Mpoe Mogale (they/them) reigns from Lebowakgomo, South Africa and splits their time between amiskwaciywâskahikan and moh’kínst’sis, in the colonial state of Canada. They hold a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Political Science, and have a wealth of expertise in community-based research, facilitation, and arts administration.
Mpoe’s primary art-making form is dance, with a curiosity in the place of Blackness in spaces that deny it, as explored through several projects including What (Black) Life Requires (produced by Mile Zero Dance and Azimuth Theatre). Mpoe’s current artistic imaginations have centered the brilliant and joyous aspects that foreground the lives of Black folks.
Mpoe has taken up positions within the arts community to facilitate the creation of better and abundant workplaces for arts workers, and does so by facilitating spaces where nourishment, imagination, and joy abound. Their work at Swallow-a-Bicycle Theatre has led to the development of non-hierarchical models of leadership in arts organisations. They met Nikki Shaffeeullah through this process, and the two have been collaborating on Stages of Transformation, a project that seeks to create new patterns and possibilities for the theatre sector using a transformative justice framework.