Qudus Onikeku Spirit Child at The Dance Center

Qudus Onikeku performs his work Spirit ChildFriday and Saturday, March 13 and 14 at 7:30 p.m.at the Dance Center, 1306 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. Nigerian choreographer/dancer Qudus Onikeku makes his U.S. debut, accompanied by Uruguayan artist Fernando Velazquez and musicians, with his work Spirit Child March 13 and 14, presented by the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Avenue. Spirit Child is inspired by the main character in Nigerian author Ben Okris Booker Prize-winning novel The Famished Road. Azaro, the restless spirit child, is caught between life and death, between Earth-bound reality and an idyllic spirit world. Onikeku, with Velazquez and the musicians, has created an atmosphere of transition between the enchanted world of dreams and spirits and the world of the living. Spirit Child offers a meditative journey into dreamscapes, creating a poetry that brings a new kind of truthor an old truth that no longer captures our attention. These performances are the debut of Onikekus choreography on a major U.S. stage, though he has performed all over the world. He spent the fall 2018 semester at the Dance Center as practitioner-in-residence, working with students and setting work on those enrolled in the Repertory Performance Workshop.
Ages: young adult - adult