Onye Ozuzu, Dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts at Columbia College Chicago and former chair of the Columbia College Chicago Dance Center, is the co-curator of the second annual danceGATHERING multidisciplinary performance festival that is being held in Lagos, Nigeria, through February 25. This alternative festival of dance and performance debuted last year to rave reviews and a resounding “we want more” from the attendees — including Ozuzu, who (as reported previously in this blog) represented the United States as a teacher and performer. danceGATHERING 2018 is co-curated by Qudus Onikeku, artistic director of the QDance Center Lagos, and Ozuzu, whose father was born in Nigeria. This year’s edition of danceGATHERING, with the theme “Body and Memory,” is framed as a space for anti-disciplinary practice on the African continent, where creative thinkers can gather to share the same space and time with contemporary artists who are radically shifting the boundaries of knowledge in the field of creative arts — dancers, choreographers, musicians, actors, poets, sound engineers, DJs, visual artists, video artists, martial artists, and everything in between.
Onye Ozuzu (Photo: Phil Dembinski ’08)
Raquel Monroe
Ozuzu is leading a contingent of Chicago artists to participate in this high-profile international gathering of artists and dance lovers. Among the participants are Dance Center of Columbia College faculty member Raquel Monroe; Fo Wilson, a teacher in the college’s Art and Art History Department; and Columbia College alums Keyierra Collins ’16 and Brianna Heath ’17, both graduates of the Dance Center’s BA Program in Dance; Norman Teague ’12, a graduate of the college’s art and design program; and Jovan Landry ’14, a graduate of the college’s film and video program.
danceGATHERING 2018 began February 12 with a week of workshops and master classes facilitated by co-curators Onikeku and Ozuzu as well as other artists, followed by a week-long laboratory period. The event climaxes February 24 and 25 with a performance festival in the center of Lagos’ financial and business district Saturday and Sunday, February 24 and 25, from 4 to 11 PM each day. Admission is free. For more information, click here.
