Review: Qudus Onikeku | The QDance Co

Nigeria’s pre-eminent contemporary dance company is playing the Festival Theatre this week, and one cannot doubt the ensemble’s energy or commitment. The show’s 90 minutes are composed and choreographed around the cycle of life as seen through the twin lenses of Yoruba philosophy and modern urban life in Lagos.

Opening on a sharp tableau of highly stylised popping & locking which tells the story of a birth, the production gradually throws off its contemporary steps and clothes, to delve into more atavistic movements to portray death, and finally, re-birth.

The ten dancers, and two on-stage musicians, drummer Daniel Ifeanyi Anumudu and Simeon Promise Lawrence on guitar and synthesiser, give it their all, but the results are mixed.

“… one cannot doubt the ensemble’s energy or commitment.”

The pace waxes and wanes, the production at its most compelling when the company combines its powers to deliver some memorably potent passages. Conversely, when only one or two dancers conspire to create slower, more contemplative scenes, that visceral connection with the audience becomes strained.

There’s deep thought stitching Re:INCARNATION together but without a stronger narrative hook, there’s just too much opportunity to disengage. Whilst talcum-powdered rites and flowing (possibly jute?) robes offer dramatic montages, their meanings and purpose remain muddy. Simultaneously, despite the richness of Nigeria’s musical heritage, the stripped-back, rhythmic, but occasionally piercing soundtrack, never quite goes anywhere.

That said, there is one solo, wherein a dancer with a trailing ‘beard’ of cloth struts the stage beneath evocative lighting, which does demand attention. It’s a mesmerising dance recalling the dignity and playfulness of a parading Guinea Fowl or some other flightless bird.

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Re-birth, conversely, is, without doubt, the show’s strongest chapter, opening with a solitary dancer declaiming a catalogue of ideas whilst the company covers itself head to toe in black ink or maybe oil. Complete with headdresses, some horned, others colourful, they then swoop about the stage provoking one another to ever more impressive solos. It’s a joyful, potent conclusion.

I do wonder whether the show wouldn’t be experienced better in a smaller venue with less disconnect between audience and performers. Perhaps the more sensitive, obscure passages would find greater connection with more immediate transmission.

Qudus Onikeku’s company are offering something interesting nevertheless.

Featured Image: Herve Veronese