A popular dancer, choreographer and
founder of Sakoba Dance Company, UK, Bode
Lawal, is dead. Newswatch Times learnt that he was reported dead on August
13, 2015 in Manchester, where he had been running a Dance workshop. Details of
the circumstances of death are still being put together by the Police in
London, and will be reported here as soon as it is clear. Mr Peter Badejo (OBE)
of Badejo Arts, and Alhaji Teju Kareem (CEO Mirage Multimedia Company) – two of
his close associates -- are on top of the case, and are already in touch with
his family both in the UK and in Ibadan, Nigeria.
Profile:
Bode Lawal MA (emca), is hailed as
one of the finest exponents of creative African dance working in Britain. He
studied dance, choreography and drama before being invited to join the Nigerian
national dance troupe with which he toured internationally, winning the
Ministry of Culture’s Dancer of the Year award in 1985. After this success, he
moved to Britain to form Sakoba (meaning new dawn), to celebrate the
rich traditions of African dance and music and to spread the profound messages
encapsulated in his choreography across Europe.
In 1990 he was asked to
choreograph Macbeth for the English Shakespeare Company, directed
by Michael Bogdanov, which also formed part of an exchange programme with the
Santa Monica Playhouse. In 2003 Bode was invited by the Dean of Faculty of
Arts and Architecture to UCLA as a visiting dance professor, teaching
intercultural choreography in the World Art and Cultures department Los
Angeles, California.
Due to the great interest in his
visionary work, Bode was encouraged to establish Sakoba’s sister company in Los
Angeles in order to promote the understanding and appreciation of his unique
choreography and technique.
This company has received
sponsorship from some renowned personalities including Jamie Lee Curtis,
Christopher Guest, Sharon Stone, James Cameron and the Oprah Winfrey
Foundation, allowing the Company to perform at the prestigious Jacobs Pillow
Dance Festival in Massachusetts. Bode Lawal, upon completing his
sabbatical, returned to the UK where he arrived with a fresh and compelling new
dance language.
He is also in great demand as
a teacher and residency tutor and has won numerous National and European awards
for his choreography and performances alike. In 2002 Bode Lawal was awarded The
Dance Artist Fellowship “Men of Merit” Award for Outstanding Contribution
to Dance. His recent choreography “Clockwork” won the ‘Performance of
the Year 2006’ in The Journal Culture Awards.
Lawal Dance
Technique
Bode Lawal’s inspiration originates
from ancestral ritualistic movements embedded in Yoruba tradition of the
orisas. Movements and gestures inspired by the foundation of Sango (god of
thunder) and Oshun (goddess of river) form the basis of the technique. It
demands of its practitioners grounding, sincerity and understanding of the
connection and importance of spiritualism and physicality.
This technique can be an open ended
study for any dedicated practitioner with positive energy and the will to work
undeterred by challenge. It is a rich aesthetic experience of a quest for truth
and originality of self-being that can be practiced as an art form as well as
being taught in institutions. The reason behind the development of the Bode
Lawal Dance Technique is the need to nurture and guide upcoming African dance
students or indeed anybody with a genuine interest in understanding the essence
of African dance tradition within the context of the African Diasporas; The
gateway to this endless journey being the ritualistic and symbolic dance of the
Yoruba tradition.
Bode Lawal Dance Technique is also
intended to emphasise the higher aspect of African dance beyond cultural
tourism and other trivial or nonsensical realms in which African dance is
frequently expressed.
It maintains and honours the vital
link between progress and tradition. By dwelling in the realm of human
consciousness, it naturally embraces and complements all styles of dance while
remaining rooted in the tradition of the orisas. Bode Lawal stresses the point
that practitioners and students alike should understand the source of the technique
and its use as a vehicle for creating dance movements and choreography. The
technique should be seen as a guide and inspiration for developing one’s own
vocabulary and style; a vehicle that is driven by the human spirit.
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