Africaman

On his return to Nigeria, while working on the opening of a creation and training center, the Q Dance Center, in Lagos, the Nigerian dancer and choreographer Qudus Onikeku aspires to create a piece devoid of « machine » scenography, which can be performed anywhere and which is less a performance than a moment spent with people (and not spectators).
When the Fondation Zinsou commissioned him for a piece on the theme of African music from the 1950s to the 1970s, for the 3rd edition of its event “Dansons Maintenant! » he chose the world of Nigerian musician Fela Kuti. The lyrics of the piece Gentleman inspire him with the title of the piece: « I no be a gentleman at all / I be an original Africa man » and push him to question his original affiliations when, back in Africa, the implicit injunction of his asserting oneself as “African” is no longer necessary.
Dabbling between dance, performance, stand-up, singing and a dance class, Africaman Original  unfolds within a framework whose content and duration depend on what the place, the city of representation suggests and the relationship that engages or not with the public. The first piece by Qudus Onikeku created on the African continent, it inaugurates a reflection by  him on the spectator considered as a participant, on his own positioning as an artist which is subsequently reflected in other projects: collaborations with the platform Afropolis; choreographies: Spirit Child (2019), Out of the World (2022 – 2023). Since 2015, Africaman original has toured internationally: Libreville, Bayreuth, Los Angeles, Brussels, Paris and in different contexts: literary festival, plastic arts festival, gallery… It was given again in September 2022, in Atlanta.

Source: Interview with Anne Décoret-Ahiha, September 2th, 2022.

https://www.qudusonikeku.com/cv

En savoir plus

Florent Mazzoleni, Catalogue de l’Exposition « African Records », Fondation Zinsou, Cotonou,  Janvier – Mai 2015. 

Journal de l’Exposition African Records, Janvier – Mai 2015.

The deposit of the video archives of “Dansons maintenant !”, belonging to Fondation Zinsou was made possible thanks to the Centre National de la Danse Research award in dance, granted in 2021 to Dr Anne Décoret-Ahiha for her research project “Consolidation of the African choreographic field: focus on Benin” and with the kind permission of the artists.