Cherish Menzo
Cherish Menzo is known for her commanding and precise physical presence, both as dancer and choreographer. She completed her studies in Urban Contemporary Dance at Amsterdam University of the Arts in 2013. Since then, she has collaborated with artists such as Eszter Salamon, Akram Khan, Leo Lerus, Hanzel Nezza, Olivier Dubois, Benjamin Kahn, Lisbeth Gruwez, Jan Martens, and Nicole Beutler. In addition to her career as a performer, Menzo has been creating her own works since 2016.
Menzo challenges societal norms and constructs alternative worlds where the black body takes center stage. Her first solo piece, JEZEBEL, was premiered in 2019 and received both the Amsterdam Fringe Award and the International Bursary Award.
Cherish Menzo is one of the four artistic leaders of the dance organization GRIP, together with Femke Gyselinck, Jan Martens and Steve Michel.
Distorted Rap Choir
Cherish Menzo will show DARKMATTER at the Moving in November festival in Helsinki. The Distorted Rap Choir was founded for and is expanded with every showing of this performance. Therefore Cherish Menzo is giving a choir workshop in Helsinki, inviting people from the African diaspora to take part in the workshop and possibly also in the performance.
Read more about the distorted Rap Choir here.