Adam Chienjo is the founder and curator of the Dance Life Festival based in Nairobi, Kenya. The Dance Life Festival had its fourth run in July 2023.
In this candid conversation, Chienjo nostalgically shares with Joseph Obel, about the journey of Dance Life Festival since it's first stint in 2020 at the very peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
When asked about the journey so far, Adam states:
“I am in a good run, I just want to reach more and more people."
JOSEPH OBEL I noticed there were more women performers and choreographers in this edition of DLF. What really inspired your choice for that in the curation process?
ADAM CHIENJO Between 2006-2013, I did a lot of traveling to Europe to attend dance residencies, workshops, and performances. It was always not unusual to be the only male and black dancer in an entire dance workshop or residency! This was not the case back home here in Kenya. The situation is actually the opposite, there were and still are more men in dance than women.
So when I had the opportunity to curate the Dance Life Festival, I made a deliberate decision to include more women performers. An inclusion of more women doesn’t necessarily mean that now the women outnumber the male performers, no, the dance scene in Kenya is still dominated by male performers. This only means at least now more women dancers and performers have the opportunity to showcase their talents.
At DLF I make sure that at least one performance is choreographed by a female choreographer and another performance is by all-women dancers including women with disabilities. We also do include children and in our last edition, we featured Shangilia Mtoto, a children’s performing arts group doing circus and dance.
JO I observed that you had also curated a circus performance just a few days ahead of the DLF opening. Why is it important to you to integrate circus into dance?
AC One thing I have realized is that what inspires our circus performers is the desire to tell a story. However, they lack the creative human resources to help them realize this dream. I ensure that our circus artists work with choreographers, dancers, directors, and dramaturgs to integrate circus and dance.
The circus was not meant only to be performed in the streets and on the roads as is the tradition here. The circus should be performed also in the theatre.
JO In every DFL edition there is always a work in progress being performed. What’s usually the next stage of these works in progress after the festival?
AC Works in progress is exactly that: Works in progress. And yes, the plan is always to bring a work in progress to completion. However, resources and funds are a hindrance. My main goal as a curator is to push things. Grab an opportunity for the back row and push it to the front row and the choreographers and performers can take it from there. I mainly build that bridge for experienced and budding choreographers, from the local and international dance scene, to work with our dancers and create something out of it.
JO How do you ensure that our local dance artists are ready for international performance tours?
AC It’s by ensuring that the dances are well choreographed and the story is clear. This year I am proudly saying that there are 4 performances that are ready to tour the world.
JO Why do you think residencies and workshops are important to dancers?
AC Dance workshops and residencies provide spaces for emerging and professional dancers to conceive various ideas. At workshops, dancers can also continue working on their previous concepts and collaboratively turn them into shaped performances. An example of a project that was developed from a workshop during Dance Life Festival is the performance, Loud Silence by Maina Kariuki. Through workshops, our dancers have also been able to learn other dance forms. For instance, our partnership with Tapa Tapa Dance company created the opportunity for new dancers to learn tap dance. Residencies and workshops offer dancers capacity-building opportunities and I am always in conversations with other international festivals to see how our local dancers can also showcase in their platforms globally.
JO For the first time in the history of Dance Life Festival, we saw the festival being held at multiple venues across Nairobi. Why was that important to you?
AC The main idea was to link dance communities with each other. Being an experienced artist, I have a rapport with various dancers, organizations, and dance spaces. A trend in Nairobi is that dancers from various parts of the city rarely mix and work together. It’s very rare to see a dancer from Nairobi’s Eatslando work together with a dancer or dance company from Karen and other Nairobi regions. We have to break these barriers hence the intention to host the festival in various venues that would be otherwise inaccessible to many dancers.
The idea is also to debunk the “niche” dance mentality. Some dancers place certain dance genres in high regard over other dance forms and skills. In my beginner days, I did every dance: I started with breakdance, then funk, then contemporary dance…
The multiple venues helped strengthen the exchange of dance skills and expertise. It was interesting to work with the Academy of Dance in Karen, a group that mainly does ballet, and as we worked together their dancers could engage with other dancers and choreographers from other dance forms. The idea of several venues also solved the rehearsal space challenge for several DLF performers.
We were also able to reach our audiences who usually do not prefer coming to the town but are willing to attend events away from the CBD.
JO How have you managed to enhance the culture of appreciating dance as an art form among Kenyan audiences?
AC We have really come from far with this one! I remember in previous years dancing in various groups, we could charge as little as Kesh 300, and still, there would be no audience. So, the fact that we ticketed several performances and people paid to watch them is something really awesome.
JO How does Dance Life Festival plan to make things better for the artists in the near future?
AC Rehearsal space and accessibility is what we have identified as the main challenge to dancers. We plan to have an open studio that dancers can access to conduct their rehearsals, workshops, and pieces of training. Dancers need a working space to do their meetings and other office-related work and a space offering such would be ideal. We need a specific go-down dedicated to the dancers to work and host activities.
We are also planning to host a regional dance project bringing together East African dancers from Nairobi, Kampala, Dar es Salaam to Kigali. A regional project is a good way to popularize dancers and various dance forms within the East African region.
We still plan to continue exploring other media and disciplines to enhance the dance experience for our audiences and empower our dancers more. An example is dance films, which we already have as a category and plan to continue having.
JO What is the biggest lesson you have learned thus far?
AC Consistency beats talent any day. When we were starting in 2020, there were a lot of divergent opinions about my decision to integrate several dance genres. The so-called “experts” preferred a dance festival with only a single type of dance, but I maintained my goal of a cross-genre dance festival, I have been consistent with that and it has borne fruits by way of bringing different social classes together which works very well I audience building and fostering collaborations.
The second lesson is on collaboration. If you want to go far, collaborate. If you are not collaborating in the art space, then you are gradually becoming obsolete. The approach is to bring together writers, choreographers, dramaturgs, directors, costume designers, visual artists, architects, photographers, and even Buddhists…
If you want to go far, collaborate. If you are not collaborating in the art space, then you are becoming obsolete.
-Adam Chienjo
P.S:
When Adam Chienjo shows up for this conversation at the terrace of Wasanii Restaurant at the Kenya National Theatre, he rocks a black t-shirt branded with coffee-beans patterns that form the face of the legendary performing artist, Fela Kuti. On Chienjo’s left wrist is a cultural armband piece by a Turkana artist. Of course, he brought along his identity dreadlocks.