Dancing in a mental exile
- Details
- Category: Theatre
- Published on Monday, 09 January 2012 08:41
- Written by Moses Serugo
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Nigerian choreographer Qudus Onikeku presented his acclaimed work My Exile is in my Head at the 2011 Dance Umbrella Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa. In the piece, he deals with personal questions of home, belonging, non-belonging and forms of exile. Onikeku also presented a documentary film, Do We Need Coca Cola to Dance showcasing the state of contemporary dance on the continent.
Tell us a bit about the personal questions you raise in your dance piece…
To me exile goes beyond feeling disconnected from your natural habitat and it is not just a political thing. But there is a sense of displacement at some point. I became an artiste in the borders of different countries I travelled to and I have been travelling since I was 16, which was also a journey in figuring my own way out because I am the only artiste in my family. But it was at 23 while attending an arts school in Paris that I began to question the concept of home as I fantasized about Nigeria. When I went home in 2009 I realised I had lost that thing called home. I guess that due to my profession and choice of life I now live, the only home I have is within my [dancing] body.
The question of belonging ever present in the dance piece…
I sought to know what it really means. There is something about wanting to attach oneself to one ideology, clan, one race or one gender. I find this dividing. When you say “I am South African” and you are very passionate about it, you are in effect saying “I am not Nigerian, so f*** all Nigerians”. That’s how xenophobia, racism, homophobia start. I want to acquire that state of “non-belonging”. I want to belong not by bloodlines but by affiliation. If there is someone in Johannesburg I feel connected to intellectually, spiritually or in Mexico that is the sort of affiliation of connecting with people from different places that I prefer.
Your documentary seems to redefine the whole concept of dance spaces…
I did it at a time I was questioning the idea of performing arts being confined to the theatre as a formal space. Art needs to get out of buildings to the marketplace and the streets. In Brazil and France, I performed My Exile is in My Head outdoors without the video and lighting effects of course. Part of me wants to bring back the Yoruba travelling theatre of the 40s, 50 & 60s where performances were done in town halls and not five star theatres. I also want to bring the Yoruba theatre aesthetic to my work. It is much like the French concept of arte vivant (living art). We still need to figure out how art can be a part of life as a living thing.
How does your choreographic process come together especially the movements?
My movements do not come with a label. It is not that I name them African, yoga, Yoruba, butoh, tai-chi or capoeira and keep them in a certain bag. They are not a process of accumulation. And labels come with a lot of prejudices. I prefer to draw from my experiences, which help me to move forward. My dance is like a collage in which I mostly concentrate on the now.
Your piece is a mixed media work in which you literally dance on a page…
My Exile is in My Head is highly inspired by Wole Soyinka’s book The Man Died. When you read a book, how do you get the message? How does it come back to you? It might be just one phrase although some people can memorize a whole page. The important thing about a book is the emotive power the text. Of course we filmed the book and worked on the text. I chose this particular book because it resonated with what I went through in school. I felt I was in a prison and I needed a liberation, a serious one. He was saying something very close to what I felt in that book despite his narrative being set in 1976 and while mine was in 2010.
Your dance credentials…
I started dancing as a kid and at 13 I was a star dancer in high school despite being a science student. Everyone thought I was mad, crazy but I realised this is what made me productive and gave me so much joy. After high school, I joined the Lagos State Arts Council at 17 as an artist in residence, something my family was against. But I am this kind of person who can only think by moving. I can’t think while seated. From then on I attended every workshop, watched videos and in one year I had travelled to Madagascar and Croatia. For a teenager this was interesting and it was in that process that I started falling in love with contemporary dance. In 2004, I had to choose between studying Mathematics at university to please my parents or a contract to perform with a dance company in France. It was a difficult decision but even after I chose to dance, I knew the importance of going to school, which I also did for three years in France.
How can we get local audiences interested in dance?
I do not believe you can make audiences. I think what the artiste has to do is decide for yourself what you want as an artiste. Some feel it important to have a theatre stage, others to engage in popular art while others feel they need to get to the people. But a festival can’t do that for you. You just have to go do what you have to do be it creating work that would only be performed in the street.
Any advice to aspiring contemporary dancers…
Unlike professions like law where there is an established and very defined way of becoming a lawyer, art tends to be different. An artiste does not have to follow a similar journey. Your can be defined in one year or 10 years. An artiste should just keep asking themselves “how do I make myself better?” taking advantage of everyday and every opportunity. I have lived it. Nobody is going to give you an opportunity but a day is going to come when you are going to have the podium. And that will be the summation of all those sweaty rehearsals. Your audience will appreciate that. It also helps to keep your values higher and higher.
How do you respond to prejudices against Nigerians?
Most times I do not try not to respond in as much as prejudice doesn’t mean it is not true. I only try to be the better person and present myself in a nice light which will have you saying “but he is not quite like what people say about Nigerians”. The fact is Nigeria does not have a single story and people also need to understand that Nigeria comprises half of West Africa’s population. There are 16 countries and Nigeria is like 15 countries compressed into one. The things we are prejudiced about are also in Paris and London and having travelled a lot I would know.
What legacy would you like to leave?
I want to do impactful art. That is very important to me. I do not just want to come and go. I would like to change the face of dance in Africa. I see my dance as the expression of the word of God, an opportunity to get closer to God and to reinvent myself in my own image.
MOSES SERUGO ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )