A Weekend Without Walls: Ancient Futures

Blending circus and storytelling with Sound System culture and West African folklore. Each day, our flamboyant Afrinauts arrive as curious visitors, welcoming willing participants to witness their unique community.

Ancient Futures fuses dance, circus, parkour, music and storytelling with design inspired by West African masquerade and Afrofuturism.

Audiences are invited to join their spectacular dance party, a ritual to launch us into a new reality that promises to build a more vibrant, positive and inspiring future than we might otherwise be heading towards.

Conceived and directed by Vicki Dela Amedume (Upswing) and J Spooner (Unlimited) in collaboration with Quantum poet Oneness Sankara with new music by grime artist Afrikan Boy.

Ancient Futures is co-produced by Unlimited Theatre and Upswing. Supported by Without Walls. Commissioned by LEEDS 2023; Greenwich and Docklands International Festival; Brighton Festival; Stockton International Riverside Festival. Also supported by Coventry City Council and Coventry City of Culture Trust. Co-commissioned by City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council for BD:Festival. Creation supported by 101 Outdoor Arts. Supported using public funding by Arts Council England. R&D supported by a Blueprint R&D Investment Fund.

Train with the Afrinauts

Welcome to the Afronautical Future Reclamation Itinerant Centre! A mouthful we know. That’s why we say AFRIC. It has a better flow.

Sun 28 May, 12pm. 40mins. Maximum of 25 participants. Free

Join our team for their daily physical training session. Learn the skills, moves and routines we use to ascend to a higher frequency. Suitable for space cadets of all abilities and ages who love to dance (rec age 7+)

Sun 28 May, 2pm. 40mins. Maximum of 25 participants. Free

Join our Afrinaut griots and beatmasters as they tell the story of how we have arrived in your dimension. Learn some of our rhymes and flow, exploring rhythm and beats that help us ascend to a higher frequency. Suitable for space cadets of all abilities and ages who love stories and music (rec age 7+)