Creator: Tania Camara
As I Am Naturally has been devised by performer Tania Camara as a journey of self-discovery and reclamation. Using the spoken word, music and dance style Batuku , a creation of the Cape Verde islands off the coast of Africa, As I Am Naturally is a very personal yet encompassing vision of the life of a young girl growing up in the region.
The show opens with Tania drawing a Veve of Oshun, the Goddess of love, fertility and abundance on the floor to a background of a voice over leading her through a process of Rapid Transformational Therapy. This therapy process runs through the entire performance, underpinning the action with the support.
Tania starts with the section Induction, she then moves on to Child and each titled section involves a different part of her story, a tale of madly riding a bike, chasing a snake, up to the emotional heart of the show, her telling of how she was raped by a teenager who was supposed to be watching her and her brother. The piece continues with recollections by voice over of young women’s experiences of sexual assault and rape which seemed to be an almost common occurrence in the community. The stories are backed by the hauntingly beautiful musical accompaniment of John Haycock on a variety of traditional and less traditional instruments.
She builds a tree and sets a flowering branch to show her moving on from the events of her childhood. Further branches are added by member of Creolas di Salford, a community group of women from Cape Verde who are based in Salford. They seat themselves with their drum like instruments, and together with Tania, perform a stirring yet evocative batuku composition.
As I Am Naturally pulls no punches when talking about the abuse of girls and young women, but the show is so much more than that and ends up leaving the audience with a positive message and a real buzz from the amazing performances of all involved.
Reviewed on 27 September 2024
The Reviews Hub Score
Emotional drama
