Update from Qudus' blog

Showing posts with label empathic society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label empathic society. Show all posts

Aug 16, 2013

Of Zik, Awo and other unfinished matters.


Of  Zik, Awo and other unfinished matters. 
By Qudus Onikeku

Since 1914, which marks the inception of this desired machine, called Nigeria, made of many parts and in dire need of a sense of a body, Nigeria is still a country yearning for direction and in dire need of collective history and heroes. In view of any tangible action leading to this realization, our long time cancers of tribalism and other unfinished matters surfaces and become a major obstacle.

Of Zik and Awo. 

In this article I wish to understand why it has presently become quite impossible to have a parallel historical discussion between various ethnic groups, especially between the Igbos and the Yorubas, without quickly falling into stereotypes – defense of ethnic allegiances, the inability to objectively remain in the defence of shared truth. I have seen this manifest in our political structure, sporting teams, even to the ridiculous extent that the official history of Nollywood now has two ethnic faces. 

Curiosity made me take a closer look at the old age rivalry that existed between two of the most important political figures in Nigerian history: Obafemi Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikiwe. Yet, rather than tackling it from the point of view of a patriot, without any interest in prescribing a solution, or venturing into political discourse, both of which have mostly been proven latent, I'm using the analogy of the Oedipus complex, to inquire if it was an innate distrust of the 'other' and everything he represents, power tussle, or ideological opposition, that later led to the tribal schisms which played out between Ibos and Yorubas, before and after the civil war. Or if was in fact the presence of a politics of difference that made obvious their arch-rivalry, which carefully placed them in the mouth of historians, for as long as Nigerian history is concerned.

At this point, you my reader will permit me the liberty to quickly divert your attention. We all remember the myth of Oedipus, which gave a spark of inspiration to Ola Rotimi's 'The gods are not to blame,' that son of Jocasta and of Laius who unwittingly killed his father, to marry his mother. Psychoanalysts have coined the term ‘Oedipus Complex’ out of that legend, which is the unresolved likeness of a child for the parent of the opposite sex. This involves, first, identification with and, later, hatred for the parent of the same sex, who is considered by the child as a rival. 

The rivalry between Zik and Awo could be identified as early as 1938, when Awo and Zik were on opposite sides of argument on who will be the president of the Nigerian Youth Movement. They had identified with each other, probably admired each other's intellects and eventually saw each other as a formidable future rival in national politics. I guess each of them thought it was their unalterable destiny to become the first prime minister of the federation of Nigeria. Furthermore, in the words of Achebe, I understand that in 1951 Awo 'stole' the leadership of western Nigeria from Zik. In 1953 at the London conference, Zik vehemently opposed the insertion of the 'secession clause' which Awo was championing for the constitution. They set up on opposite ends during the civil war and Awo's Action Group continued to be a major opposition to NCNC. I sense that this rivalry, goes far beyond politics but something more in the realm of Oedipus complex, something quite personal that eventually took different roots.

The three nationalists of the pre-independence and the immediate post independence era in Nigeria were clearly Zik, Awo and Ahmadu Bello. In order not to fall out of point, I will not say much about of Ahmadu Bello, but for the sake of clarity, it is important to note that while this arch-rivalry was going in between Zik and Awo, Ahmadu Bello, on the other hand preferred to stick to his northern dream of becoming the Sultan of Sokoto, in his calculations, going to Lagos to administer was below his dignity. It therefore, becomes quite obvious that, as far as federal politics was concerned, the north was aloof but far. I can't however say clearly if they never considered the north as enough threat, or if they underestimated the British plan to prop up the north into key places, or if they already saw that they were no match for the north and rather than forming a coalition, they'd rather turn their mutual admiration into rivalry.

Of us and History. 

In case it hasn't been made clear till this point, the purpose of this reflection is not to look at past event from the point of view of those who lived it, neither is it of my interest to give detailed chronology of their rivalry, but If 40 years makes a generation, then we can only view our present journey as a nation in three parts, if 1914 marks the starting point, then we are presently right in the middle of the third part. 

The second generations of Nigerians, which in my calculation began at about 1954, despite Wole Soyinka's declaration of a 'wasted generation', did all they could to turn the wheels of their colonial heritage around. With all their might and good will, charisma, and foresight, they failed in many aspects, but no one can deny their successes in many regards. To be able to make sense of our past, and fashion an enviable path for future generations, it is in my belief that this third generation of Nigerians, must begin to adopt newer ways of viewing and reviewing past events, in order not to tackle it from an emotional or fact-finding/journey-to-the-past point of view, both of which will only do well in aggravating more emotions and give even more dimensions to the truth.

Each time there comes the need to tackle our past, a set of question must be posed. What will the object of remembering be? What is its purpose and how must it be posed? Must it be an anxious flight from boredom? A desire to be free from ourselves and from our pitiful present existence? What is this theatre other than that of a long finger that stops, looks around, points and pokes at somebody – anybody blameworthy – pours out its feelings, and returns to contact, presses, wounds, crouches and chews up, swallows, digests and... Excretes?
            Yes, Excretes! This filthy excrement is usually what remains of the long probing fingers of ours, loaded with our blood line. Through this excrement we intend to find out and attack what have murdered us, the compressed sum of our evidence, the age old seal of that difficult process of digestion, without which all would remain hidden forever. But what else might this remembering be, other than the disguise behind which We maintain intimate and biased relation with our 'excrements', which eventually enters into the sphere of tribalism.

The question of identity or more precisely, of tribes, - or ethnicity as in the case of Nigeria - is one I've spent valuable time trying to understand, as to why do we think a politician defines us best? And what props up the heads and minds of mortals to the extent of seeing another mortal - dead or still alive, - as a representative of God on earth, who deserves to be bowed down to, and to whom human sacrifices are offered if necessary. The most unfortunate thing is that tribalism, just like racism, nationalism, feminism, religion and other politics of difference, has always acted as legitimate weapon of political campaign, useful in directing human energy to whatsoever righteous causes.
 
As the need to belong happens to be a basic requirement for every human being, the politician liberates the flow of desire and unleashes the Oedipus complex in his primary target. In truth, the unleashing of an Oedipus complex is not morally wrong in itself, because the facts and figure politicians lay down to support this form of bigotry are usually legitimate and seems to be true, but in truth it is false. It is in the fear of a subject that is faced with the possibility of not being able to be able, to be sure that a certain political rival does not possess this ability of being able to be able, he declares that the other is in no way another myself, who is either participating in a common existence and cause, or participating in a common power tussle and dominance.

Therefore those of us in whose hand History with a capital 'H' has been carefully dropped, must be wary of what to do with it, not to forget that proclaiming oneself as ‘the Chosen One’ - one who has got, not only the roadmap, but also an accompanying private jet, and the master key to the promise land - has been the ways of politics. Remembering is knowing, and we cannot forget what we know. No, not if remembering is imbued with some moral duty or a call for vengeance, separation or xenophobia. No, it is simply not at our discretion to forget. 

We live today in order to remember and to know, and indeed with total clarity. Amnesia is however worse than forgetfulness, because It is in fact, our collective amnesia that makes it impossible to fashion a clear and original collective history, through our collective "how we got here". It's a crises that has lingered for too long, one that has destroyed the dream of a body of value system, a system that was once built on various ethnic ethos and myths, on the stories we told ourselves of our various origins and collective destiny.

In the face of past events that cannot be fully grasped and set in one dimension, solitude and subjectivity is naturally crushed, for there now exists an abyss between History and the living. The past is our accumulated knowledge; our observation of the world is put together by thoughts, but thought is never new and never free, because thought is the response to the past in the guise of knowledge and memory. When we observe, we often observe with personal memories, experiences, hurts, despairs and hope, and with all that background, we end up looking at the world as a separate entity, and create more division. 

Where then do we find enough innocence for generating national history? How can we enter into a relation with History without allowing ourselves crushed by subjectivities, sensitivities, personalities, allegiances, emotions - Tribalism? How can we, the living, preserve our ego and  conquest over the anonymous? If we cannot assume History as one assumes an object of curiosity, how can there possibly be any conciliation between us and History?

Jul 14, 2012

Wole Soyinka. This tree won’t make a forest.


Between two decades before independence and two decades after, is a period Femi Osofisan refers to as the ‘age of innocence’. Nigeria knew its golden age of extremely creative talents who shook the world; they are so many that I have decided to pick one of them as the matter of this article, one with whom I feel closest to. Wole Soyinka. That lone tree, which might not make a forest in this ‘age of madness’.

As a Dancer/Choreographer and one of the most privileged young artists in contemporary Nigeria, with a wide access to the international art market. I consider myself one of the very rare remaining Nigerians – not to say Africans – who have access to the prerequisite elements for creating, and able to retain the precise mental balance that their creative temperament requires. Get residencies when needed, an access to theatres to conclude technical aspects of creations, and a ready network for touring. Those who are however aware of the loss that comes with negotiating one’s space of influence and cultural backdrop before the unforgiving gaze of the ‘other’, will understand that every traveling artist, especially of this contemporary times of flux and mixing, where every notion of ‘roots’ and ‘home’ is perpetually shifting, the need for a locality is much stronger than any time.

As a traveling artist who continuously struggles to fix his sense of locality on Nigerian terrain – like many of my likes – I have mostly relied on the brains of such writers as Wole Soyinka to regain the memory of a time before time. For the purpose of authenticity and that of choice, I recognize the need for a body memory, which has lived longer than my own lived power or freedom. Soyinka’s writings have helped me a great deal in recognizing such mental territory of existence, but that is a locality solely based in a psychic asylum.

Let me get back to earth; let’s take a quick excursion around the nation state called Nigeria.

Aug 30, 2011

MOVING OUT OF BOUNDS.

…Dance in Space, Spaces that Dance.


In my other life I am an activist. I grew up in a nation that naturally makes political activists out of its citizens, a nation that might as well exist as a fictional story, a fable spun from the imagination of very strange storytellers. Nigeria is where I come from, but like most progressive living beings, where we come from is not as important as where we are heading. Unlike many Nigerians, I have been unable to shake off this hereditary calling of an activist even as I head my own solo way, I have however managed to make my career be mostly situated in the arts world, not so political – in the conventional sense of the word. This nation situated in an artificial place in the midst of an artificial situation, has been a better metaphor for me to understand what culture is tending towards in many parts of the world.

If I had a metaphorical barometer and put it out there, what it would register is insecurity. There is presently a boosted sense of worry about the inevitably diminished role that places like the United States and Europe (the West) might be playing in the world in the next decades – or less, but that discussion is almost exclusively defined in economic terms. What it means is that basic business practices that have existed in our art world might not continue to exist in the same way, I don’t believe that the arts is a different system to anything else; we will have to adjust to a different way of doing things, the challenge is not to be conservative in terms of content, because it’s the new that excites people, not a feeling of safety.

In difficult times like this, it is certainly immaterial to ask ‘what is the essence of art?’because we are all looking for meaning in our world right now, and can art really provide it? Is art able to maintain a primal relevance in a lay world? But as a 21st century artist with a vocation – each time I think of a new project, I often find myself asking these sets of immaterial questions again and again. What do I wish to build or break with my art?


BREAKING THE THEATRE WALLS


Understanding architecture as a performative condition: acting on us and activated by us, and theatre architecture as civil space, which has impact on human social contracts and relationships. One can then understand the burden of the fourth wall, that imaginary "wall" at the front of the proscenium theatre stage, which creates a great divide between spectator and performer, between seeing and doing, that wall which professed to the audience that, this is a fiction, it will probably have little or no impact in your world, but for sure it will have a little impact on ours, because you have brought out your money to buy into this, and behind these walls are actual people; actors, comedians, dancers, singers, musicians, technicians, creative designers, cleaners, security personnel, sales persons, administrators, programmers, managers etc. all trying to also make a living by keeping the system of the performing arts alive.

If it is true that Dance is the controlled passage of bodies through time and space. Then the essence of dance is felt, from the uniform connection between the experience of the body and the experience of the space that reunites the dancer and his audience. Traditionally, if judging a book by its cover, one could say theatres embody the idea of a closed world where bourgeois and bohemians meet regularly, a luxurious architectural piece that only this privileged few experience from the inside, and it draws concerns to the consumer-based attitude towards art, because if we say talent and creativity is priceless, why then is art only financially accessible?

More like the notion of ‘fixed’ identity, theatres are conserved as something that is unchangeable and stuck in time. Meanwhile, reifying the idea of a “space” dedicated to creative live performance, as something that cannot be influenced, reinterpreted or changed, creates tensions between what has been, what is and what could be. The bounds of the theatre space with its rigidity, however separates time from the real-time, I mean its absolute universe is the proscenium stage with all that it represents, outside of which nothing else exists. The audience is thus bound within a 2-dimensional relationship – through the fourth wall – without the fullness of space and scope.


ANOTHER PROJECT, ANOTHER UTOPIA


Another project may not necessarily be another undertaking, I know I’m not interested in those ideas that hammer meanings into our heads at every opportunity, but just like the saying "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." For me, every project is past from the moment it is done, and ‘repetition’ is only a means of establishing a continual dialogue, with creative materials used in previous project, in order not to suffer a divide between understanding and doing.

I’ve lately been exploring a new utopia. Unlike the Cartesian notion of "Utopia" as a specially planned and designed place of reason and rationality, I thought of treating the public sphere as a found-object to be manipulated and remixed at will, an approach that simultaneously reflects my core African values and basic needs, how art could be a part of life just as a tree or a billboard in an urban space, to create an atmosphere where the audience is brought to be part of an experience critically, without practical consequences, but by means of simple empathy with the performance. Using public spaces, in a manner that doesn't fit neatly together, like putting an AIDS hotspot in the middle of a shopping centre. This kinds of idea put people through a process of intimacy and alienation at the same time: intimacy as in accessibility and the alienation that is intimidating, and necessary to all understanding, out of such conditions come the unexpected encounter, the chance discovery, and the innovation.

The fact that the audience holds a detailed memory of a space and its function, creates a new curiosity when it is used for other purposes, the history they share with the venue, however makes them feel at home and open, they see it as adaptations or additions to existing buildings. My purpose is for the audience to give up every effort to understand ‘art’, because art becomes the most obvious thing in the world, when what is ‘natural’ and what is ‘startling’ share the same force in the same space, at the same time. This contradiction adds a new dynamism to the cultural and theatrical life of a city.

With my little experience in performing in formal and informal venues, for professional and non-professional audiences, I have come to realize that the audience that chose – for whatever reason – to go to the theatre, might have this experience:
- Yes, I sometimes feel that way too, the sufferings of this man touches me, because they are obvious – that was great art, I weep when he weeps, I laugh when he laughs.
There is a semblance to the artiste, he can relate with him, he can in-fact have a drink with the artiste after the show, and their discussion will be about everything but the show he saw, a sort of social climbing you may call it. But for the audience that didn’t expect to see a show, in the most inappropriate venue, and would probably not go to a theatre, might have this experience:
I’d never have thought of that, that’s extraordinary, the sufferings of this man touches me, I don’t know why, perhaps because they are unnecessary – that’s great art, I laugh when he weeps, I weep when he laughs.
If such audience stays after the show to have a drink with the artist, his entire discussion will be about the show. A way of climbing ashore of consciousness you may call it, or better still, a sharing of understanding of our worlds. For this two ‘kinds’ of audience, we might also conclude that, the method of understanding depends on the different contexts and ways of presenting the work to the audience, and in any case, it remains fully capable of life.


DANCING IN A FREE SPACE


In different cultures before the 19th Century, public relations were more about theatricality than representation of the self, the former of which is more friendly to public life and had more impact in public life, it was the late 19th century that brought upon the idea of intimacy with openness of expression. Alternative artistes have now become more interiorized and ‘underground’, leading to a high level of social irrelevance.

Modern Western society has lost a key dimension of the notion of ‘public space’; the distinction between the private and the public have been erased. An attempt to the reason for this – will be to say that the loss of a religious order to public life, which once allowed the public and the private to coexist in a greater cosmic order, contributed to the destruction of the public space. A ‘space’ that removes the borders that protects us from each other in daily life. The public/private distinction is crucial to maintaining polite sociability, exchange of worldviews and rational political discussion, which didn’t transformpolitics into a clash of personality and an unending, brutal contest of who will have the last word.

The same process, has transformed the market from a public meeting place into a field for a compulsive quest for self-identification through mass consumption. We have lost not only the public good, but also the public artist in all his creativity and spontaneity and delightfulness. Public performance now has become a mere formality, a quest for the "authentic" self rather than a space for presenting ideas.

It was my quest for spaces of freedom – not as a form of protest, but for personal experience – that provides the foundation for my investigation into this
concept of ‘space’. I began this ‘free’ space project with “Do we need cola cola to dance?” in 2007, It was aimed at taking art outside its proper boundaries, With an investigation into other art making processes, through multiple improvisations, how DANCE, MUSIC, URBAN SCENOGRAPHY, PHOTOGRAPHY AND VIDEO ART, could organically come together almost as a coincidence to coexist in a particular space in time. This approach put accent not just on the performer's body and the audience's eyes, but also the camera’s lens, the music we produce and the communal space that we all re-create.

It is a way to reject certain habits, while we were unconsciously involved in the process of breaking down conventional ideas about what art could mean. It suggests movement, not only as a means on social existence of art in the public sphere, but also reflects the use of ‘movement’ as a social practice linked to our capacity as artists, to continuously orient ourselves to shifting terrain of economic activity and artistic disposition. Thus, the conclusion we tend to draw from this project is on-going, it is an alternative practice that creates its own context, the purpose is not to insert a new style into existing buildings or entice already formed audience away from existing venues, but to be involved in a special broad ‘free space’ art experiment, that extends the community of the arts.

Every professional in the arts world today, are – in their various fields – thinking about innovative and new ways to manage the Arts and its future in a changing world. Certainly what is at stake in this ‘alternative practice’ is not to simply take part in the contemporary nomadism which finds its most impoverished expression in tourism, my choice of research is guided by a fundamental impulse than the quest for performing or travelling. I hope we are not simply globetrotters, roaming the world with the aim of a hedonistic assimilation. This ‘social practice’ is rather a desire to be jostled and disrupted.


BEFORE I LOGOUT


An ending set of immaterial questions my readers might be asking right now might be, why is this important? What does it matter? Be rest assured that I’m asking myself same questions, is dance able to maintain a primal relevance in today’s world? how do I connect to that world beyond the theatre walls? And should art connect with that world, or is it the problem of the world to make connections to the arts? How do I personally choose to make a connection? Is it that I miss all the connections I don`t have and could have had? Do I want to establish a re-connection with my formal audience in traditional venues? Or do I totally want to disconnect? Like I have always done with my works – Rather than offering answers to a world in search of meaning, I’m only using my creative energy to create a critical dialogue open to all, raise further questions and showcase my own experiences in the process, another user-friendly idea that I throw into the world; it can serve different purposes for different people in different places. I’m very much open to that.

Mar 8, 2011

Somersaulting into DISTANCE

INTERVIEW: BRIGITTE WILFING / MICHAEL-FRANZ WOELS

http://foruml.at/zoll

zoll+ is the Austrian Magazine of Landscape and Open Space. It is a platform for constructive discussion of planning topics with focus on urban and rural landscapes.

Each issue features a special section devoted to a topic of particular relevance, which is discussed in various perspectives. The scope of interpretation is intended; it is an expression of diversity within the profession.

Dancing consists of motion and stillness, figures and measures, rage and tenderness, poetry and sculptures, painting and stories, politeness and politics, vigour and fragility, beauty and ugliness, birth and death, and to be frank, what else do we call life? So dancing – as a significant part of life – can be a way of understanding life in its wholeness.

Qudus Onikeku

Would you call dance the purest expression of human creativity?

No. I think that will be too arrogant, when we say pure, we are talking about what is honest, naive, unadulterated and manifests itself with certain confidence of innocence, and we basically see that in the way kids express themselves. We as dancers often tend to say that a child’s first true expression is dance or movement, but I don’t think so, I know some kids first expressed themselves in drawing or excessive chattering for example. The simple act of destroying things, or merely tearing off papers and destroying their toys are for me pure acts of expression in themselves, only if we the adults around could have the patience to listen. From what I could remember in my childhood, it was through a somersault that I first realised my creative energy. For me, I think the need for expression is a basic need and it is like a trance, it usually come in obscure forms that when it eventually finds it way out, you won’t bother to care about the form, but what is being said.

Has practicing acrobatics and dance changed your perception of space?

Very much. But I don’t know if they had changed my perception of space or they are actually the foundations for such realisation. You must know that I started acrobatics at the age of five, when I saw a random person did it in real-time, not that I never saw it in the television, during Olympics I saw even more spectacular ones, but seeing someone who could probably be me – in my own space of truth – doing it, was a revelation and that’s how I began acrobatics on my own. As I didn’t see any other figure, I thought the only thing that existed was a backflip, so I began to accumulate, going as much as 60 flips in a row, which arguably gave a sense of improvement. I got to a point where I myself didn’t know my limit, the only constraint I had was whatever obstacle limiting my space. It made me realised that there is no space, if there is no obstacle, and it is the existence of two separate obstacles that gives an idea of distance. Just as architects say, they don’t occupy spaces, they create spaces.

And performance have also given me another view of space, which differs from the concept of a place, that we might not necessarily be in the same place but can occupy the same space. This has to do with my adoption of the term “African world” i.e. a psychological space, inhabited by those who find it useful and comfortable, and are usually connected based on their common narratives, aspirations and affiliations. Not necessarily having a bloodline or common skin flags. This is very much opposed to “Africa” as a black place in the world map, sitting flat on its black ass, with a lot of histories and prejudices. Once seen as a den of savages, infested with superstitions and fanaticism, destined to be despised and cursed by God Himself. I am afraid; the stories of this “place” had been so told with a distant gaze and understood from a convenient angle, that it’s meaning no longer embody its humanity.

Has traveling changed your dance and writing style?

It has. In fact it is the only thing within which I have grown my art, I became an artist within the borders of different cultures and languages, I have been fed with various books and artists, some in their original languages, and others translated. So to a large extent, travelling has been a means of liberation and a way to escape the burden of fixed ideas and fixed identities. I think learning is embedded in encounters, while knowledge is scattered in space and within a time-frame. The experiences that come with travelling are unconditional experiences; I try to experience them without finding a worldly logic to them, nor discriminate, whether they are good or bad for me. If there is a dance or a culture that fascinates me in Brazil, I will like to learn it, know its history, I’ll like to see how it can nourish my ideas. And for my writing, it is exactly what pushed me into writing in the first place, most of my writings are informed by my experiences, by my thoughts which are usually in line, either with the state of my mind or the space in which I find myself.

What are the implications of nomadism?

What do you mean by “implication”? That word has a lot of implications. We are Indeed in the age of hybridity and mixing, technology and popular culture; we are all facebooking and twitting on top of one another, we all share information on YouTube and MySpace. It is a nomadic era, a time when fixed identities and boundaries lose their meaning and everything is in flux. I know all of these might be seen as madness in certain logic, but the nomadic principle in my own case translates into action, into a desire to depart, it is an opportunity to discover new environments and inscribe my creative process in a setting that I do not fully understand. So I try to make sure that what is at stake in my nomadism, is not simply taking part in acts that finds its most impoverished expression in tourism. I hope I’m not participating in the homogenization of all countries and simply roaming the world with the aim of a hedonistic assimilation as many artists do these days. This constant call of elsewhere is rather a way to be jostled and dislocated.

In what sense are you denoting your blog a diary? Can private go public?

When I call my blog a diary, I mean not a personal organiser where I write about my appointments and rendezvous, or how many times I had sex last week. However, I think if I have a blog space where I write about random things in a chronological way, that it keeps record and marks time – or history if you like – that it becomes a memoir in the future. For me I think it’s a diary.

And whether private can go public. Well it depends on what we understand as private. Writing a chronicle of a tour for example, and then sharing it on my blog for example, I don’t think that’s private. Having the courage to write out my thoughts on certain issues that either irritates me or inconveniences me, might simply be a way to give courage to some random persons who might suddenly have the guts to do certain things, after reading my blog, because they eventually realise that they are not alone. I think, maybe sometimes we make confusions between what is private and what is intimate. With the new media, information has become more and more democratic, that the idea of privacy is so vague. You don’t have to be a hacker to get a lot of information.

To what extend does your blog also display a media of communication to your home country and the possibility to keep your family informed about your activities, your life?

Being away from home for such a long time might make one forget the difference between familial love and the love we build and share with people. When I post a video or post a note and I see one of my family members comment on it, it usually comes with a lot of emotion and memory. When I started my blog in 2006 – then it was still called DIARY OF A SCHIZOPHRENIC DANCER – it was a period when I felt very disconnected from my surrounding, then I just got into the circus arts school in Chalons en champagne. France. I felt very far away from this culture and most times felt alone, that solitude led to kind of schizophrenia, those who were closer to me, seemed very far from my reality, while the ones far away were the ones that I felt closer to. It was as if the new media was just meant for me, it was very useful in many ways. Through my blog and my facebook page I have made a lot of connections with Nigeria, I have been nominated for different awards and I have gotten lots of recognition, even if I rarely show my work physically in Nigeria.

Is your work political? What’s your strategy?

I cannot say my work is political per-se and I cannot say otherwise based on popular definition. Let’s ask ourselves, for an artiste what does political mean? It means to be opinionated, it means to be concerned with the status quo, concerned with the human condition, and it means to be conscious. If these words are part of what being political means, then of course I am. But if it means wikileaks or dancing to some revolutionary songs, hmm I don’t think that’s my realm. I have often repeated myself that I am an artiste; I’m not an activist.

I think it is important to understand the society, the environment in which one lives, and in that very process of understanding, break away from it. However, just as our parents are frightened by such arrogance of us attempting to be total individuals, so the governments are frightened by us willing to break away from the society, because they want us to remain safely within the prison of environmental and national and religious and cultural influences, but it is only the individuals who break through the social pattern by understanding it, that will not be bound by the norm, and will eventually be liberated and become creative. It is only such people who can bring about a new civilisation

Being political means you are reacting within the prison, it is not an unbiased action; you resist one particular pattern because another shapes you. The realm I anticipate is not to lie within the prison, but rather in understanding the prison and breaking through its wall – and that very movement through freedom creates art and creates a new culture. So in that sense you can say my work is political or even radical, controversial, rebellious or provocative, but one thing that I am very sure of is that I’m naturally indocile, I don’t conform.

How important is theoretical research for your work?

It is very important for me to understand my work in theory, I try as much as possible to write about it before it is done, rewrite on it after it’s done, I read loads of materials, be it articles, books or essay that relates to my subject matter. I spend hours and hours on YouTube and sites like TED or RSA to see what has been said about such subject. I don’t think my opinions are personal, and I think such “collaborations” with what already exist give a clearer image to my intuition.

One thing that is clear is that I separate my thematic from the artistic investigation, the artistic research is something that is always ongoing, when I finish one piece, it continues in the next piece, while the themes might have nothing in similarity, like in my last piece I was exploring questions of exile, belonging and non-belonging, while in the next I’m dealing with violence and schizophrenia as a metaphor for our civilisation. However, the artistic research is a continuation of what I tried to do in my last piece and perhaps wasn’t able to get to its end. So my artistic research is a continuous one that informs the kinds of book I unconsciously collect and read, while the theme leads to the kind of books I read just for a particular production.

What can you say about the communication between your writing and the creation of artwork? Do you see similarities of these art forms in terms of its compositional structure, emotional content or rhythm and (how) are you transferring the knowledge of one medium into the other?

I think it’s all one, structures, rhythm, forms and necessary beauty. This is all I try to accomplish in both my dance and my writing, it’s not just about meaning, it’s about my encounter with my audience or reader. A journalist once said, "Qudus' work has a social dimension, it is a story that seems to have links with the artist's own life, in this sense, the work resonates as an essay in first person." And I think he is very correct. Writing has helped me a lot in finding a dramaturgic logic to choreography, from the first paragraph of a piece, your reader must already have an idea of your direction and the emotional content, then there is the body, then we see your argument, then we see your proposition if you so wish, then we see your conclusion. This is precisely what I do with my dance pieces. When I begin to write, I don’t usually have a predetermined number of words I want to work with, that’s why I find it hard to say how long my dance piece will be when I have not created it.

In a way my writing makes me understand my piece better, especially it’s argument. And at the same time, it is my knowledge of dance that largely supported my writing at the beginning; it gave me a powerful faculty for description and timing. As a dancer it is important to understand stillness as distinguished from silence or nothingness. These things don’t usually come to us in words, we experience them, but merging the practice of a writer and a dancer together makes it incredibly interesting when you are able to explain a situation or an inner feeling or thoughts in words.

Do you use an external eye during the creation process, how important is the process compared to the product of your performance / text work?

Yes, I do in a way or the other, even if I don’t invite someone officially to be my external eye, it might be my musician, it might be the video artist, or the photographer. Most times I like feedbacks, especially when it is a solo piece in which I’m choreographing and also dancing it. The same goes to my writing, I have few trusted friends with whom I share my texts while writing it, especially my fiancée.

I think the process of creating is the most important part in the lifespan of a piece of art, if I have my way I will spend my entire life in the studio, it is during the creative process that we grow, that we are very sensitive, and very open to rediscover new defiant paths in us. And I cans say the same of writing, it is the process of writing that you realise that since the last time you wrote, you have improved, you have restructured your views on certain issues, you have seen what you got wrong in the previous writing. I don’t like the idea of seeing a piece as the end product of a period of creation, No, it is in fact the remains, it is an evidence of that transformation, it is what opens up further spaces for critical dialogue. This doesn’t mean that I’m oppose to the popular saying, that a piece is not finished until it is shared with the audience, but can we ever finish a piece?

Do you also use spoken word in your performances? If yes, how is your movement related to the text?

Yes, I find the use of texts quite significant in performances, if it’s not text then it will be symbols, if not, it will be signs or images or sounds. Through the history of dance, we have come to agree that dance can stand alone as an art form. There is no doubt about its strong poetic prowess and its emotive capacity, that through one movement we can say a lot. However, the world we live in now is not one that is so sympathetic with poetry or some high forms of expressions that can mean everything, instead we are bombarded with some catchy phrases on billboards and the banalisation of violent images on news. Fashion magazines sells more and influences us faster than the book of Nietzsche, we can easily recognise the logo of Coca-Cola and Mc Donald’s even when they are not written clearly, but who still cares about Newton or Nijinsky?

During my creative process, I know that it is very easy to quickly lock myself in the utopia I build around myself in the studio. So I have learnt to step out of my studio and step into the real world from time to time, because the feeling of interaction still seems to me, very important. Not the kind of interaction that is embedded on a conversational style though, let's say, it is a revelation of words left unreconstructed in the subconscious of my audience. I have a need to create a common space for our collective human experience. My dance has been dedicated to finding ways of expressing some very deeply rooted expressions, which literary words had failed to capture in conventional styles. So is my movements related to the imagery I paint with this external elements I bring in? I don’t think so, but it seems to me that I try to find means of enforcing my expression through different media and find parallels for them, without necessarily reconciling between them.


Dancing also means writing into space and constructing a world through movements. How important is the awareness of the needs each space, country and continent provokes for your artistic interaction?

There is something I find very noteworthy in our imagination of the world, our mind is very complex and its capacity is almost time without end, we can go as broad as we want and be very well understood in that very capacity, and amazingly we can also come back to its contrary. Be as simple as possible, be as basic as possible, yet we can still be understood and this is part of the beauty of what we call life isn’t it? If I do understand your question well, I think I have decided to focus my attention on my own basic need, rather than the need of a certain space, nation or continent in my artistic concerns. I am very much aware of all the elements that come together to make up my identities, and I regard them as equally without necessarily paying heed to their needs, because their needs are not necessarily my basic human need. Therefore, I am very much wary of the obsessive leeway that often comes with the needs provoked by these various notions of belonging.

How does architectural space and social context influence your work?

Until now I don’t think I pay much attention to architecture, I know a lot of friends who are very good at making that link, and I do admire it in their works, but I’d simply call it “space” I think I am also doing what architects are doing, only that mine is not fixed is space, so in a way I’m creating spaces; democratic spaces built on empathy. I have not been able to characterize my non-conventional space performances in relation to architecture, maybe it’s because I pay too much attention to its social context and my argument with it. And the term influence is usually a strong term for me, I can’t really say these things influence my work, instead it is my work that influences the space and I predetermine the social context I give to it.

Are you interested in creating a reactive space, a dialogue with the audience? If yes, what are your methods?

In fact my performances are all embedded on interaction and cohabitation. Because a piece of art is always a proposition, it is another opportunity to grow and discover new sinister byways, and it has to be confronted with other kinds of mind in order to pass the test of time. I am not always comfortable to dialogue with the audience after a show because they usually come with a lot of complaisance that it becomes quite difficult to have a deeper conversation. However, what I usually do is that, during the creative process, I organise series of open door rehearsals and conversations around the proposition, in a form of an encounter with the audience, I try to create a bond with them, so they can follow how it progresses and observe how it is being constructed, just like a piece of architecture in the community, I make them a part of the creative process, because at the end, they will eventually be an integral part of the outcome of the piece.

Is there a different perception of your pieces in Europe and Africa? Are you adapting your pieces for audience in different continents?

I think it is quite normal that there is a different perception of my piece in Europe, in Africa, in America or Latin America. People have different narratives, it might be common based on their common narratives, but as we move farther in space we begin to perceive things differently, and we travelling artistes also perceive the differences that exists in distance. Now, do I adapt my piece for different audience? NO, I don’t, but I might adapt its discourse or the imagery I use in contextualising my intention during conversations that precedes the performance. I never adapt the artistic proposition; even in some cases I refuse to subtitle certain texts.

As a dancer, I am working with my body most times – and my body is very tangible, despite its historical baggage – I am not working on artificial constructs, based on political boundaries, racial confines, economic or cultural margins. I’m interested in going back in time, going to the root of all expressions, going back to the basics to rediscover what I refer to as “true movement”. My body memory could remember a time when human beings communicated humanly with gestural expressions without constructed words or coded languages and they understand one another better in that regard, because they paid better attention without the illusion of thinking they comprehend each other perfectly.

With all the events that have happened in strains of our lives, we often break some extraordinary happenings down in words for easier consumption and understanding without toil. In that same sense, if we put so much effort in trying to explain art or putting it in a very logical perspective, we tend to lose the essence and often deny us the holistic sense of certain emotions and feelings. Through dance I try to recapture that essential aspect of communication because I realise that our body memory tends to be vanishing through our sophistication, and what I try to do in my performance is to bring back that sensitivity, that everyone watching me can relate to that, even if they don’t understand what I am saying right now or what the piece is about.

Does it make sense to use the same contextualisation, picture language and association in Africa as well as in Europe or do you feel a different understanding of art and also requirement of the audience?

To start with, am I showing my works solely in Africa and Europe? NO. And even if I do, Africa, just like Europe is merely a place that is part of the world and hence part of the human-sphere. So the question we need ask ourselves is; can I be talking to my immediate neighbour in Cotonou and be aware of the fact that I might as well be talking to someone in Iceland? We need to understand that now, like never before do people have so much in common, same MTV, same CNN, same Kebabs, same Sushi, same Coca Cola, same Total Oil, same TEDtalk, same YouTube, same Google, same Suzuki, same iPhone. And the list goes on and on. So what other picture languages do I need that the reality out there has not made available for all to understand?

I don’t think art in any form is closed ended, it is only the sentiment that we attach to them that are most times closed minded, that art begin to mean something else in our will to turn art into a special capsule that cures certain illness or morality. I’m not saying that I’m not also guilty of this, but it is still the equivocal features of art that makes it possible for me to make it responsive to a circumstance, and I feel as equally liberated to use it for another, but we must be clear that we are not talking about art itself, we are talking about the many lies we’ve created around ourselves and badly needed to be solved. So in essence we are only talking about the utilitarian aspect of art when we talk about contextualisation.

You are living in Paris. Do you know the work of Xavier le Roy or Jerome Bel? How do you perceive this conceptional dance pieces?

I only know them by name I don’t know their works.

Do you consider yourself a city person?

Unfortunately I am a city person, I was born and grew up in a very big city, even though I try so often to run away from its monstrosity, yet I realise that I still have a lot to learn from it.

Which books influenced your work on stage?

I can’t say precisely, I know that I have read a lot of books and they’ve all in one way or the other fed me as a person, and it is my person that then influence my work a lot as an artiste. Like I said, I use certain books based on certain projects I’m working on, but in general I connect with the writings of Wole Soyinka, perhaps art came to me in the same way it came to him based on our temperament and cultural affiliation I guess, he is a very close companion. But presently, the ideas of Amin Maalouf, Edward Said and some writings of Sigmund Freud I can really relate to.

To which philosophers do you feel connected and are you referring in your artwork?

I think I have a very personal opinion about talks on influences and references, I don’t pay so much attentions to them, only when I write, I hear echoes of certain writers I have read long ago or recently, and I don’t mind to write it the way they come to me, even if it was the exact phrase, so I might eventually feel connected to them but I usually don’t refer to them, because I don’t see the need, and in the same way I think my own work will resonate in other people’s works or for the coming generation that find it useful.

I think the human mind works in an unprocessed manner, the memory of all our little experiences, the things we’ve read in books or observed in the world around us – all of these our mind observes, it discerns, it learns, it is the mind that cultivate virtues, that communicate ideas, that has desires and fears, and that’s also what we at the end refer to as consciousness. The coming generation will always use the shoulders of the past generation as a stepladder to climb taller and I think it is just natural for that creative commons to happen without anyone claiming to posses that or dwelling on recognition or its copyright.

In one of your poems you wrote:

If I were the King

I’ll close more hospitals

To build more Theatres

People get more healed there anyway.

Please, tell me about this concept that theatre can heal....

Oh that’s such a long time, hahaha. Maybe what I meant at that time was that sick people get cured in the hospital, but the people we consider “normal” also get cured in the theatre. And if we look at the statistic we see that more theatres are required than hospital. I must have been referring to Africa in that poem hahaha, because that’s where people still believe that development is when you build more blocks and wide roads, while the genuine human development suffers at the expense of our quest to catch up with Europe, but I ask myself if this aspects of development is really what makes us happy, why are we still sad in Europe? I can’t remember precisely the context within which I wrote it, but I think it’s close to this.

Does ritual have an importance for your work?

Well it depends on what you refer to as “Ritual” if you are talking about some procession, which calls for the beheading of a cow, and its blood serving as wine or its skin used for clothing purposes, then I think that’s what we do with animals. If it is in that sense, it sure does, because I’m quite concerned about that cow. And on the other hand, if you are talking of something transcendental, that deals with truth and something fundamentally in connection with the earth and all that dwell therein, the sky, and very conscious of space and time. Something that has a soul, spiritual yet profane. I think all these have an importance in my work.

Do you have a wish, an aim for the future?

I only wish that the ideas I send into the world will resonate and have some impact in its little capacity. I don’t have any specific aim for the future, one step at a time; I am still trying to deal with the present and my actions today will surely pave the way for my tomorrow.

Mar 4, 2011

UN CORPS EN EXIL

« UN CORPS EN EXIL » Entretien par DAGARA DAKIN, traduit de l'anglais par Latifa Aït Naceur.

Article issu du N°1286-1287 (numéro double), juillet-octobre 2010 : Les migrations subsahariennes
Rubrique : Article de dossier

« L’exil, s’il constitue étrangement un sujet de réflexion fascinant, est terrible à vivre. C’est la fissure à jamais creusée entre l’être humain et sa terre natale, entre l’individu et son vrai foyer, et la tristesse qu’il implique n’est pas surmontable. » Edward W. Said, Réflexions sur l’exil, éd. Actes Sud, p. 241

Diplômé du Centre National des Arts du Cirque (CNAC) de Châlons-en-Champagne, en tant que danseur acrobate, Qudus Onikeku a été interprète pendant plus de dix ans sur la scène chorégraphique de la capitale nigériane Lagos. Il est, entre autre, à l’initiative - au printemps 2008 - d’un projet au titre évocateur « Do we need Cola Cola to dance ? » qu’il a mené avec une équipe composée d’un photographe, d’une danseuse et d’un vidéaste. Ce projet de danse dans la rue l’a conduit dans sept villes du continent africain. Interprète dans les créations de Heddy Maalem, notamment Le sacre du printemps en 2009, il a tourné en Europe, aux Etats-Unis et au Brésil.

De décembre 2009 à mai 2010, il était en résidence au 104 à Paris, nous l’avons interroger son approche de la notion d’exil, thème qui sous-tend son spectacle intitulé « My Exile is in my head »


Dagara Dakin : Pouvez-vous nous raconter en quelques mots votre parcours, comment vous êtes devenu danseur ?


Qudus Onikeku : J’ai grandi en faisant des acrobaties, en voyant autour de moi les gens faire des « flips », j’ai surtout vu faire des flips arrières। Alors j’ai commencé à les imiter. Je faisais des séries de cinquante à la suite. Je le faisais surtout à l’extérieur car au domicile familial c’était difficile. Je suis le dernier d’une famille de treize enfants et tous me sommaient de m’arrêter de peur que je ne me fasse mal. C’était leur façon de me protéger. J’étais le plus jeune et cela me frustrait car j’avais très envie de faire des acrobaties chez moi. Alors à la moindre occasion, quand on m’envoyait faire des courses, sur le chemin de l’école, je m’exprimais à travers les acrobaties.


D. D : Quelle place a pris la danse dans votre scolarité ?


Q. Onikeku : À l’école, il y avait ce qu’on appelle « les clubs », des lieux d’expression en quelque sorte। Des membres du « clubs » dédié à la culture « Cultural club » étaient venus dans ma classe et m’avaient proposé de les rejoindre. Ils recherchaient des individus qui aient un don artistique du type chant, danse etc. et lorsqu’ils m’ont parlé d’acrobatie, alors j’ai tout de suite souhaité participer. Au sein de ce « Cultural club », je me suis petit à petit intéressé à la danse et j’ai décidé de m’impliquer aussi dans cette discipline.


D. D : Vous avez donc très tôt fait le choix d’une filière artistique…


Q. Onikeku : J’ai été plutôt surpris, car étant inscrit à l’école dans une filière plutôt scientifique j’avais l’impression que des disciplines telles que la danse n’étaient peut-être pas compatible avec ma filière d’origine। Mes parents pensaient d’ailleurs la même chose et jusqu’à la fin du lycée ils m’ont surtout demandé de me focaliser sur les études scientifiques. Je me suis donc beaucoup moins impliqué dans la danse que je considérais comme un divertissement. A 16 ans, j’ai quitté le lycée et là, j’ai pu reprendre la danse plus sérieusement. C’est à ce moment là que j’ai décidé de devenir danseur professionnel.


D. D : Vous venez de clore une résidence de 6 mois au 104 comment vous êtes vous retrouvé dans ce lieu ? Pouvez-vous nous dire comment est né le projet « My Exile is in my head » ?


Q. Onikeku : Le 104 a fait un appel à projet et j’ai postulé. C’était en 2008, année d’ouverture de ce lieu culturel, je finissais mes études au CNAC. Je pensais à ce moment là à traiter de la question des Sans-abri et de la notion de « homeless », d’être sans domicile fixe, le fait d’être toujours un nomade, à la recherche d’un lieu. C’est de là qu’a émergé le projet.

Le titre m’est venu au cours des mois d’avril, mai 2009। Je pensais à cette chose que l’on nomme « Home », la maison. Je me suis posé la question de savoir ce qu’était mon chez-moi. Et en pensant à mon enfance, au caractère polygame de la famille au sein de laquelle j’ai évolué, je me suis rendu compte que très jeune je cherchais déjà ma place.


D. D : Qu’est-ce que l’Exil dont parle le titre de votre spectacle et comment traduire ce concept dans la discipline qu’est la votre?


Q. Onikeku : L’Exil que j’évoque n’a pas seulement à voir avec le fait de voyager, en réalité il a plus trait à un questionnement sur soi, une recherche pour aller à la rencontre de soi, pour se créer selon l’image qui convient à soi-même, de définir ce que l’on veut pour soi-même. L’Exil est selon moi, un passage obligé pour tout artiste. Ça correspond parfois à cette période de la vie où l’on commence à être incompris des gens qui nous entourent, alors commence parfois le genre d’Exil dont je parle.

De nos jours nous vivons dans une société qui nous oblige à nous positionner par rapport à tel ou tel courant politique, religieux etc।, à savoir dire à quel pays nous appartenons. Alors, j’ai moi-même ressenti le besoin de définir d’où je venais ; Mais cette idée me perturbe, je n’aime pas l’idée de devoir appartenir à tel ou tel groupe, qu’il soit ethnique, religieux, politique, etc.


D. D : Votre approche est donc très personnelle même si vous vous êtes nourri de la lecture d’auteurs tels que Wole Sonika, Olu Oguibe ou encore Edward Saïd.


Q. Onikeku : Je ne suis pas à l’aise avec cette idée de définir le reste de l’humanité qui m’entoure comme « les autres »। Voilà, pour moi l’idée de l’exil, c’est de n’appartenir réellement à aucun groupe. Mais attention, je ne souhaite pas que l’on assimile cela à une sorte de « crise existentielle » car ce n’est vraiment pas le cas ici. Je suis, disons, dans une dynamique qui va me permettre de porter attention à la moindre partie de ce qui fait mon « MOI ». Je suis nigérian, je suis yorouba, je suis africain, je suis hétérosexuel, je suis musulman, je suis danseur, je suis tout ça à la fois, aussi pour moi ça ne fait pas sens de ne m’attacher qu’à un seul aspect de ma personnalité. Je ne veux pas avoir à choisir un aspect au détriment des autres. Evidemment, à un moment donné on est obligé de choisir, par la force des choses, de se définir par rapport aux « autres ». Je veux être dans la vie à part entière.


D. D : Il n’est donc pas question d’un exil politique ...


Q. Onikeku : Souvent, le thème de l’exil est associé à une idée politique – évidemment, on ne peut pas nier cet aspect – mais j’ai souhaité lui donner une autre dimension। En tant que danseur j’avoue que j’éprouve une certaine difficulté à m’exprimer avec les mots, et mon corps est pour moi le meilleur outil d’expression. Via la danse j’exprime ce que je suis. On pourra distinguer dans ma danse des éléments de hip-hop, de capoeira, de buto, de danse contemporaine. Ce corps est ce que j’appelle « un corps incarné » parce qu’il s’alimente de différentes choses, différents styles pour finalement n’en faire qu’un.


D. D : La danse vous paraît donc être approprié pour traiter ce thème ?


Q. Onikeku : Le thème de l’Exil pourrait d’après moi, se décliner en une multitude d’expression artistique, autre que la danse, si je voulais aller plus loin dans la réflexion. Je pourrais utiliser l’écriture, la vidéo, la musique, les jeux de lumière mais je ne tiens pas à enfermer le public dans mon exil, je veux qu’il vienne me voir performer et qu’il se divertisse devant mon spectacle. Je ne pourrais dire dans un livre, tout ce que je pense sur la question de l’Exil.

Jan 25, 2011

Charles Chaplin. The Great Dictator - speech

Human conception in the context of the modern world is debased by violence in many layers, which is a fair justification that the modern man is very much conditioned by two fundamental characters. Opportunism and greed. There is no such thing as society, but a bunch of individual people, making individual choices to promote their individual well being.

I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness - not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there's room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone.

The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls - has barricaded the world with hate - has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in man - cries for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world - millions of despairing men, women, and little children - victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say: 'Do not despair.' The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you and enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate, only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural!

Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of St Luke, it is written the kingdom of God is within man not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful - to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason - a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us unite!

Sources: 'My Autobiography' by Charles Chaplin.

Nov 11, 2010

Award and its Liability

The scene was somewhere in the Sahel, in the ancient Malian empire to be precise, it was around 2pm, after a lot of formalities, finally Angelin Preljocaj, president of the jury picks up the microphone to announce

"... and the laureate for the solo category in the 8th edition of the danse l'afrique danse is - Qudus ..."

I can't remember hearing my surname and probably the title of the winning work before I blanked out, none of the claps found their way into my ears, I turned my face down and muttered few words to thank my God. Could that be it? In one word, SUCCESS. I think I already had a feel of it and I know its temporality, I had learnt to clamp down on my pulse. I sensed the excited juice just about to start flowing and immediately I froze it back to normality. Keep still. Be still as water and hang on to your centre I told me. I rose my head up to realise the array of eyes directed towards me, as if something was badly expected of me. Those who didn't know who I was, thought I wasn't present, because all these took me about 3 minutes before Selim my Tunisian friend dragged my bag from me and poked me to go unto the podium.

The clapping and the screaming of my name were gradually taking form in my ears. Walking to the podium that was just 10 meters away, seemed like the longest walk I ever made. As I walked towards the podium, I felt a burden of responsibility on my shoulders and saw myself taking each step closer to the middle of a "disagreement" I have been rigorously engaging through my blog, my small talks in conversations and whenever the opportunity comes for me to air my opinion on certain logic of existence that appears to me illogical.

The decision - whether or not to partake in this biennial choreographic encounter - had lingered for more than three years before I eventually decided to participate. The decision came slowly along with a thought pattern that was gradually taking form with my understanding of the role of an artist, in his community and within a larger (global) context. My trouble with this phenomenon has been very much linked to my trouble with the term "Contemporary African dance" and my impatience with patterned, predictable reasoning and my refusal to ply the well trodden path.

This biennial has largely added to the systematized manner of thinking for most African choreographers, who systematically arranges themselves within this arrogantly defined box especially in place for them. This aggressive Africanist sentiment have informed the way "we" treat, analyse or consume works coming from Africa, it has succeeded in narrowing perspectives and producing rigidities in place of a creative openness to discovery and knowledge. I personally think that the moral purpose of this festival must be either restored or redefined for it to meet up with the practices and the artistic preoccupation of a new generation of artists who are presently freeing themselves from past attachments and rejecting the notion of a single identity or a single awareness, but rather a composite of cultures, identities and affiliations which marks the advent of new forms, beauties and new interests totally deracinated and dislocated from one place and one time.

As Kettly Noel (the festival director) handed me the microphone, followed by a “please be very brief” the microphone in my hand became a weapon, a tool to distinguish my voice from the voiceless, to gracefully place my words where they belong. I turned my face out into the audience, and suddenly words fail me in the sight of the numerous eyes, looking either down or up upon me. For the first time in my life i felt the intricacy of addressing an ambiguous crowd, where I have to speak and speak well, give hope to some and send a clear message to others. I was overwhelmed by emotion, i could feel myself exercising a deep breath control to stop the down flow of tears from my eyes, and finally I summoned my sinews and my nerves to my rescue.

I spoke “... I don’t know what to say... hmm, initially i didn’t wanted to partake in this competition, the only reason i decided to be here at this time, is to be able to inspire. The African youth has been over-traumatized with questions of political injustice, economic imbalance and societal pressure that they stopped dreaming, my dreams are what got me here today, I urge all you young, brilliant creative artists here today, to continue to dream, you are good enough and I know that very soon change is gonna come."

I recognize that I have moved long beyond compromise and it strikes me more and more that my experience as an artiste, is unique among the one billion Africans spread across the globe. As i walked back to my seat, the numerous congratulations that escorted me didn't help in containing the tear drops; I could hold it back no more. So why did i cry? It remained a question I ask myself till now. Here I am, me, who had to choose between dance and home at some point, me, who had to fight not for recognition but for a mere space of expression. Me, who refused to be "the good boy" because I had a dream, now, I am assuming a place of authority and becoming an example for an entire generation of artists. I can feel the burden of this responsibility already.