Liverpool’s Black-E hosts an event, a celebration of Black dance, reflecting on how living in an unjust nation affects our wellbeing.
The African Routes Festival: Equal Measures 2025, was showcased over the weekend exploring how African dance and music influences cultural practices and dance forms across the UK and international creations.
A mix of keynote speakers, workshops, and various performances was held to reflect on deep routed traditions and contributes to healing and conflict resolution.
Karen Gallagher, Curator for the Black-E, said: “This year when I was asked to consider what the theme could be, we started to look at how the impact of living in an unequal society can have a major impact on people’s wellbeing and how could culture be represented in that context and how can we celebrate what we do and bring people together as a community.”
For over fifty years the Black-E has committed to artistic and social transformation through the power of cultural equity to help the people of Liverpool to tell their story to the world.
Karen said: “If you look at any populist, music, dance, it all comes from the kind of African, Caribbean traditions and I think if you look at enslaved people and what they brought into the countries that they ended up in, it is a backbone of everything that we do.”
She added: “I guess for me it’s always been a part of life, my worry at the moment is that the world is very fractured and we are starting to reconsider as what happened in enslavement days about the fact that people are not as human as others and I think if we start to go down that track we are going to be in real trouble as a world.
Beverley Glean MBE, CEO & Artistic Director of IRIE! dance theatre, said: “In a world that often feels hurried and fragmented, Kehã Seebii offers a moment of stillness and reflection – a prayer of love and compassion for the ancestors and descendants.
“Every step, every gesture, every sound, every breath is a silent prayer that transcends time and space.
“Kehã Seebii invites audiences to journey with the performers through the shared human experience of loss and remembrance, offering moments of collective healing and connection.”
The night featured a performance by IRIE dance theatre, the resident dance company at the Black-E, for a premiere of their new work KEHA SEEBII – for those left behind, which is motivated by the tragic 1981 New Cross Fire.
