Dance gathering fiesta set to take over broad street, Lagos

Dance Gathering, an innovative dance festival that made its debut last year to rave reviews from critics, participants, and a resounding ‘we want more’ from the attendees, will hit Broad Street, Lagos, on February 24 – 25, 2018.

This year’s edition, with the theme ‘Body and Memory,’ focuses on diverse forms of creative endeavours that variously explore the body, as a storehouse of memories and inherited traumas.

The alternative festival, Dance gathering, is being organised by Qudus Onikeku’s QDance Center, in collaboration with like minds from across Nigeria and abroad. 

The objective is to initiate a space of anti-disciplinary practice in Lagos, where creatives gather to work on ideas that don’t necessarily fit into one discipline. 

Onikeku is a well-known fixture on the dance and choreography landscape at home and on the international stage. He has in the past years given a facelift to the appreciation of dance in Nigeria. His dance style is best described as weaved multiplication of techniques and influences that wind together like ceremonial aso-ofi.

“…As the living pass through the tunnel of history, the body becomes the prized possession, a battlefield and a space of freedom,” says Onikeku. “Memory as an element of healing and reconstruction goes beyond set limitations, thus communicating in non-verbal, expressive forms.” 

Dance Gathering is a two-week outing that brings together participants and stakeholders from the international creative eco-system. It is a central-hub to witness the magic that comes when creative innovators, thinkers and practical problem solvers gather in one space in a city like Lagos.

The Dance Gathering platform is, therefore, a rich embroidery of disciplines ranging from choreographers, musicians, actors, poets to DJs, visual artistes, video artistes, martial artistes, designers, architects, writers, historians, and philosophers, all of whom are radically shifting the boundaries of knowledge in their respective disciplines.  

The Dance Gathering calendar will end with a combustible, spectacle of engaging, compelling and captivating performance festival in the centre of Lagos’ financial and business district – Broad Street. Excitement for this free theatrical weekend is gearing up amongst art lovers, voyeurs, enthusiasts, fun-lovers, especially as it’s also a fun weekend outing for the whole family.

Dance Gathering 2018 is curated by Onikeku and Onye Ozuzu (Dean of Fine and Performing Arts, Columbia College, Chicago).

Build up to the festival begins on February 12 and will culminate on February 25, with an official opening cocktail event at Freedom Park on February 22. The International Performance Weekend is billed for February 24 and 25, 2018. Time is 4pm – 11pm. Admission is free.