Excitement Galore As DanceDeal Foundation Debuts in Lagos

It was excitement galore for the youths when DanceDeal Foundation, an initiative of Corporate Dance World, showcased its first set of professional dancers during An Evening of Dance recently at Terra Kulture in Lagos. The Foundation, which is designed to create a haven for dance in Nigeria, will help young talented individuals who are gifted with the art of dancing to maximise their potentials and carve a niche in the mainstream of the entertainment industry.    

 

The event had a combination of who-is-who in the arts, music and literary sectors with notable personalities like the Vice Chancellor of the Lagos State University, Professor Dapo Obafuwa, Provost of LUTH, Professor Folashade Ogunsola, Mr. Fela Durotoye, Mrs. Lai Koiki of Greensprings Schools and other top representatives from the corporate circle. While guests, friends and well-wishers of the new foundation celebrated admits lots of fun and cultural entertainment, enjoying the best of creativity with dance styles ranging from the art of choreography to basic dance techniques in Latin & Ballroom, Contemporary African Dance, Broadway, Hip-hop, Indigenous Nigerian Dances among others. 

 

According to the Dance Director, Corporate Dance World, Mr. Bimbo Obafuwa, “the foundation is geared towards providing free and professional dance training for talented dancers all over Nigeria, believing it will bridge the gap between professionalism and half-baked dancers in the arts and entertainment industry”. It will empower and strengthen dancers of different gender, both locally and internationally which cumulates into an improved structure and market for dance institutions in Nigeria, he said.   

Segun Lawal, a Partner and Fellow of The Kennedy Centre for Performing Arts, noted that “even if the necessary facilities for dance are available in the country, professional management of Arts still poses and remains the greatest challenge in this part of the world because it the concept needs to be driven by the maximization of young talents” He advised, it was time Nigerians sharpened their art and introduced cutting edge management skills to achieve the desired results in the years ahead.  

 

The Evening of Dance initiative rekindled the spirit of creativity in several individuals as talented dancers’ showcased exact realities and experience, using drama story-lines of activities in the Nigerian environment. One after the other, the group of dance graduates performed in an artistic dance drama to relay the historical revelation behind the concept of noise vis-à-vis the art of silence. The dance showed how sound effects break the presence of silence in the society and creates opportunities where different steps and sequence were used to tell stories of events like – the unusual killings of loved ones, youth’s unemployment saga and love as an attribute of societal unity. While the popular Wazobia performance wowed all the audience, as they could not stop applauding the sensations created with the African talking drums and colourful cultural costumes which represents the rich heritage of Nigeria.  

 

Furthermore, the Foundation intends to offer trainings and workshops nationally and internationally through partnership packages, where individuals will have the opportunity to learn other specialized genre of dance like gumboot, Bollywood, Masai, Kwaito, American Rhythm and Smooth Standard, Show Dance and Afro-jazz to mention a few. The partnership categories include: The Pace, The Cruise, The jet, The Rocket and an International Dance training Program. With packages ranging from a grand total of N790,000 to N10,310,000 for the different partnership platforms in the foundation. 

 

The DanceDeal Training Foundation is a non-profit and creative organisation designed to maximize the potentials and empower the youths through dance. It has developed a dance imitative tagged “LOYD” meaning Live out Your Dreams, which is aimed at providing free dance classes in 10 public schools weekly for the entire calendar year. DanceDeal also entered a partnership with Meal4All early this year to provide a tailored community service project themed “Bon appetite” basically to provide food for the 10 public schools monthly.