Qudus ONIKEKU was born in Lagos. A graduate of The National Higher School of Circus Arts. France, where he presently lives. One could find traces of traditional Nigerian dances, hip hop, capoeira, acrobatics and contemporary vocabularies in his dance, while he draws on his Yoruba culture and several other influences, to weave a certain understanding of the tragedy of human condition. For more than a decade, he has been present in the Nigerian choreographic scene, and part of the new generation creators springing up from Africa. Known in Europe, in the USA, Latin America and the Caribbean for his solo pieces, writings and research projects. He has as well toured widely with works of renowned artistes such as Heddy Maalem, Christopher Abdul Onibasa, George Lavaudent, Jean Claude Galotta and Mouise Touré.
Since 2007, Qudus has been taking his art closer to the people, when he directed and produced an alternative space project in Africa, followed by a documentary film "Do We Need Cola Cola to Dance?”. This project gained recognition from the French government, where it was named the Laureate of the Envie d'agir program, Defi jeune 2007, and in the Youth in Action initiative program in 2008, powered by the European Commission. The project was as well awarded a grant by the Prince Claus Funds in the Netherlands. Qudus has since 2000 received several awards for the recognition of his dynamic input to the dance world
Current project
Presentation of current project
MY EXILE IS IN MY HEAD (new creation)
IN RESIDENCY AT 104 (Paris) FROM DECEMBER, 12 TO MAY, 12 2010
http://www.104.fr/en/Artists/A168-Qudus_Onikeku
...More than a word,Exile is a condition. It is a place, a knowledge, a narrative, but most importantly, it is a psychic space which is obvious to those who inhibit it, those who must engage and wrestle with it because only by so doing can they come to terms with it. Exile is poignant because it is bracketed by loss, it is not so much about movement, relocation or departure as it is about loss: of territory, of the familiar and the familial, of certainty, but most frighteningly, by the grave probability of the loss of memory.
Exile is a rupture, the cessation of things previously taken for granted, the collapse of a world of relative certainties, and therein lies its stings. It also underlines the inescapable desirability of belonging. It may be questioned, even ridiculed, but only those who have experience such loss can understand the rootlessness - and ruthlessness - of existence in the shiftless, treacherous territory of exile. Exile offers a refuge, but no consolation or pride. Every engagement with the lived experience of exile finds it’s most persuasive explanation not in fascination for there is no such thing as fascination for exile, but rather in the individual quest to come to terms with the fact of exile. Every such effort is an attempt to explain exile more to oneself than to others. How, then, does one cope with the fact of exile? Through art the exile is able to escape the burden of circumstance, even the temptation of bitterness and recrimination, and instead question, explore, ruminate, and attempt to repossess fragments of that which is lost. Through art the exile may return, in a manner of speaking, by reconstituting the past, participating in the present, as well as envisioning a new world.
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Choreography : Qudus Onikeku
Music : Charles Amblard
Video : Isaak Lartey
Light engineer : Guillaume Fesneau
Script by Wole Soyinka and photography by Agnès Chefei.
Photos of the current project
