Homosexuals Approached Me Several Times - Dance Expert, Adedayo Liadi

Adedayo Liadi has taken dance to the next level, as a prolific dancer, Liadi is known all over the world and he has been able to promote the African culture with his talents.

Liadi is not your everyday dancer; he is a trained dancer, dance consultant, producer, promoter, dance director and his services are regularly needed both in Nigeria and outside the shores of the country.

He came into public reckoning in the video of the gospel song, ‘Olori Oko,’  many years back and he is today a regular face that we all celebrate as a successful dancer, and he sure knows his onions in the industry as a contemporary dancer with international recognition.

He spoke with Oladipupo Awojobi in his office around the premises of the National Arts Theatre on issues affecting him and his job.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and educational background?

My names are Adedayo Liadi, I am a professionally trained dancer, a choreographer, dance consultant, and I’m a producer, I market also, but basically I dance both within and outside Nigeria.

You said you were trained to dance, where were you trained?

I got my trainings through so many scholarships right from the age of 16½ till around 2005, I trained at CCNN  in France, I trained at another CCNN in another location in the same country and I trained in dancing and choreography in Senegal, it is the first dance school in Africa. Also, I trained in so many dance centres all over the world, in Europe, South America and others. I was also trained at Dancewell Europe in Vienna, Austria Europe; it is the largest in Europe right now.

What have been your experiences since you started?

I started like every other person from the street, and I was trained by some international choreographers, around 1994/95, I got picked by them to Europe after coming to the National Theatre, Lagos and I was in Europe for about eight to 10 years training under different scholarship programmes sponsored by French Cultural Centre, Goethe Institute, French Embassy, some by UNESCO, Dancewell Europe and the rest of them and I came back to Nigeria in 2001 to really settle down after learning a lot outside. I started as a traditional dancer, also I was doing hip-hop and as I grew up, I discovered a better way for me to dance than the normal one we know in Nigeria. After getting trained, you will discover your own style, your own unique style that will speak for you anywhere you perform; those are the things people are seeing in my dance these days. But before I traveled, I had worked with so many directors, and choreographers, I worked with Muyiwa Oshinaike, he was the person that helped me, he did a lot concerning my training before I traveled out, I worked under him as a lead dancer and as a dance captain. I worked in Black Mabo, Ebony, Centre Stage , all these are local dance troupes in Nigeria.

You want to tell us about some of your works in Nigeria like the Celebrity Takes 2

Yes, I was a judge in Celebrity Takes 2 in Season 1 and 2, it is still coming back, the season 3 is coming, it depends on the producer to tell us, when it would be, it was sponsored by Skye Bank, I am in touch with him. I was a dancer, the choreographer, the dance consultant for ‘Olori Oko’ video, I conceptualized the dance after listening to the music, it takes a trained person to create a dance, which is what I do for a living. I do lots of projects like these; it is just that I do a lot of them outside Nigeria. I came back to Nigeria in December 2012, I was in Asia for about seven months, I was traveling among North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, I was on tour, it is a training programme and a collaboration project, and we had to create works together and performed together under the Korean Ministry of Culture and Sports, which invited me. It was a special invitation, I worked with about seven Asian choreographers and two Eastern Europe choreographers, so I was the only African among them, we did lots of collaborations together, and we performed around that side before coming back.

This dreadlock you are wearing, does it have to do with your profession?

The idea of my hair started when I was in Senegal studying at the International School for Dance and Choreography, I couldn’t barb my hair because we were working too much, we were training hard, every day, we worked from morning till evening and there was no time really for us to shave or barb our hair and then I had this bushy hair and Senegalese generally, it is either they have dreadlock or they weave their hair. I started with dreadlocks, then after that, I shaved it again, I went back to dreadlock and later I decided to be plaiting it. But, it is all about not having time to shave, sometimes I would be in Europe for two to three months and the only thing I could do is just to shave and forget about it.

…You go to church with this?

Yes, I go to church, I’m a member of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), I always tell my pastors, it is about my heart, not my looks.

So, how does your wife react to it?

I met my wife on stage, so she does not have any problem with it. Actually, I shaved it last year, and all my clients requested that I shouldn’t have done so. A guy came to Nigeria from the United States of America, he gave me a project to handle for two months last year and he asked about my hair and I said ‘I shaved it,’ he said he came all the way from the U.S because of the hair and looks that I had to go back to it. I got two other jobs; one from Nigerian Breweries Plc and one from another client and they were wondering what happened, and when I told them ‘I just wanted to have another look,’ they said; ‘no, no, no, no, it is your looks, nobody is doing this style in Nigeria and it is because of this style that we are giving you most of our works.’ And I felt I have to satisfy my clients and those that saw me after that commented that my hair really grow fast, since I cut it not too long ago.

How lucrative is the job really?

It’s not easy to be recognized in the industry, most especially as a dance artist, you need to work a lot. I encourage dancers to first know about dance before going into it, I tell them it’s not about shaking your front and back, dance is from your head to your toes, all your body parts, it is about explaining something with movements, total body and when you explain it with your front and your back, you are just talking about sex. General body movement is what I believe about dance, not shaking the front and the back because I have a daughter and I wouldn’t want her to do that, if she wants to be a professional dancer, I would take her through the rudiments of dance so that she doesn’t see shaking of front and back, which is just for people who wants t make quick money.

How do you handle the opposite sex, and also when some men see you like this, they may feel you are gay, how do you handle them?

It is not so easy, but what is living in me is greater than what is living in some other persons, as a Christians, I’m not gay, I have been approached many times, not once, not twice and they discovered I’m not one of them. I respect them a lot; I play with them because some of them can give you jobs. I just feel that they are in their own world, may be some time God will talk to them and they would change, you cannot change people by force, sometimes, you have to pray for them. I know many of them, I have been approached and I know how to go around it. I have them as friends, but I have nothing to do with them apart from work, I tell them to just be my fans. Talking about the opposite sex, that is not a problem for me, I have been in the industry for about 28 years, I started traveling out of Nigeria about 20 years ago, and that is why I am celebrating 20^th Year of my international dancing career by training different people how to dance in Nigeria. I am going to 11 universities in Nigeria, I will be working with Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Uniport, Bayelsa State University, Kwara State University and the project is supported by Goethe Institute, French Institute, Abuja, Best Lube because I am the face of Best Lube in Nigeria and in West Africa, I have been branded for two years now. I am going to create a new dance through this project; I’m going to train students, who are studying dance as their major.

What are some of the challenges of the job?

We lack sponsorship for dance in Nigeria, also we lack space, there is no space, where dancers can really practice, where we are working is not conducive, but we are managing to do something of international standard on this, we supposed to be practicing on soft surface, but we dance on hard surface, but this will tell on us in the nearest future because it will affect our knees and the ankles. By the time you get to 40, 50 years of age, you start having rheumatism, arthritis and the rest, but I know that with God, we know how to go about it, we know what we should do, the kind of shoes we should wear, those special shoes we ought to use, but they are not cheap. The prices are from N10,000, N15,000 or N20,000, how many dancers can afford that, if I can afford it, most of them cannot afford it. When we take some of the dancers out, we pay them between N80,000 and N100,000 for big projects, for small projects, we pay them between N50,000 and N80,000. But, we don’t see people who pay like me. This is a job that tasks your mind, your body and your intellect.

Is it possible for you to be in movies?

I have never taken part in Nollywood, but I would like to be part of it, I started with acting, singing and dancing and at a stage, I discovered so many people are acting and singing and I felt since I have this talent of dance, why not just face dancing and see if I can make something good with it, and to God be the glory, I think it is paying off.

Do you advise people to be in dance profession?

Yes, I always encourage the young ones to come into dancing, but they should do it right, they have to go to school, know what dance is, what it takes to be a professional dancer, not jumping around everywhere dancing in musical videos, thinking they are making money. They have to ask themselves people that danced in ‘Lakukulala’ where are they, those that danced in ‘Ijo Yoyo,’ and in so many other ones in the 70s and 80s, they are nowhere to be found. Why, because they did not do it right.

Are you considering writing a book on dance?

Yes, I’m developing so many stuff, I did a dance aerobics DVD, it is on the internet, and it was released in the U.S, I did it with a partner there last year, it is the first Nigerian dance aerobics and it is making money in the west, hopefully, we can do it in Nigeria next year. You have to make your money very well before doing it, I don’t produce it, I conceptualise it and work in collaboration with the promoter and producer of the project and I put the ideas together. Dancing is a way of exercising your body, keep fit with simple movement.

Do you see yourself dancing for Nigerian artistes in music videos?

Yes, I can dance for some Nigerian artistes if they can pay, I wouldn’t like to see myself dancing as a backdrop for any artiste, I would like to collaborate with them and do something of international standard, not just for entertainment, not just for commercial purposes, but for artistic purposes that it can go to the best television stations. ‘Olori Oko,’ is just one of my best works, I have done some, I have done about three in the west and it is making money, one of them took the second position in contemporary dance music in an international award in the U.S, it is called; ‘Black Spring,’ I was a lead dancer there, it was choreographed with a French-Algerian, I did the project with him some years ago. 

In what area do you think the government can support dance in Nigeria?

I know it is very difficult for the government to support us because we dancers are not together, we have an association, but dancers don’t want to come for meetings, they just want to make money. How can you approach the government if you are not together? I would just be doing my own thing and I would be excelling, but what about the upcoming ones? They don’t see it as something important, we are supposed to have an association, we have an association, we have Dance Guild of Nigeria, it is everywhere in Nigeria. But people don’t come for meetings and if you don’t come for meetings, how are you going to come together and talk to people who can help you. People like me would just continue to excel, go round the world and you would think I am the only one, but no, we are many. We have been begging them to try and be responsible and that it is not about the little money for food they are making now, but it is about your future so that when you are 40 or 50 years old, you will still be in the industry, you will still be relevant. I am very sorry, but dancers don’t want to be seeing as intellectuals, but I am an intellectual because I work with a lot with poets, musicians, dancers interpret things, I have two projects now, I am working with actors, you have to talk and move as dancers. I have projects I’m doing with just dancers, I have projects I’m doing with just choreographers, and these are different projects that are highly intellectual. If you are not a trained dancer, you won’t be able to attain it, you will just be looking at me and say what is this man trying to do, but I’m trying to express myself.

Is this the only thing you do for a living?

It is the only thing I do for a living, but I don’t just see myself as a dancer, I promote, produce, direct, I’m a consultant, sometimes I travel out of this country as a consultant. Sometimes, they invite me just for seminars, workshops and I have three countries I would visit soon for two weeks; I’m going to Casablanca, Algeria, Hungary for two weeks each.

When do you hope to retire?

I’m not sure I’m going to retire because every day, I discover  new things about dance, the more you stay in the profession, the better you become, you don’t need to be jumping up like the young up-coming dancers, those ones don’t know the direction they want to go. You see them; they do this today, tomorrow, they do another thing. But somebody like me, I know what I want to do from January to December of every year. From this year’s December, I know what I want to do next year.

Let’s look at our own dance traditional dance steps compared to what you studied abroad during training, how do you marry the two together and how do you pass the message of our traditional dance steps to the outside world?

That has been answered with ‘Olori Oko,’ traditional dance in Nigeria was not well accepted, they saw it as being for illiterates, but one thing we don’t know as a nation is that or shall I what Nigerian dancers don’t know is that no matter how good you are as a hip-hop dancer, you cannot beat them in America because what you are learning on the internet is what they did many years ago and they are developing new styles, new concept, which you don’t know, so why disturbing yourself trying to be like Americans or Europeans, no matter how good you are as a Salsa dancer in Nigeria, you cannot beat them in Latin America because it is in their blood already, why don’t we work on our own thing that we can beat them with, that is why, when I was younger, I was doing hip-hop and youthful  styles. After my studies, my teachers told me; ‘don’t try to copy others, what will sell you more is when you bring your own thing up, you refine it to their standard and when they see you, you will be a unique person, for years to come, you will still be relevant there.’ If I am doing hip-hop, I will not be traveling everywhere, if I am doing Salsa, I will not be traveling everywhere, but because I’m doing contemporary African dance, that is why I’m traveling everywhere because my dance is Nigerian, but it has been refined to international standard, they pay to come and watch me live, not with small money. If we don’t do it right, we won’t get anything out of this profession called dance. But, if you do it right, you get well trained, you have your focus, your profession, you don’t need to do anything like western dance, you can watch them and do your own, you need to see me, when I’m doing Nigerian dance, then you will know it has gone beyond the level some people feel it is.

What do you see as the future of dance in Nigeria knowing that our upcoming ones want to copy others. In Nigeria, creativity is becoming a thing of history, so how do you see the future?

If Nigerian dancers are not careful, they will lose touch of what belongs to us and the western people will take what belongs to us because they don’t do anything along dancing line again in the west. All the moves you see, they watch our won traditional videos and they convert it to what we don’t understand anymore and our own dancers will start copying what has been redefined by western people and they will give it a name. just like break dance, it is from ‘bata,’ dance and so many others like that. I saw Ushers doing ‘alanta’ in one of his hit vidoes about a year ago and people were doing it and I said ‘this is ‘alanta’ this guy is doing, it is our dancers’ creativity.’ If you are doing hip-hop, you don’t need to do western hip-hop, we have our own, develop our own thing, take it to the next level and by that, you will get a better market for it outside Nigeria, if you cannot do that, you cannot be original, so we must be original from home. 

April 30, 2013