Qudus Onikeku on Bringing Nigeria to Newcastle
Nigerian dancer and choreographer Qudus Onikeku shares how his dance creation, Re:INCARNATION, brings his home city of Lagos to Newcastle.
Following its UK premiere at London’s Southbank Centre, the production will visit Newcastle Theatre Royal (Tue 15 & Wed 16 Oct). Re:INCARNATION features ten dancers and two musicians and promises to be a rich exploration of one of the world’s most fascinating cultures.
The Nigerian megalopolis of Lagos is youthful and exciting. Expected to become the world’s biggest city by the turn of the century, it is one of the beating hearts of Africa.
Created by Lagos-born dancer and choreographer Qudus Onikeku, Re:INCARNATION is inspired by the city, its people, its past and its present.
“Lagos is very much captured in the show,” says Qudus, whose work has been showcased across the globe. “The energy of Lagos, the vibrancy, the youthfulness, the craziness, the madness, the beauty, the ugliness – are what I was really inspired by.”
He adds, “The production is showcasing the young energy encapsulated in the city with a lot of joy and a lot of colour.”
Re:INCARNATION combines a live soundtrack featuring West African music genre Afrobeats with dynamic dancing including contemporary, salsa and hip hop as well as street styles, wacking and krump. Vivid masks and costumes and colour-soaked lighting complete the picture. For Qudus, all of the elements coming together is fundamental to creating a successful spectacle.
“I try as much as I can to involve the artists, whether it’s the costumier, the lighting designer, the sound artist, the dancers or the scenographer, in a collective creative process where we also highlight the authenticity and originality of each individual,” he says.
In Re:INCARNATION, Qudus is exploring how young people fuse life today with influences from the past. He is connecting that spirit of youth with the ancient philosophy of the Yoruba people, who have lived in Nigeria for centuries.
“The notion of dying and being reborn in a continuous circle of reincarnation is what I wanted to capture in the show. The young dancers, despite their seeming disconnection with ancient philosophies, are in fact reproducing the codes and forms of the past."
“The Yoruba don’t believe in life after death, they believe in different cycles of life, different types of incarnations. An experience doesn’t need to be in one lifetime, it could be in a cycle of lifetimes. We try to remember that when we do a performance.”
Qudus trained in France but returned to Lagos in 2014, establishing The QDance Center and building a reputation for new and exciting work. Re:INCARNATION was premiered in France in 2021 and has toured extensively since then, but will visit Newcastle and the UK for the first time in October.
“One amazing thing about this show is that whether we are in Europe, America or Africa, people connect to it in a very interesting way,” he says. “Maybe that’s because it was created after Covid and Black Lives Matter and there was a certain kind of openness and an awareness of alternative philosophies or ideologies.
“Also Instagram and TikTok have helped popularise dance and music forms coming from West Africa, so it feels like we are adding into a tradition that is already ahead of us!”
Qudus is looking forward to the show’s UK tour which is presented by Dance Consortium, a group of 19 large-scale venues with a shared passion for bringing the best global contemporary dance to Britain and Ireland. Previous Dance Consortium productions delighting audiences at Newcastle Theatre Royal in recent years have included Ailey 2, Sao Paulo Dance Company and NDT2.
“We are very excited about Re:INCARNATION coming to the UK,” he says. “It is a country that has a long history with Nigeria and Nigerian culture. So, this work becomes an addition to that palette, or archive, of Nigerian artists and artforms which have been able to make a significant presence in the UK.”
Qudus is eager to share Re:INCARNATION with British audiences. He mentions novelists Chinua Achebe and Ben Okri, musician Fela Kuti, and painter Chris Ofili; “These are people that I consider to be like kin. To be in the spaces where they have been seen and heard is really an honour for me.”
“It’s a show that is quite multi-faceted but one thing that I know people have always got out of it is this vibrancy, this young energy that we are bringing. It’s a shared moment of beauty and vivacity and I hope that we can add joy to our world.”
Re:INCARNATION plays Newcastle Theatre Royal (Tue 15 & Wed 16 Oct). Tickets can be purchased at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 0191 232 7010.
