Do we need COLA COLA to dance?

“Dance for me requires neither pen nor paintbrush, only one instrument is necessary, the HUMAN BODY with a given SPACE if we don’t wish to complicate it, every motion is imbued with dance and every dance is validated when there is space, no matter the size, being able to move already dance is produced, we don’t necessarily need a factory to fabricate more”.

As an African, precisely Nigerian, this is my reality and I believe even if there are no formal exhibiting venues to exhibit my works, it shouldn’t be a yardstick for tampering with my creativity, i am one of those trained as dancers in an environment where all inconveniencies and risks are involved, but we survived it, instead became stronger with the force of the earth that born our originality and identity at the end. So I refuse to go back to my locality with all foreign influence, becoming a dictatorial artiste who can no longer perform without a theatre well acclimatized with brilliant and perfect technicalities, because i know who my audience is and what perception I want to affect. In my own point of view, by so doing i cannot inspire confidence in local audience and youth interested in this art.

It also explains why the art of dance in Africa is lacking in legislation, in visibility and in finance when compared to other works of life, therefore, what are the possible solution to this problem that is not worth running away from? With this research, we decided to use alternative measure of public art, media and publication as a catalyst to point out solutions to our long known problems.

I thought of taking contemporary dance to “UNUSUAL” spaces and locations where the growing art network could not get to, being it public or private Surroundings varying from Universities to hotel areas, under the bridges to bus stops, garages to market places, town centres to village squares and other available spaces we could think of who are yet to discover the theatre for the purpose of Dance in Africa. Giving it a double sense; Taking us back to early days where dances are showcased only at village squares and town centres, as well as an avenue to get closer to the local audience who are not yet hipped to the concept of going to the theatre, equally awareness for the projection of dance to the populace and the formation of a local market structure.