#WeAlmostForgot – Abuja Premiere

26 June – 7pm – National University Commission Auditorium Maitama, Abuja.

After 10 years in Paris, Qudus Onikeku returns to Nigeria to present his latest contemporary dance production “We Almost Forgot”. The premiere will be held in Berlin, then in Lagos and Abuja, with Keziah Jones as a musical director.

About the show:

How do we attain Grace within the muffling burden of memories? How do we remember when there are no words, when all we have is body memories, how does such bodies dance again? The aim is to make a fiction of witness accounts of stories of individuals who have witnessed atrocities, and to evoke memories and the body consciousness.

On stage: 7 dancers from varied dance backgrounds and identities and a story-teller. Through the use of high energy movements, story telling, singing and music, the production questions the past and present: beyond history and memory, what else has the past got to offer the present?

Crew:

Choreographer : Qudus Onikeku | Dancers : Deborah Aiyegbeni, Sonia Al-Khadir, Gaëlle Ikonda, Tidiani N’Diaye, Qudus Onikeku, Gwen Rakotovao |Story-teller: Ese Brume |Musical creation: Keziah Jones | Text : Ese Brume |Lighting creation: Matthew Yusuf | Costume designer : Abolore Sobayo | Video-maker: Isaac Lartey

Coproduction : Parc de la Villette, Paris | Ballhaus Naunystrasse, Berlin | CCN de Créteil et du Val de Marne/ Cie Käfig | Collectif Culture Essonne | Fontenay-en-Scènes, Fontenay-sous-Bois| Goethe Institute, Lagos – Nigéria | Théâtre Paul Eluard, Choisy-le-roi | La Briqueterie/CDC du Val-de-Marne | Théâtre de L’Arlequin, Morsang-sur-Orge

Residency: Théâtre de l’Arlequin, Morsang-sur-Orge | Parc de la Villette, Paris | CCN de Créteil et du Val de Marne/ Cie Käfig |CDC La Briqueterie, Vitry-sur-Seine | Ballhaus Naunystrasse, Berlin – Allemagne | Théâtre Paul Eluard, Choisy-le-roi | Fontenay-en-Scènes, Fontenay-sous-Bois. Sponsors: Air France, Gabon Oregon

Conception and Choreography by QUDUS ONIKEKU

Music Direction by KEZIAH JONES

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