Dancers, artists, creatives to light up Lagos for DanceGathering 2019

DanceGathering, an annual multi-cultural dance festival, is set to hold its third edition in Lagos, featuring 79 creatives from 27 countries.

The festival will feature dancers, choreographers, visual artists, philosophers, scholars, DJs, Ifa priests, art historians, filmmakers, multidisciplinary artists, curators, architects, photographers, performance artistes, writers, singers, drummers, musicians, among others.

According to Qudus Onikeku, artistic director and co-curator of the festival, the dance fiesta provides an opportunity for creative collaborations and knowledge sharing for the benefit of all and sundry.

Commenting on the theme of the festival, ‘Afrospace’, Onikeku said the 2019 edition seeks to “make art and thoughts come alive and to resonate with one another”.

He said: “DanceGathering is built on practical collaborations and mutual sharing of knowledge and privileges, those previously and historically predetermined by the warped values laid down by racism, patriarchy, nationalism, gender and other politics of iniquity.

“This isn’t a denial of difference, but an acceptance of our own individual and collective privileges and interdependently bringing them on board, for diversity, for equity, inclusion and for the service of others who don’t enjoy same level of privilege.

“DanceGathering 2019 will offer an opportunity for us to express and interweave those fleeting emotions, imageries and imaginations borne of consciousness and allow them to enrich our lives’ choices here now.”

The two-week event is scheduled to hold from February 11 to 24.