Dance of Freedom 2025: Nosagenda X Janilda BartolomeuDance of Freedom 2025: Nosagenda X Janilda Bartolomeu

The programme includes a talk with multi-talented Pan-Africanist Jane Ortet, an exhibition featuring centenarian Cape Verdeans by photographer João Paulo Tavares, and a batuku workshop by Sima Nos é só Nos where you will learn about the oldest Cape Verdean music and dance style.

There will also be a workshop led by researcher and filmmaker Janilda Bartolomeu. In her project Another Island: As We Surrender to the Tides, she is researching the undocumented history of Cape Verdean communities in Rotterdam and Dakar, Senegal. The project looks at the migration history of the diaspora and maps the global network of Cabo Verde. The research was made possible by RAW Material Company and is supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL and the Dutch Embassy in Dakar.

Robin D.G. Kelley, a writer and expert on the African-American community, says that every social movement is a love letter to the future. In this workshop we will write letters to the future of the Cape Verdean diaspora in Rotterdam and beyond.

The 50 years since Cabo Verde gained independence have largely been about survival. Now is the time to start thinking about the future. What are our dreams for the next half century?

Amílcar Cabral, the revolutionary who fought for the independence of the Portuguese colonies, once said that he was just an ordinary African man who did his duty for his country and his time. O que é nos revolta di nos tempo? What stirs us today? What are your dreams for the Cape Verdean diaspora over the next 50 years? What can you do to make these dreams a reality?

Dreaming about our future is an essential part of who we are. Without new ideas, we cannot envisage what is possible. Every change will also transform us as a community.

Janilda Bartolomeu and Nosagenda take us on a cultural journey through 50 years of Cabo Verde.

• 4/7/2025 to 27/7/2025 Exhibition featuring 50 portraits of Cape Verdean centenarians by João Paulo Tavares.
• 17:00 – 22:30 Cape Verdean dishes by Diamar Soul Food.
• 17:00 – 22:30 Discover surprising creations and hidden treasures at the market.

• 18:00 – 19:00 Discussion with Janilda Bartolomeu, José Maria Paola, Luis Fortes and moderator Jane Ortet.
• 18:00 – 19:30 Children’s Corner with Master Jeremy: looking back, dreaming and writing letters to the Cabo Verde of the future (for ages 7–12).
• 19:10 – 19:50 Writing letters to the future of the Cape Verdean diaspora in Rotterdam and our global community.
• 19:50 – 20:30 Letters to the Future / Letras pa Futuro workshop with Janilda Bartolomeu.
• 20:30 – 21:15 Batuku – Cape Verde’s oldest dance and music style – workshop by Edna Moniz and performance by the Lantuna Cultural Group.
• 21:15 – 23:00 DJ Adison closes the event with a Cabo Verde vinyl set, featuring music from the 1960s to the 1990s.

Janilda Bartolomeu is a researcher, filmmaker and occasional film programmer. She lives and works in Rotterdam. Her work focuses on postcolonial ghosts and traces. She explores the space between memory and imagination, addressing themes such as spirituality and future thinking. Her approach is relational and her style is often poetic. She is currently focusing mainly on the Cape Verdean diaspora, exploring its intangible heritage, vision of the future, and global network.

Nosagenda is the Rotterdam platform for Cape Verdean culture.