behind the production

NOM.NOS is a dance theatre production by theatremaker Gil 'the Grid' Gomes Leal and his Amenti Theatre Company.

Through West-African myths, the cast will take a journey in which they will search for their original names. All of them, being of West African Diaspora, currently carry the names of their previous colonizers. Their history wiped, their wisdom taken - but remembered when they know where to look.

Through dance, puppetry, ritual, and oral stories, the cast connects with their ancestors, their invisible lifeline to the Mother Continent, their roots, and the safety and familiarity of the soul. Finding their original names is a tool for them to connect with their ancestors, who seem so far away.

Gil the Grid took inspiration from his roots, tracked back from Cabo Verde to Mali and Senegal, and the origins of the other cast members as well as they all originally come from different countries in West Africa.

Similarities between cultures and belief systems are found, and myths are used as portals to the past and future. NOM.NOS - which can either mean 'Name Us' or 'Our Name' is a story about the importance of knowing one's past to shape the future.

Click here for credits.