Many Lifetimes is a poetic new dance-installation from interdisciplinary dance company Yewande 103.

Beneath a suspended linen canopy and gentle rain of melting ice, Many Lifetimes continues founder Alexandrina Yewande Hemsley’s enquiries into tidal cycles of love, loss and repair. Working collaboratively with dancers, musicians and disability access advocates, this sculptural and tender performance is steeped in personal archives around change, remembrance and gathering together.

Yewande 103 is a Black, disabled-led, parent-led dance organisation founded in July 2020 by dance artist and writer Alexandrina Yewande Hemsley.

Rooted in Alexandrina’s interdisciplinary practice, Yewande 103 centres the sensorial and embodied, exploring breath, voice and connection amidst injustice and inequity. The company honours the body as a site of storytelling, resilience and transformation, and creates care-centred spaces for repair and gathering.

The name Yewande—Alexandrina’s middle name passed down through generations of women in their family—comes from the Yorùbá word meaning “mother has returned”, grounding the organisation in cyclical, nurturing and expressive approaches to practice. The company also honours one of Alexandrina’s ancestors, called Yewande, who ran away from slave traders and lived to be 103 years old.

Yewande 103 interweaves creative practice with racial and disability justice-led sector advocacy, connecting dance with mental health and social justice.

The company’s work spans performance, poetry and film, workshops and community practice, consultancy and sector development, with a deep commitment to movement, accessibility, care, joy and conversation.

We would love to hear your thoughts about the work. Please email contact@yewande103.com with any reflections and feedback

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