Joseph Toonga (Just Us Dance Theatre) presents an all-female cast sharing bold Hip Hop dance that challenges racial bias and reclaims identity through movement, sound, and testimony.
In this unique version, the piece confronts how Black women’s bodies are misread, silenced, or overexposed within public and private spaces. The choreography channels both resistance and vulnerability, offering powerful visual metaphors for code-switching, hypervisibility, and inherited trauma.
Rooted in real-life experiences, Born to Protest highlights the psychological impact of systemic racism while celebrating the strength, softness, and spirit of Black womanhood. With raw physicality and an evocative soundscape, the performers unapologetically take up space, shifting the narrative from protest to healing.
Part of a wider trilogy exploring race and mental health, this version invites audiences to reflect on how we listen to, see, and stand beside Black women — not just in protest, but in everyday life.
Josepth Toonga is a British choreographer and cultural leader whose work merges the language of Hip Hop with contemporary theatre to create powerful, socially resonant performances. A former Resident Emerging Choreographer with The Royal Ballet (2019–2024), Toonga’s practice explores race, identity, mental health, and the politics of presence, offering bold new narratives through movement
Supported by Without Walls.
Showing at La Mercè, Barcelona on 24, 27 and 28 September 2025.
Image: Joseph Toonga, Just Us Dance Theatre – Born to Protest (c) Harrison Dante
