Earlier in December, at the Ebonylife Place Cinemas in Lagos, screen 3 played host to some of Nigeria’s finest creative storming the gracing the Nigerian entertainment sphere; as they all attended the private screening of The new Red Bull TV documentary – Uncredited.
Set in Lagos, the 45-minutes documentary highlights the power of dance in Nigeria and how African music’s matching dance steps saw Afro Dance become a worldwide sensation, even though the movement’s creators were often unrecognized for their work while carving out a living. ‘Uncredited’ details the untold story of the various Nigerian young dancers who go through myriad of challenges in a bid to making a name for themselves with their Art. Shining light on the contributions of Nigeria’s Afro Dance scene to mainstream pop culture featuring backstories and performances from established and upcoming artists, Uncredited spotlights the origins of Afro Dance in Nigeria and how it has shaped a global mainstream culture.
Telling their stories, the featured talents disclosed the hurdles they have to overcome in spite of their glaring impact on the entertainment industry, especially in promoting the music videos of Nigerian A-list artistes who mostly end up receiving all the accolades and recognition for a booming industry.
The lack of support from government parastatals who focus majorly on music, movies, arts but overlook dance, the untold hardship in form of discrimination that an average dancer faces in the society, the extra load of work that needs to put in place before being recognized as a stakeholder in the music industry were discussed in details.
Multiple award-winning Afro sensation, Davido, did not mince words while showing his support for creative Dancers in Nigeria while heaping praises on their Art in advancing the narrative of Afro music which has now become a global phenomenon. Kafayat Oluwatoyin Shafau, aka ‘Kaffy’, the acknowledged ‘queen’ of Nigerian dance also opined that it is time to elevate dancers to the same level as the music artists who have enjoyed bigger fame thanks to Afro Dance getting millions of social media views and in return, promoting the songs beyond the shores of Africa.
In creating sustainable platforms for Dance talents, Red Bull began the scouting for Dance champions, thereby amplifying dance scenes from key cities of the country to build up and celebrate the diverse dance community thus giving wings and showcasing the best talents. This has helped dancers like Blayke and King Davinci, the Nigerian champions to represent the country in Johannesburg at the World Finals of the Red Bull Dance Your Style contest which was concluded recently as King Davinci emerged second best globally.