Why Do YOU Dance???

To dance is to live. Movement is life and part of the definition of life. When I do not move, I feel less alive, like my breath is stopped. I am compelled to move, it does not feel like a choice. Dancing is an expression of one's physicality, ideas, and emotions, and extends energy into space. It is so basic and primal. Along with music, it ties us into the rhythms and energy of the universe and each other. Learning to dance, developing one's own technique, as well as dancing socially, choreographing, and performing with others, can be a spiritual journey. We learn of our possibilities and limits. We learn of our own and other's aspirations, how we can interact with others, nature, and space. The Dance can be a mirror and reflection of our souls. It allows us to express love as well as pain, to play, to create...

We know that dance as a form of expression is as old as the history of existence - everyone dances in one way or another. For our ewaBAMIJO brochure, we are collecting a worldwide series of responses, to the question. Why Do YOU Dance??? and as we receive responses via email, Twitter and Facebook, we post them HERE and on the blog www.ewabamijo.blogspot.com. So go ahead, tell us why you dance!

www.ewabamijo.com
info@ewabamijo.com

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Chris Aiken (USA) - I dance because it is the thing in life which makes me feel most alive and because of the incredible opportunities dance creates for people to come together and to be creative.

Ajagbe Moriam (Nigeria) - I dance 4 fun n 2 relief me 4m stress.

Laurie Charlier (France) - It makes something in my body that i can't explain, it's like a heatwave, i forgot everything around me and all my emotions are living in my movements.

Rasul Ademilola Adelakun (Nigeria) - I can't really tell, music alwaays get to me, once i hear music i dance, its just in my soul to dance.

Lara James (Nigeria) - Dance? for me its abinibi not ability.its spiritual cos when i dance i do forget everything around me.its also a form expression,sexual,power,love,anger,anxiety,name it.i remember april 25th 2004.i lost my dad 4pm on a sunday and i had to be on stage at 9pm with femi kuti.i was there and nobody knew i lost my dad until after d show cos i cried my heart out after d show.

Jules Beckman (France/USA) - Dance to get thru life, to get thru death, to grieve, to feel connected to earth, sky. to connect to the present. dance to forgive. dance to remember. dance for a vision. to connect with ancestors. dance as prayer. dance as mutation and as Resistance. dance to get my body back from the media that wants me to hate myself so they can sell me stuff. dance to thaw out. dance the numbness away. dance to make the bones breathe. dance the body transparent. dance against disease. dance to bust a move to bust out to change my mind. to lose my mind and come to my senses. dance with my kids. children love dance. dance to make friends. at a jam, at a club, in the street, on stage, in the kitchen...cuz life is much too short to be shy.

Olanrewaju Akanbi (Nigeria)
I dance to relax. To show excitement.
I dance to announce my level of merriment.
I dance, Oh yes I love to dance...
I dance at different times for different reasons.
I do different kinda dance at different seasons.
I dance to calm my nerves when there's allota preasure.
I dance when there seems to be a lot to treasure.
I dance when God had done it, is doing it, or when I have to convince Him to - or even for thanking Him in anticipation believing He had done it...
Why do I dance? I already told ya.

Lawla Gmore (Nigeria)
WhY do I dance? Dats a good question. I dance because it makes me feel alive, I dance because I love to, I dance because when am dancing I feel whole. Dancing has become a part of me even though am not a professinal dancer, I dance when d inspiration sets on me, I dance when am feeling low in d spirit, I dance when am happy, to excercise I dance, when am even in d shower I dance, I even dance in my tots. Its funny thinking dat my whole life I have been dancing and I never tot of it. Q'dance u know like I do dat dancing will always be an important part of life cuz u can never be sad or unhappy when dancing. Now ask me why do I dance again and I will tell u I dance because it lightens up my life.

Damil Huthman (Nigeria)
I dance because it makes me feel better and improves my self esteem.

Bolanle Ishola (Nigeria)
We dance 2 celebrate life,while some dance 2 express their feelings,we also dance 2 exercise our body&ease our pains

Uche Uwadinachi (Nigeria)
I dance to regain a lost consciousness.

Alex Rodabaugh (USA) - If I were to ever stop dancing, my life would lose the magic, beauty and amazement that I keep deep in my heart. Plus it would be such a waste of my hyper-extension.

adashu israel (Nigeria)

Dance is a necessary ingredient for living as well as an integral part of the human life.  It is a powerful tool of expression for the human mind and way of life (culture). Similarly, dance is a tool of communication between humans, well as their relationship with supernatural forces. Against this background, humans engage in dancing activities to appease supernatural beings in moments of great ordeal. On the other hand, people dance to indicate a sign of respect to instituted authority or acceptance for visitors etc. However, the life of an African is a perpetual celebration, which implies that the African is a perpetual dancer. In Africa, every occasion presents an opportunity for dancing. Dance is necessary ingredient in naming, wedding, burial, traditional and other ceremonies. In sum, dance is the expression of the joys and the pains of the human mind. There is hardly a dancing performance without a message communicated no matter how absurd the message is. 

ewaBAMIJO now bi-annual, goes international

July 09, 2009 
ewaBAMIJO now bi-annual, goes international
By Chuks Nwanne. The Guardian.

INITIATED in 2005 with the aim of expanding the dance frontiers in the country, ewaBAMIJO (EBJ) was then organised as a one-day event that assembled artists of different genres such as dancers, musicians, comedians, poets, actors and journalists to enforce their collective impact on the society.

A brainchild of Yk Projects, an organisation, legally registered and operates between Nigeria and France as an artistic entity, EBJ made efforts to re-unite new generation artists from different sectors of the art, with the intent of promoting creative enterprise especially at the grassroots.

With this year's edition of the event billed to open October 27 through 31, YK Projects has unveiled plans to make the event a bi-annual international festival. In line with the latest change in the nature of the programme, the oragnisers are presently calling for proposals and submission of works of arts from interested members of the public. The submission, according to the team, could be on new/existing or a commissioned work.

Explaining the rational behind the call, the artistic director of the project, Qudus Onikeku informed that the call was geared towards the plan to make the event an international feast.

"With this edition, we call for the renovation of the practices and theoretical interface of contemporary art around the world. The idea is to depart from all pervasive socio-political discourse and fantasies and work together with other kind of artists, scholars, students, critics and our audience. With this, we plan to discover new modes of thinking and develop new analytical tools for dealing with the arts world under our circumstances, and bring attention to the 'limits of globalisation'."

The emphasis on the new and existing works, Onikelu explained, "we wish to present original boundary-breaking, cutting edge, socially-engaged performance works to people from all walks of life. We are particularly, though not exclusively, interested in collaborative interdisciplinary works that reunite two or more artistic expressions. We will not accept works less than 15 minutes or more than 30 minutes."

For commissioned works, interested applicants are expected to focus on specific works that could be performed in public and non-conventional spaces.

"Not plays or specific dance pieces in this context, but performance art pieces and performance installations. However, public space acts, improvisations, road shows etc, made by interesting collaborative teams or individuals will attract our interest."

Proposals from interested Nigerians should be "submitted online through proposals@ewabamijo.com, indicating which component you wish to apply for, outlining the form and the content of the piece, the creative team, the type of venue and size of performance, latest by August 10, 2009. An audio or video sample of your work would be advantageous.

"Selected participants should be ready to collaborate with other disciplines. The creative team of ewaBAMIJO might find different proposals from two or more distinct artists, prepositional to merge ideas, but no decision shall be taken without their consent," Qudus pledged.

Within its few years of existence, Yk Projects has left its imprint on the subconscious of dance community globally as the outfit gets more involved in the contemporary dance and circus art discourse in Africa, Europe and America at large, through stage performances, street happenings, archives of dance related materials, documentary films, articles, blogging, workshops and participation in big festivals and conferences.

Its activities include creations and performances (mainly dance, new circus art and street arts with the fusion of other media), coverage and documentation of art related profiles for media and archival purposes, event organizations such as ewaBAMIJO, public jams, workshops and conferences.

Message to our volunteers

Good day Good people.

As WE move ahead with OUR never ending aspiration... ewaBAMIJO is improving from day to day, and in the past days, we've received several emails requesting for detail for volunteering. WE are resending this mail to answer such questions and for the benefit of our new members. 

As part of our strategies to achieve our objectives: We've put in place the EBJ ONE MINUTE media campaign, with notable faces like Amb. Olusegun Olusola, Prof Ahmed Yerima, Tunde Kelani, Asa, Nomoreloss and Dj jimmy jatt. This kicks off a months prior the festival, this will be proffered with a high sense of esteem and professionalism, and well broadcast nationwide, it is our own way of getting the public aware of such existence though such endorsement.

We have as well began EBJ mobilisation of a minimum of 100 volunteers to adhere to the festival as EBJ volunteers, to host the over 500 guests and participant coming from other parts of the country, as well as from outside the country. This we believe will in a way create relationships, and at the same time, give people a sense of ownership of the festival to a certain level.

So this is where we feel the need to begin a concrete relationship with our adherents on facebook, we already have few volunteers who shall be coming in from inside and outside Nigeria, and we seek more volunteers from every part of the world, and the objectives laid down for our volunteers are pretty simple.

PRE EBJ VOLUNTEERS -

*SPREAD THE WORD ON FACEBOOK
*INVITE ALL YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK TO JOIN THE GROUP
*TAG YOURSELF IN ANY OF THE EBJ PHOTOS ON THE GROUP AND USE THEM AS YOUR PROFILE PIX.
*GIVE SUGGESTIONS AND BE PART OF DISCUSSIONS ON THE GROUP.
VISIT THE GROUP AT LEAST ONCE IN A WEEK FOR UPDATES.

EBJ VOLUNTEERS - FOR THE EBJ PROPER.

AS PART OF OUR STRATEGIES OF CREATING A WHOLE NEW IMAGE OF WHO LAGOSIANS ARE TO OUR INVITED GUESTS AND WHAT LAGOS IS ALL ABOUT.

*EBJ IS PLANNING A TOUR AROUND SECONDARY SCHOOLS AND HIGHER INSTITUTIONS IN LAGOS, WE NEED VOLUNTEERS.
*WE NEED GOOD PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN LAGOS AND CAN VOLUNTEER, TO ACCOMMODATE ONE OR TWO PEOPLE COMING IN FROM OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY OR OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD.
*WE NEED GOOD PEOPLE TO HOST OUR INVITED GUEST FROM ALL AROUND THE WORLD DURING THE ENTIRE PERIOD OF THE FESTIVAL.
*WE NEED VOLUNTEERS TO BE AT OUR TICKET SALES OUTLETS AROUND LAGOS.
*WE NEED USHERS AND GATE KEEPERS DURING THE INDOOR EVENTS.
*AND FINALLY WE NEED TO CREATE A FESTIVE MOOD.

BENEFIT FOR VOLUNTEERS -

WE ARE VERY MUCH AWARE OF THE FACT THAT, NO AMOUNT PAID TO OUR VOLUNTEERS WILL BE ENOUGH TO SAY THANK YOU, AND AS WE ALSO INITIATE SUCH IDEA BASED ON A SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, WE CAN ONLY RECIPROCATE BY SHOWING KIND GESTURES.

*EVERY VOLUNTEER THAT TAKE PART IN MAKING THIS FIRST INTERNATIONAL EDITION OF EBJ A SUCCESS, GETS HIM OR HERSELF A FREE TICKET TO ALL INDOOR EVENTS, AN EBJ T.SHIRT, HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE FURTHER INSIGHT TO THE PERFORMING ARTS WORLD AND GETTING CLOSER TO PRACTITIONERS. FINALLY WE ARE DEDICATING THE CENTER SPREAD OF OUR MIND-BLOWING PROGRAM OF EVENT TO ALL THE NAMES OF OUR VOLUNTEERS, NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY ARE, WHICH ALSO WIN THEM A COPY EACH, AND THIS WILL BE DESIGNED IN COLLABORATION WITH SWITCHEDONNAIJA MAGAZINE.

FOR ANTICIPATING VOLUNTEERS PLEASE DROP YOUR CONTACTS AND A BRIEF OF YOU IN ykprojectsng@gmail.com or info@ewabamijo.com

LET'S THROW LIGHT ON THE CITY OF LAGOS. AND SHOW TO THE WORLD THAT THERE ARE SHORT-CUTS TO HAPPINESS.

BEST REGARDS.

Qudus ONIKEKU.
Artistic Director
ewaBAMIJO.
www.ewabamijo.com

Lagos in multiple DANCE mode.

Lagos are you ready for this?

There used to be arts festivals in Lagos but this year will be a different year with a different statement. Without being complex, this is simply called THE DANCE REVOLUTION.

We would like to inform you that ewaBAMIJO will be collaborating with TRUFESTA (a dance festival organised by Dayo Liadi - IJODEE), Dance Meet Danse festival (organised by the French Cultural Center) and WiAiA (in collaboration with SPARCK). 
All working hand in hand, so as to have a better and more successful Dance experience without loosing the aims and objectives of each festival.

PLEASE NOTE THE DATES.

26th of October through 1st of November.
Dance meet Danse festival 
27th till 31st of October.
ewaBAMIJO interdisciplinary arts Festival 
26th till 31st of October.
TRUFESTA International workshop with guest Choreographers/Dance Teachers
Ist to 3rd of November 
ewaBAMIJO writers' forum (WiAiA in collaboration with SPARCK. South Africa)
1st till 8th of November.
TRUFESTA festival 

All these are happening in Lagos almost at the same time so its the best time to be in Lagos.

For those who are traveling into Lagos. It is highly advisable to book your flight tickets ahead of time, you should figure out the best comfortable option for you to travel with, you have all the dates above and for the hotels, as soon as we get your request for participation, we shall let you know the options on ground.
For further details send us an email on info@ewabamijo.com

NB: The doors are still opened for volunteers.

Thanks for joining in this journey.

Regards. 

Yk Projects.
+2348055276317
www.ewabamijo.com