egypt, and to help with relocation for those persecuted and at risk because of their gender or sexuality. It’s a performance that mixes belly dancing, Arabic songs, magic tricks, and comedy!
Belly dancers should have long hair and shave their legs and underarms? Well, not this one! Named by the United Nations as Young Woman of the Year and listed by the BBC top 100 influential women Worldwide, this Egyptian, hairy, bearded, pierced and tattooed Queer Refugee dancer will give you a very authentic performance with a twist!
As featured on Pink News, BBC, Huffpost, Buzzfeed, Reuters, and more!
“Although I don’t believe that neither I, nor anyone, needs to provide a reason to dance: I dance because where I come from being a belly dancer is considered to be shameful. I dance to break a stereotype of what a belly dancer “should look like”. I dance because I want to show the world that you can absolutely be a belly dancer and a kick-ass engineer at the same time! I dance because it connects me to my roots and culture. I dance because it makes me happy. But perhaps most importantly, I dance as a form of protest against the treatment of my LGBT+ siblings persecuted around the world just for being who they are.” – Shrouk El Attar @ShroukELA
Louise and the Feathers
Louise and The Feathers (the artist formerly known as Emily Farr!) is a creation after years of writing, jamming and finally wanting to share my folk, pop, rock vibe with influences from Florence and The Machine, Paolo Nutini, Alison Moyet, Tina Turner, Annie Lennox, Haim, Kate Bush, 4 Non Blondes and more.
From Birmingham originally, we moved to Mid Wales when I was 9 and I have been writing ever since, playing in a variety of bands and at numerous open mic nights. Then revisiting early written originals (in 2017), I decided to start afresh using my middle name “Louise” representing the roots of my music passion, alongside “and the feathers” linking to spiritual perspectives and a love of nature with the hope to form a band and gain feathery fans.
To test the water, I shared a demo EP ‘Fallen Leaf’, which had recorded at home and received great feedback, but felt could do more at a studio. So in 2019, I got ‘Mistress, ‘Can’t Stop Thinking About’, ‘Come Back’, ‘Faded Away’ and ‘Rich Tea Biscuit’ recorded at Aberystwyth Music Studio, with additions from Ivan Anchant, bass and backing vocals from Andy Lloyd-Williams and mixing and mastering by Steffan Woodruff’s. All steadily shared and now all together on ‘Window View’ EP. Alongside this I did various gigs including Pembs Fest, West Fest, Cwmaman Festival and Caffi Iechyd Da. Now I am excited to get further afield and work on EP2 ‘Reflection’! #LaTF @LouiseATF
Kittie Belltree
In her debut collection, Sliced Tongue and Pearl Cufflinks (Parthian), Kittie Belltree explores fractured connections of self, family and home. At the heart of these poems are a daughter’s fraught relationships with a mother who grew up in National Socialist Germany and her half-Japanese father, who survived three years as a POW in Czechoslovakia. These dark themes are counterbalanced by moments of comical absurdity and delightful domestic chaos.
‘Haunting yet poignant … it is poetry that will undoubtedly change your perception of modern reality.’ New Welsh Reader
Kittie Belltree was born in south London and lives in Wales. Her poems and short stories have been published in Orbis, The North, Under the Radar, I am not a silent poet, Poetry Wales, New Welsh Review, The Lampeter Review and Brittle Star. She has been a Literature Wales Bursary recipient, shortlisted for the Venture Award and highly commended in the Welsh International Poetry Competition, the PENfro Poetry Festival Competition, The Camden and Lumen Poetry Competition and the Orbis Readers Award. @kittiebelltree
Host
The evening is compered by Aberration regular Helen Sandler, holding it all together in a near-organised fashion.
More info and tickets
Get your tickets now for Our Voices, Our Lives! TICKETS: Aberystwyth Arts Centre 01970 62 32 32 www.aberystwythartscentre.co.uk
Full programme for 7 March >>
Afternoon workshops for women >>
Poster
