Internationally renowned dance companies The QDance Company and Jasmin Vardimon Company to perform at Nottingham Playhouse

Two internationally renowned dance companies bring their creative energies to Nottingham Playhouse this autumn.

The dynamic urban energy of Nigerian mega-city Lagos bursts to life with The QDance Company’s dazzling Re:INCARNATION on Saturday, October 5, and then on Friday, October 11, the Jasmin Vardimon Company celebrates their 25th anniversary with a new creation, NOW.

Nigeria’s ground-breaking The QDance Company, led by choreographer Qudus Onikeku, makes its UK debut with Re:INCARNATION, which promises an explosive mix of dance, colour, sound, visuals and energy.

Qudus Onikeku created the show in 2021 as an ode to the riches of Nigerian culture, a mix of ancient Yoruba philosophy and the rhythm and spirit of the country’s vibrant youth culture.

The multi-sensorial Re:INCARNATION is the result of six years of research around body memory with young dancers in Nigeria. Its ten young dancers each bring their own personal journey to the stage and together they embody Yoruba’s ever-turning cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

Dressed in a kaleidoscopic array of colour and cloth, body paint, masks and props, they will move with exuberant energy and uncompromising joy.

Two live musicians on drums and electric guitar, often joined by trance-like vocals from the dancers, bring some of the wealth and profusion of Nigerian music to the stage in a vibrant blend of hip-hop, contemporary music and Afrobeats.

Qudus Onikeku said: “I am excited to introduce The QDance Company to audiences across the UK. The key thing for me is to show what dance can be in contemporary Africa, it feels like we are starting something. This is Afrodance, young Africans talking. Re:INCARNATION is about bringing Lagos on stage in a way that’s never been seen before — its groove, its history and what the city means to so many people.”

NOW, by the Jasmin Vardimon Company is a new creation by choreographer Jasmin Vardimon MBE to celebrate the company’s 25th anniversary.

A remarkable international cast of performers will recreate iconic moments from the company repertoire, in a celebration of the beauty of imagination and art, as Jasmin uses her distinctive dance theatre and creative approach to tell a story of our time.