Jasmine is in the midst of a busy graduation period. This year, she has conducted research into community building around theatre performances, done an internship at Well Made Productions and made her own performance with Mooi Weer & Zo, a Rotterdam theatre company that offered her a talent development pathway. During her internship at ITA, Jasmine was the assistant director on a junior production, also participating in the education around the performance. "After my internship, they took me on as a freelance teacher. Obviously, that was really nice. That way, I already have one foot in the professional field before I graduate."
A Zwolle girl in Rotterdam
ArtEZ already feels somewhat remote, not only due to her work but also due to her new life outside Zwolle. “As part of the ‘Exile’ building block in the third year, I moved from my home city of Zwolle to Rotterdam. It was a literal exile, because as a maker of colour I thought it would be easier to connect here." This is a theme she also touches on in her final performance, JUNCTION. Just before the finals, she will be putting on the performance for a weekend in Rotterdam. “It is a performance with people of colour, for people of colour, in which the players perform four stories from the book Kinderen van zwarte bevrijders (Children of Black Liberators).”
"It helps to know that what you feel is shared by others.”
As the daughter of a black American ex-soldier and a Dutch mother, growing up in largely white Zwolle, the stories in the book spoke to Jasmine. “I thought, wow, these people share what I feel. I found it strange that I didn't know that history – because it can help you to know that your feeling or experience is shared by others. As such, I see the performance as ‘healing for black’ and ‘education for white’. Together with the audience, I want to look for universal themes, but also to tell this unknown history, which for a long time was not regarded as important."
Toolkit for makers
The connecting thread in Jasmine's graduation work is her research into community building. “Theatre often suffers from having a limited audience. I conduct research into how to get the right people in the right places. I have developed a toolkit that theatres and companies can use for various performances, so that you don't get a set clique. At the same time, I want to continue researching this question until I retire. As makers in a changing world, we need to keep asking ourselves this question."
In the future, Jasmine wants to work with young people. “I like working with them because they are the future. Theatre is a great medium, you can see the young people growing. It has also made me more self-confident. During the course, you explore who you are as a maker, how you see yourself in society and what you need. At times, the course was pretty intense. But now I see what that was all for. It is a course that really emphasises independence. As a result, everyone grows enormously over those four years. You develop very broadly."
"I have found something that makes me more and more curious."
The way the course is taught really suits Jasmine. “I'm not the type of person who likes to spend a lot of time reading, I'm more someone who likes doing stuff. Thanks to the building blocks, you can design the course the way that best suits you. For example, I got the chance to spend three months at ArtEZ in Arnhem, which meant I was taught by two makers of colour. I told them what I felt was missing in Zwolle and they gave me their input. I need variation in my work.
I want to develop education, work with young people and work on theatre productions. Basically, everything I'm already doing and enjoying, like spoken word and music. That's what I love about theatre, it brings together everything I am passionate about."
