Dele Adeyemo

In 1960, on the verge of Nigeria’s independence, playwright Wole Soyinka wrote A Dance of the Forests – a foreboding warning of the future on the grounds of the human propensity to repeat the sins of the past. In the project, A Dance of the Mangroves, Adeyemo asks how one might escape a destiny of repeating past mistakes by learning from the lifeworlds of the mangroves surrounding the megacity of Lagos, Nigeria.
Mangrove forests play a major role in carbon sequestration. As liminal environments that are neither fully land nor water, mangrove ecosystems nourish the ecological, social, and spiritual lifeworlds that remain invisible to the developer’s gaze. Taking inspiration from the traditional Yoruba spiritual practice of divination that enables the navigation of uncertain futures, A Dance of the Mangroves provides a portal through the divination board (ọpọ́n Ifá’) into the lifeworlds of the mangroves of Lagos Lagoon.

Technical collaborators
Ronnie Scott (Fabricator: Eco Furniture UK), Lauren-Loïs Duah (Technical Drawings)
Team
Hermes Chibueze Iyele (Movement Director), Ozegbe Sunday Obiajulu (Community Coordinator and Consultant choreographer), Olatunde Obajeun (Composer), Yemi Osokoya (Cinematography), Micah Derinsola (Production Manager), Featuring the dancers: Janet Koja, Hermes Chibueze Iyele, Blessing Ekpenyong Offiong, Jumoke Ekundayo, Samuel Udoh, Kehinde Yeri, Taiye Yeri, and the community of Oworonshoki, Lagos
With the additional support of
Het Nieuwe Instituut, African Futures Institute