Jeremy McQueen’s Black Iris Project celebrated Nelson Mandela’s posthumous 102nd Birthday on Saturday, July 18, 2020 with a special television broadcast & livestream of MADIBA. Presented in partnership with BronxNet television, BronxNet broadcast the previously recorded, 2016 world premiere of MADIBA. In effort to further our mission of making our artistic works accessible and affordable, BronxNet simultaneously live streamed the ballet on BronxNet’s website, BronxNet.tv, for viewers to enjoy around the world. In The Bronx, NY, BronxNet can be found on channel 68 on Optimum/ 2134 on FiOs in The Bronx. 

“MADIBA” Trailer

Click here to read the New York Times feature about the MADIBA anniversary screenings.

The ballet aired on BronxNet and was simultaneously streamed on BronxNet.tv at the following dates and times:

Saturday, July 18 (Mandela Day 2020): 12:30, 4:30 and 8:30 p.m. EST

Sunday, July 19: 1:00, 5:00 and 9:00 p.m. EST

Based on the life of the humanitarian and political icon Nelson “Madiba” Mandela, MADIBA is a classical ballet that takes Mandela’s experience as an avid activist and encourages others to discover the value and purpose in their lives just as he did, despite his 27-year prison sentence. Paralleling Mandela’s teachings, MADIBA invokes the sense that each individual can and should believe that their life makes a positive difference in the world. This story—told through the intersection of movement, music, and aesthetic—works to empower any audience members who have ever felt ignored or rejected by society to reclaim their hope and create change.

The Black Iris Project, personally selected by guest curator and American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Misty Copeland, to perform Jeremy McQueen’s socially-relevant classical ballet, MADIBA, at the historic John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as part of the Ballet Across America series, in April 2017. 

MADIBA elevates Black men and women by featuring Black artists in various outstanding artistic capacities. Presenting a cast of 14 dancers from world-class ballet companies. The world premiere of MADIBA was led by L.A. Dance Project’s David Adrian Freeland, Jr., as Nelson Mandela and Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Daphne M. Lee as Winnie Mandela. The ballet’s original classical score, written by award-winning composer Carman Moore, was originally commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra solely as an orchestral composition, and premiered in February 2015 at Carnegie Hall to immense accolades. Rounding out this Black cadre of artisans are Yale School of Drama alumnus Montana Levi Blanco and Alan C. Edwards as costume designer and lighting designer, respectively. Off-stage, MADIBA is comprised of an entire team of artistic collaborators who are Black men.

MADIBA’s success began in July 2016, when The Black Iris Project held a sold out preview performance and discussion, with members of the ballet's creative team, at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture moderated by arts activist Susan Fales-Hill. With generous support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund,  MADIBA was developed over the course of a year, including a 10-day developmental residency at the Rockefeller Brother’s Pocantico Estate, and premiered on July 27, 2016 within The Black Iris Project’s debut self-produced New York season at New York Live Arts. Click here to view the program from MADIBA’s premiere.

MADIBA’s BronxNet television broadcast and livestream is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the Bronx Council on the Arts. And by Dance NYC’s  Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund & The Dance Advancement Fund, made possible by the Ford Foundation. 

BronxNet is the not-for-profit 501c3 television network of the people of the Bronx, providing public services including award winning local TV programming, media training, access to technology, studios, and channels, with workforce development opportunities for middle school, high school and college students. The BronxNet studios are located on the beautiful campus of Lehman College and in the East Bronx at Mercy College in the Hutch Metro Center.  BronxNet's newest studio is in the South Bronx as part of La Central, at the Hub. BronxNet programming helps connect the Bronx to the World, while our training programs and partnerships with organizations, local leaders, and agencies are a part of community development through media.

Learn more about Jeremy McQueen’s Black Iris Project at blackirisproject.org