The colour, sound and energy of Lagos come to The Lowry in Salford next month (October 8-9) in the UK debut of Nigeria’s QDance Company, led by choreographer Qudus Onikeku.
Their performance of Re:INCARNATION is on a tour brought by Dance Consortium to major UK theatres.
Onikeku set up innovative social enterprise QDance Center in Lagos as a resource, training and talent-development organisation for dance, unique in Nigeria. In 2021 he created Re:INCARNATION – described as “an ode to the riches of Nigerian culture”, which had its world premiere at the Pompidou Centre in Paris.
Qudus Onikeku was born in Lagos in 1984 and now works internationally, mixing traditional African dance with hip-hop, acrobatics, music, video, literature and architecture.
His dance, music, fashion and visual art fusion uses ancient Yoruba philosophy against the rhythm and spirit of the country’s vibrant youth culture – and puts Lagos on stage in a way never done before.
It’s the result of six years research around body memory with young dancers in Nigeria.
The 10 dancers embody Yoruba’s ever-turning cycle of birth, death and rebirth; dressed in an array of colour and cloth, body paint, masks and props, they move with exuberant energy and joy.
Two live musicians, on drums and electric guitar but often joined by vocals from the dancers, add some of the wealth of Nigerian music. The score is a blend of hip-hop, contemporary music and Afrobeats, a fusion of genres.
He said: “I'm excited to introduce the QDance Company to audiences across the UK. The key thing for me is to show what dance can be in contemporary Africa. Re:INCARNATION is about bringing Lagos on stage in a way that’s never been seen before – its groove, its history and what the city means to many people.”
More info and tickets here
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