Welcome to Jawdance, our massive open mic and spoken word event in London, Rich Mix.
Our shows in February and March sold out so grab your ticket soon to avoid disappointment! Along with a great line-up, we’ll also have an open mic on the night. Put your name in the hat for your chance to take the legendary Jawdance stage.
Host
Yomi Sode
Yomi is back to take Jawdance into the spring.
Yomi Ṣode is an award-winning Nigerian British writer. He is a recipient of the 2019 Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship and was shortlisted for The Brunel International African Poetry Prize 2021.
His acclaimed one-man show COAT toured nationally to sold-out audiences, including at the Brighton Festival, Roundhouse Camden and the Battersea Arts Centre. In 2020 his libretto Remnants, written in collaboration with award-winning composer James B. Wilson and performed with Chineke! Orchestra premiered on BBC Radio 3. In 2021, his play, and breathe… premiered at the Almeida Theatre to rave reviews. Yomi is a Complete Works alumnus and a member of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen. He is the founder of BoxedIn, First Five, The Daddy Diaries, and mentorship programme, 12 in 12. Yomi’s debut collection, Manorism is published by Penguin Press.
Line-UP
Adjei Sun
Adjei began performing poetry at 16. Themes of his poetry include mental health, masculinity, identity, and love. In 2021, he performed for Ted X Youth Birmingham. In 2022, Adjei performed internationally at the Dubai World Expo and has also performed for international audiences to open BBC World Questions, and to welcome the Queen’s Baton into Victoria Square for the Queen’s Baton Relay Birmingham Homecoming Celebration.
As an organiser Adjei has been producing events for 3 + years to engage young people in Birmingham in causes around them. In 2022 he began a series of discussion and concert events which involve the use of the arts and discussion to open conversations around masculinity, gender, and mental health. In September 2022, Adjei had one of his pieces in an art exhibition for the first time. It was titled Small Pockets and was presented as part of Birmingham 2022 Festival and #AsWeSpeak22.
Instagram @adjeisun
Liv Torc
A Radio 4 Slam winner, a former Bard of Exeter, host of The Rainbow Fish Speakeasy and The Hip Yak Poetry Shack, Liv runs the poetry stage at WOMAD, the COP26 project Hot Poets, Banana Poems and the lockdown haiku and photography project Haiflu – as featured on the Today Programme.
She has recently performed at the UN in Paris, TEDxLondonWomen, the Southbank and was featured on BBCR4’s Poetry Please. In 2022 she supported Hollie McNish and Roger McGough and is currently working with the UNFCCC to bring poetry into the climate change fight. Her books include Show Me Life, Banana Poems and The Human Emergency.
Website: www.livtorc.co.uk | Instagram @livtorc | Twitter @LivTorc
Eileen Gbagbo
Eileen Gbagbo is a spoken word artist and journalist based in London. Originally from Ghana, she is interested in how we use the boundaries of language to help understand the historical and phenomenon of the world.
Next Jawdance will be on May 17
