An Evening of Dance: "Fight!'

So this past weekend was quite a busy one for me. While I was watching Interstellar with Deola, right before we went to Coral Blue, I got a phone call from a good family friend of mine Namir, who had extra tickets to a dance production taking place at Muson Centre called "Fight". It was a super tight squeeze but anyone that knows me knows that I love stage productions and so I plotted and rearranged my day and made it to Muson Centre just in time. When I think of arts, I rarely remember contemporary dance to be one of the best forms of conveying messages and feelings but this was a nice reminder.

The theme of the production was "fight" obvious huh... And there were various scenarios pulled from the theme. I don't have pictures from every single dance because there were a lot of lighting effects and my camera couldn't always keep up.

 The very first dance was to Breathe Me by Sia, which is a song that I lovee! If you haven't heard this song before then stop what you're doing and YouTube it right now! Well... When you're done reading it. Depending on my current state of mind the song has the ability to move me to tears and even though I was very chipper that day, watching the dancers move so fluidly and gracefully definitely brought a tear to my eye.

This dancer moved to a spoken word piece about fighting with ones inner demons and using positive thoughts to conquer the negative being that is in almost all of us. It was quite an emotive piece and I liked that it was different to the rest.

They also performed to Give Me Love by Ed Sheeran and it was really really cool. I got some nice shots of one of the couples although this one was performed by almost all if not all the dancers.

The next one was about a girl in an abusive relationship and was by far my favourite because the dancers were SPECTACULAR. They were soo connected with each other and the music they danced to was completely wordless which made it even more powerful. They also used the lighting to convey the mood and it was red when times were bad and blue when things were better.

There was also a dance about traditional dancers in an Igbo village fighting for the hand of the King's daughter. This one was hilarious, all the dancers really got into character as villagers and the choreography was excellent too. The costumes were also quite colourful and fun.

I unfortunately couldn't stay till the end, even though I pushed it and stayed an extra 30 minutes longer than I had planned. All in all it was an interesting performance and I'm grateful to Namir for remembering me :)

My only negative comment is that I wish it was more of a connected story rather than a bunch of stories with the same theme because this would have drawn me in a lot more but it was good nonetheless! Someone needs to tell me how exactly people advertise for these things though because I almost never hear about it until the day of the production and then I'm fortunate enough to be able to score some tickets.

Are there any good websites or people to follow on social media platforms to get information on upcoming theatre productions?

October Snippets from The Nigerian Theatre and Film Scene.

So I started thinking about writing this post and putting it up sometime soon (read procrastinating) until I found out that today would have been the great Fela Anikulapo Kuti's 76th birthday and then I just knew I had to quit being lazy and put it up today. You're probably wondering what Fela has to do with this post and the answer is not a whole lot BUT, this past month I've been enjoying a lot more of the Nigerian theatre and films scene, a scene that I wholly love immersing myself in.

A lot of Lagosians, especially people that recently moved back, always complain that there's nothing to do in Lagos but go out and drink. While it's true that drinking IS one of our favourite past times, it's definitely not the only thing to do. I often tell people that complain that if they just TRY they will find something to pique their interest. My interest was definitely piqued by the arts scene and here's a couple of things I've done this month.

I went to Eko Hotel for the premier of "October 1" a 'psychological thriller played against the backdrop of Nigeria's Independence Day'. This movie was SO brilliant, it wasn't initially what I expected but it definitely went beyond my expectations and took my expectations of Nigerian movies to a whole new level. It was produced and directed by Kunle Afolayan who also plays a role in the film and honestly I don't know a single person that has watched it and not immediately loved it. Seeing such high quality from Nigerians, by Nigerians, for Nigerians and the world literally makes my heart swell with pride. That's not to say the film has no flaws though but why pick at the flaws when you can simply appreciate the beauty.

In fact the movie was so good that I've already seen it twice! The second time actually ON independence day and was at a film festival in Lagos towards the end of September called Lights, Camera, Africa! which is actually in its 4th year now. I went with a friend who was keen on seeing the movie and the viewing ended in a Q&A session with the director and one of the main characters. The Q&A really raised some important questions not only about the film but on how Nigeria should move forward on it's 54th year of independence. One thing that really struck a chord with me was when we were talking about the tribes general disdain for each other, Mr. Sadiq Daba who plays Detective Wazuri stood up and declared "I am a Hausa man, my wife is Yoruba, we have children. If you split Nigeria where do I go? Where does my wife go? Where do my children go? Would you so thoughtlessly split up my family?" Food for thought.

Well enough on the seriousness and implications of "October 1", on Saturday I went with my mum to the final showing of a stage play called "The Wives" written by Ahmed Yerima and produced by Kemi Lala Akindoju and it was HILARIOUS! No like seriously, I was crying real life tears of laughter. The play starred the dons of the game like Joke Silva, Jide Kosoko, Kate Henshaw and Iretiola Doyle, with Lala Akindoju also playing the role of the youngest wife "iyawo kekere". I was super excited at the end when I got to meet Ms. Akindoju and I really hope they come back again over Christmas because I would definitely watch it again. I got some stills from the play though, here they are:

So I've told you guys about things that happened in the past, this is something that is STILL happening, the release of a documentary on the life of this musical genius and Nigerian legend, Fela! It's called "Finding Fela" and it premiered at The Shrine on Sunday and is now out in Silverbird cinemas. I already know what I'm going to do this weekend... 

What have you guys watched recently or are you going to watch soon? Preferably something steeped in African culture. Feel free to drop book titles as well, I'm currently reading "We Need New Names" by Zimbabwean author NoViolet Bulawayo.

P.S. Chimamanda's book turned film "Half of a Yellow Sun" deserves an honorary mention even though it didn't happen this month!

The Phantom and The Sushi

You know that moment when you realise the massive backlog of things you have to do and you have no idea how you're going to get it all done on time? Well I'm having one of those moments right now realising how much backlog there is on this little old blog. It's so weird to think that I haven't posted about two of the most amazing experiences of the summer! Basically my best friend Flaky came to spend two weeks of her summer with me in London, sadly it wasn't the best timing because she came in August and I was in the full throes of my dissertation and not in the mood to go out much. Saying all that though there was NO WAY I was missing out on our two favourite and now compulsory things to do together in any city! Theatre and sushi! Last year when we were in New York together we saw Chicago on Broadway and went to Ruby Foo's for sushi (I think that's what it was called!) which were both amazing and so this year we knew it had to be something even better!

Her Majesty's Theatre! Housing the famous musical The Phantom of The Opera. Neither of us knew much about the plot besides the obvious and this ended up being perfect because we were thrilled, surprised and shocked all in equal measure throughout the show! I loved the soundtrack so much that it became my background music for the next 3 weeks after the show, I'm sure I can now sing the entire musical from start to finish albeit mostly off key! The voices of the actors were beyond amazing, even more so than I expected and everyone knows the difference between an amazing show and an average show is the delivery of the songs.

These two photos were taken outside the theatre. The picture on the right really sums up a lot of the story. Young damsel is bewitched by sexy but terrifying man in a mask.

After the exhilarating show which we both agreed was miles better than Chicago (London- 1, New York- nil). For sushi we had to decide between Zuma and Sushi Samba but in the spirit of tryong something new, we head to Liverpool Street to try out the much praised Sushi Samba on the 38th floor of the Heron Tower. I will admit I've never been in a place so high up in all my time at London (the eye doesn't count) and so seeing the skyline stretching for miles and miles beneath us from the glass elevator as we went up was pretty breathtaking.

My date was on her phone pretending to be uninterested by the amazing views and amazing service we were receiving (I know she was bursting inside with joy really!)

I honestly think it is safe to say that the sushi was as breathtaking or even more so than the views! 

When we were served up with this bad boy of a platter, Flaky promptly put her phone down and we practically inhaled the whole lot! If only I could remember what it was called. It's no exaggeration when I say that every single one of those bad boys exploded with flavour as soon as I sunk my teeth into them. Typing this right now on an empty stomach is making me really crave some awesome sushi, I'm sure there's somewhere in Manchester that can satisfy my craving! The drinks were a bit more on the average side and at about £10 each we were a bit pissed that we hadn't just gone with soft drinks and put more money towards sushi! But never mind, there shall certainly be a next time! 

They are still pretty though! Just not completely worth it in my opinion.

On our way out we stopped by the bar just to check it out and were greeted by the most amazing tree inside! Looking at this picture reminds me so much of autumn, there's just something about orange trees that makes my heart sing! Haha. I even saw a real life one in York the other time, but more on that later.

In the theatre and sushi battle, I think it's safe to say London took this round, sorry NYC! Better luck next time. Please please someone, recommend me a yummy sushi place to try out in Manchester, I'd be eternally grateful!

Reni x

P.S. You know that dissertation I kept sacrificing everything for? Well the jury's back in and it was all worth it! I'm graduating with a Distinction baybay!