Break-Dance: Breaksession® Bboy Battle, Jan. 13 2012 @ Goethe


Date: January 13, 2012
Venue: Goethe Institut Auditorium
Time: 7pm
Entry: Free

Breaksession® Bboy Battle is a break-dance event unique in Kenya. The first edition started in July 2011 and very quickly became a success story. Developed and organized by Joe Nene (a.k.a. Bboy Kay/BreakDjKay) the goal is to spark the Bboy Revolution in Kenya and bring a realization of Bboy/Breaking as one of the elements of Hip-Hop.

Joe Nene started dancing 17 years ago inspired by the late Michael Jackson, and continued, influenced by Usher, the late Aaliyah, and Missy Eliott. Ever since, he continuously dreamt of what he has achieved now! An event which would make it possible to battle, compare and work with others who have similar skills and want to share them.

He and his crew organize this event which aims to have Kenyan break-dance recognized internationally and lift it to the next level!

Chess: ‘2012 NCL Qualifiers’ Tournament, Jan 14-15 2012 @ Café 64, Westlands

WeCC ‘2012 NCL Qualifiers’ Chess Tournament

Dates: Saturday, 14th and Sunday, 15th January 2012
Times: Saturday, 1 pm to 6 pm; Sunday, 8.30 am to 6 pm (see schedule below)
Venue: Café 64, (opp. Graffins College), Westlands Road

Mode of Play: 7 rounds Swiss system
Time Control: 45 minutes per player to finish the game

Participation Fee (inclusive of lunch on both days):
Seniors (18 and over) – KES 1,800
Juniors (under 18) – KES 1,450
Registration Deadline: 9 pm on Friday, 13th January
In case of queries, call tournament director Paras Gudka on 0712 881 515.

Prizes:
1st Place (overall) – Gold medal + certificate
2nd Place (overall) – Silver medal + certificate
3rd Place (overall) – Bronze medal + certificate
Best Lady – Gold medal + certificate
Best Junior – Gold medal + certificate
Dress Code: Formals or smart casuals (shorts, short skirts, singlets and vests are not allowed)

Thursday Nite Live featuring Dempsey, Jan 12 2012 @ Choices

Roots International features the young and talented guitarist and singer/songwriter Dempsey and friends with special guest Jason Okumu.  Both represent the new generation of up and coming musicians coming out of Nairobi.  Be prepared for an evening of acoustic guitars and smooth vocals.

Theatre/Play: Shirley Valentine, Jan 11-15 2012 @ Phoenix Players


Phoenix Players Present Shirley Valentine

Opening Date: Jan 11, 2012
Venue: Phoenix Players, Professional Centre
Tickets: Kshs 650

Dates: January 11-15, 2012
Tickets: Ksh. 650. (Student nights Every Thursday. Buy 1 ticket @ Ksh. 400 and get 1 Free)
Telephone contacts: +254 20 221 2661 or 222 5506 and +254 729 913 425

SYNOPSIS
Inside Mrs Joe Bradshaw – 42 year-old mother of two grown children – is the former shirley valentine longing to get out. Her hope and self confidence badly shattered by school,marriage and life,she is reduced to talking to the kitchen wall whilst preparing her husband’s evening meal – to be on the table as he opens the front door every night. As she sips a glass of wine she dreams of drinking in a country where the grape is grown. Her feminist friend offers her a holiday in Greece and,with great trepidation and a lot of forward planning,Shirley seizes the opportunity and goes,to encounter a totally different lifestyle. Shirley,breaking out of the mould cast for her by society,is brilliantly shown with humour,warm sympathy and human insight by the author of EDUCATING RITA and BLOOD BROTHERS.

This play is directed by Millicent Ogutu

Fundraising: Support ‘Spray Can Safari’ – the movie

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/user3853674/spray-can-safari-fundraiser]

Spray Uzi, kings of Kenya’s nascent graffiti scene, are on a mission to show the world that there is more to Africa than child soldiers, emaciated babies and unaccountable despots.

These four artists have been invited to travel to Djibouti, to help with the renovation of a youth community centre. The trip will take them through Ethiopia, where they will join forces with local artists and youth organizations for a series of public art shows and installations.

Katy Fentress, a freelance journalist residing in Kenya, has decided to video-document the trip. She sees this as an innovative way to attempt to readjust some of the negative PR that Africa and Africans are subjected to.

The film will aim to be a playful way of conveying an important message that is often willfully ignored by the media and the global aid industry. This is a unique opportunity to show people across the world that we have spent too much time looking at Africans as if they are helpless victims.

Find out how you can help: http://www.indiegogo.com/Spray-Can-Safari

Home_N Gallery Exhibition – Ana Mdomo, Jan 9 – Feb 12 2012 @ Home_N Gallery, Ngong Road

ANA MDOMO: Home_N Gallery Opening Exhibition
Date: 9th January to 12th February
Time: 10:00am-5:00pm
Venue: Home_N Gallery, Ngong Road, Woodley, Nairobi
Entry: Free
Please make an appointment by email or phone before visiting the gallery.
Phone：0705-980-462
Email：info@nairobi-artproject.jp

In this exhibition ANA MDOMO, we will exhibit a lot of photographs of various views seen through windows of each house around Nairobi. At the same time, many photographs taken under the same theme around Japan will be collected on the Internet, and exhibited in the gallery to open the window linking Nairobi to Japan. The exhibition is scheduled to travel around 5 places such as restaurant and gallery, from the Central Business District to the north, south, east and west different residential areas in Nairobi. To add lots of windows inside a closed space for opening into another world would awake your imagination to live close together in the contemporary urban society where people with different cultural and social backgrounds intermingle.

For more information: http://www.nairobi-artproject.jp/projects/en_home_gallery2012.html

Organizer: Nishio Workshop Nairobi Office
In Association with: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Nairobi Research Station

Talk: A Tale of Sarakasi, Jan 18 2012 @ Nairobi National Museum

Kenya Museum Society presents: A Tale of Sarakasi
Pre-talk Performance by Sarakasi Artists

Speaker: Marioon Van Dijck
Co-founder, Trustee, and Director Sarakasi Trust
Wednesday, 18 Jan 2012
Refreshments: 6:15 –  Doors Open: 7:00 at Nairobi National Museum – Louis Leakey Auditorium
Donations: Ksh 550 Non members ; Ksh 450 Members;  Ksh 250  Students
Proceeds to fund the development of exhibitions and support the National Museums of Kenya
info@kenyamuseumsociety.org
www.kenyamuseumsociety.org

Book launch: Contact Zones Nairobi, Jan. 12 2012 @ Goethe Institut


Date: January 12, 2011
Venue: Goethe Institut
Time: 6pm
Entrance: Free

In Kenya and internationally, there are very few publications from East Africa in certain areas such as art catalogues and artists’ books as well as academic publishing. Only very few Kenyan artists have had a catalogue of their work, and only few Kenyan intellectuals working in the Humanities have had their major work published locally or, more likely, internationally. To fill this gap, Goethe Institut, together with their partner Native Intelligence, are starting their own book series. The series is dedicated to the protagonists of the East African artistic, activist and intellectual scenes. It focuses on Art and the Humanities – though not limited to these only. They will exclusively publish material that is not taken up by other publishers.

After having launched the first volume of the book series, dedicated to the group of female writers around AMKA, in June 2011, they are now launching three new books by the artists Peterson Kamwathi, Sam Hopkins and Ato Malinda.

The artists will be present at the book launch.

Seminar: Crossing Boundaries-Women and the Quest for Space Justice, Jan. 12 2012 @ BIEA

Date: January 12, 2011
Venue: British Institute of Eastern Africa (BIEA)
Time: 3 -4.30pm
Entry: Prior Reservation with Kerry (kerry.kyaa@biea.ac.uk)

This presentation will be given by Dr Mary Njeri Kinyanjui, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi. Dr Kinyanjui has been a guest scholar at various international institutions such as United Nations Institute for Social Development, Geneva, Switzerland and more recently Nordiska African Institute, Uppsala , Sweden. She is also an established author of books such as Social Capital, Micro and Small Enterprise and Poverty Alleviation and Women, Informal Economy and Urban Dynamism, the latter of which she will be drawing her presentation from.

The seminar will be chaired by Professor Patrick Adero Alila, a research professor and the former director of the Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi (UoN). Besides his teaching and research engagements at UoN, Professor Alila is also a leading specialist in sustainable development and an advisor to the government and the United Nations organisations.

Download the Thurs 12 January 2012 Seminar programme (pdf)