danceGATHERING is back bigger and better in 2019. It runs from 11th through 24th February 2019, but will only be opened to the general public from the 20th and end with a massive street art intervention on 23rd and 24th February, which will see them close down broad street for the entire weekend.

This third edition is themed AFROSPACETIME, which has successfully gathered a total of 79 artists, thinkers and designers, amongst which are dancers, choreographers, visual artists, philosophers, scholars, DJs, Ifa Priests, art historian, film makers, multidisciplinary artists, community organizers, curators, architects, photographers, performance artistes, writers, singers, emcees, drummers, musicians, producers, and other inclassable mutants. All coming from 27 cities across the globe, from countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, South Africa, Ethiopia, Benin republic, Senegal, Dominican Republic, Netherlands, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Poland, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Jamaica and the USA.

According to Qudus Onikeku, the artistic director/co-curator of danceGATHERING 2019 “The momentum of our gathering as Africans scattered all over the world, is to affirm the reality of a shared networked and global presence on this planet. It is a reality that we indicate through the declaration of these premises as fact and, within the framework of AFROSPACETIME, danceGATHERING 2019 will offer an opportunity for us to express and interweave those fleeting emotions, imageries and imaginations borne of consciousness and allow them to enrich our lives’ choices here Now.”

Onikeku further stressed that “danceGATHERING is built on practical collaborations and mutual sharing of knowledge and privileges, those previously and historically predetermined by the warped values laid down by racism, patriarchy, nationalism, gender and other politics of iniquity. This isn’t a denial of difference, but an acceptance of our own individual and collective privileges and interdependently bringing them on board, for diversity, for equity, inclusion and for the service of others who don’t enjoy same level of privilege. In these endeavors, we work to make Art and thought come alive and to resonate with one another.

Allowing Experimentation with concepts and ideas to come before ­linear meaning. Building Unexpected bridges between abstraction and realism, between reason and emotion, between the conscious, trance and dreamscapes. In order for new questions to be introduced, to be revealed, the need to expand our emotional capacity for a rethinking, a reinvention, to happen – for difference to become productive, for collaborations to take form, for there to be a value to inquiry. For uncertainty and ephemerality to offer a vast reservoir of freedom and free play.”

This transatlantic gathering of AfroDiasporic and creative tribes, is going to be a unique experience on the African continent. The whole festival is framed as a laboratory for creatives from the African continent and its Diaspora, but most importantly an opportunity for the Lagos populace to have direct access to a potpourri of amazing international artists. The public events line up includes an opening cocktail on the 20th February, Artists’ Salon on the 21st at Glover Memorial Hall, Marina, Dance Party on the 22nd at the same venue, while 23rd and 24th will be the international performance weekend on Broad Street.

#SAVETHEDATES

Opening Cocktail | 20th Feb.

Artists Salon | 21st Feb. | Glover Hall.

Dance Party | 22nd Feb. | Glover Hall.

International Performance Weekend | Broad Street | February 23 – 24, 2019.

Sponsor