Ice Nweke’s DC-DE holds virtual convention for dancers

Before juju maestro, King Sunny Ade started his musical career, which came with electric dance steps, dance was not recognised as a major work. But over the time, it has become a big deal, with the likes of Kafayat Oluwatoyin Shafau, known popularly as Kaffy, Victor Phullu, and others making a living through dance.

With the aim of providing education and empowerment to Nigerian dancers, Ice Nweke’s Dance Convention-Dance Education (DC-DE) is set to stage it maiden event tagged Virtual Dance Convention. The event is billed from August 18 and runs till August 20, 2020.

Speaking at the media briefing held recently at the Terra Kulture, Lagos, to herald the virtual event, Nweke, “It may be of interest to know that with only five Performing Arts schools, seventeen theatre arts schools and a few dance studios catering for the education of the teaming population of dancers in Nigeria, who are mostly teenagers and youths, the education of dancers, who form the bulk of the over 200 million population of Nigeria and the possibility to stay gainfully employed, is increasingly slim with each passing day.”

He noted that, “The future of the next generation, the talents and the endless possibilities for success needs to be preserved, sustained and aligned to our emerging economy. It therefore follows that an investment in the dance industry is an investment in a great number of youths and ultimately in our nation.”

On the importance of the convention, Nweke, who is the founder of Ice Production, said, “most dancers are fairly equipped for the rising challenges of a highly competitive market with little or no proper education about their skillset; fundamentals of dance theory, the business of dance as a product and service or the grooming of being just talents to becoming marketable brands with value and sustainability.

“The main objective of the DCDE is to bridge the gap by organising a yearly convention with the aims of teaching, training, empowering and equipping dancers with necessary tools that will enable them thrive in the world’s fast changing economy.

“We have seven international dance teachers/entrepreneurs that are onboard this project already. The three days convention is free and participants need to register on Instagram at dcde_2020 and we will send everything needed to be part of the programme or go iceroduction/dcde. As crazy as it may sound, I will keep doing it until I’m tired of doing it. My focus on DCDE is to continue this training for Nigerian youths. We may decide to do audition next year to take in those that are skilled, and also help those that are not dancers, because everybody can dance, but not everybody is a dancer. So, next year’s convention, we will select those that are dancers and if we get 200 to 500 from them, they will get free training from their wellness to business and technic to dancing.”

He continued: “We have seven international dance teachers/entrepreneurs that are onboard this project already: Chloe and Maud Arnold Tapdance (Emmy Nominated Choreographer from the U.S); Izabella Lewandowski, Latin and Ballroom (US Champion, Coach and Judge); Charlize Glass Hip Hop and jazz dancer / artist (world of dance finalist 2019 US); Paige Frazier, Ballet and Contemporary (entrepreneur/ Dancer in Lion King US).

Caitlin Camarda, Latin Technique (US Champion, Dancer/ Coach); Angel Kaba Dancer / digital Marketing (Alvin Ailey theater teacher US) and Denisa Mzungu Dancer/teacher, Founder of Afrogang (Slovakia). We have three top Nigeria dancers teacher that will be teaching along side international teachers and 11 keynote speakers that would cover the area of finance, marketing, branding, business and fundraising.”