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H Patten. Credit: XTrax, Manchester. |
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Advice for artists taking work to Nigeria |
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Workshops and Residencies |
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British Council's West Africa Diamond Jubilee Dance Workshops |
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Artists across West Africa will come together with British practitioners during 2003 to develop a new cutting edge dance theatre piece, over a year in which we will celebrate our UK-West Africa links.
H Patten, a UK based Afro-Caribbean artist who has a deep interest and significant experience in working with African Dance, will draw together up to fifty West African artists, from both traditional and contemporary dance backgrounds, to participate in intensive workshops in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. Each workshop will develop a short dance piece, and finally all the pieces produced will be worked into one full length performance. The resulting dance theatre production will be presented in Nigeria with a selection of dancers from each of the original workshops, who will also be joined by dancers from Cameroon, Senegal and the UK.
The project will have a holistic outlook - as well as dance artists, musicians may be invited to develop the piece as a whole. Another possibility is to incorporate traditional forms of African theatre side by side along new technology elements.
This will happen in a very significant year for British Council West Africa as our offices in three countries - Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone - celebrate their Diamond Jubilees with a feast of events over the year.
The workshop in Ghana will be linked to the opening of the British Council’s new Knowledge Learning Centre in May/June. The final workshop and the finished performance are planned to premiere in Abuja, Nigeria, at a high profile event that will coincide with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in December 2003.
The huge diversity of this project fittingly exemplifies the spirit of the Commonwealth. The group collaboration in the workshops and the excitement of the live performances are a wonderful way for us to celebrate sixty years of British Council work together with these countries, and to look forward to an exciting future.
For more information contact Cathy Gomez. |
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