“Sometimes words get misconstrued. Movement has always been my language, that is why I dance,” says the Nigerian-American dancer and choreographer Nneka Cynthia Irobunda, who for the last 6 years, has been revolutionizing the world of dance with her fusion of contemporary and classic training with African dance styles.
“I find that sometimes I can convey what I would like to say much better through dance,” she adds “I have always been intrigued by psychology and have discovered that you can use movement to get to the root of who you are and working through trauma. People respond to different mediums and respond to healing in different ways. My hope is that they might find healing in dance.”
Image Courtesy Of Nnneka Irobunda
Irobunda has been dancing for as long as she can remember. Growing up, she took to calling herself ‘The First Lady’ and describes herself as the life of any party or family celebration. At about 12 years old the future choreographer started dance training and she hasn’t looked back since. Always fascinated with healing, Irobunda had planned to study pre-med at college but then decided to merge her passions by pursuing a double major in both dance and psychology.
She eventually proved them wrong, and has in fact, gotten dance down to a sort of science by working to understand body movements, anatomy and the different types of movements that set her apart from the crowd. In creating her own style of dance, Irobunda partnered with Soca Sweat for a special in-heels dance class called Afrobeats Stilettos.
“A major reason for creating this blend is because that’s who I am intimately, I can’t escape it. Even when I was dancing in ‘Eurocentric’ spaces I didn’t feel as connected as I do to African dance styles,” says Irobunda. “I wanted people to know how beautiful that combination can be. The beauty of dance is that you can take what you want from your experiences. I always go with foundations of dance, the textures, the lines and love the femininities of both the ‘contemporary or classic’ dance and African dance. In its own way African dance is classic dance.”
“When I’m dancing—in that moment—I am influenced by my moves and environment,” Irobunda discloses. I think of letting go and just I trust my years of experience. I try not to look back on my performances too much. As dancers we love media gratification, and just I hope that when I dance, I look happy. I do however, look for quality of movement, the lines to see if there’s ways I could have added more texture.”
In likening her movements to the elements, she describes herself as air and water. Air, because when she dances, she likes to feel (and look) as light as a feather and water, because she feels told herself that her movements should be smooth but powerful.
This unique style has caught the eye of several artists who’ve enthusiastically worked with Irobunda over the years. Thus far, her portfolio boasts collaborations with Tanisha Scott which led to dancing at the Grammys with Cardi B, as well as Mr Vegas on his “Te Amo” and “Kill Har Wid Di No” videos, Sean Paul’s “Naked Truth” music video and dancing with legendary fitness pioneer Tracy Anderson for her premium stream.“
I do forget a lot of my accomplishments as a dancer,” she says humbly “Highlights do include dancing with Sean Paul and Tanisha Scott— it was amazing to work with another black woman in the industry.”
It’s clear that she made no mistake by choosing dance as an artistic path, but as with any calling, following your passions does have its hurdles, and the dance industry is full of them. “A lot of the time you look at dancers and it looks like it’s effortless. To a certain extent it is, but the timing and discipline to continue practicing is work and sometimes people don’t appreciate the amount of work you’ve put in to become that polished and don’t want to pay [you] what you’re worth,” says Irobunda.
She explains that in the world of dance, and especially as a woman, one must be careful to ensure that they exhibit professionalism and she divulges that dance has given her a voice as a Black woman in predominantly white spaces. “Being a Black woman, type casting is a whole thing,” says the choreographer. “There sometimes is blatant omission of darker skinned girls. So, I try to show up and show out, to perform well and be punctual. It also helps to have a team to help get things done better.”
The dance community, like most, is still male-dominated—a reality that Irobunda has tried to use to her advantage. “I would recommend having assistants or a manager especially when you’re a little more established. My manager is a man, which in some ways is an advantage in the industry because sometimes as a woman you don’t get taken seriously. When it comes to negotiating rates and contracts and stuff like that it does help.” In addition to the larger systemic challenges that exist in the dance industry, it also has not been spared from the trials brought on by the global COVID-19 pandemic. It’s led to many dancers asking themselves “what’s next”? Irobunda included. “It’s been hard, especially for teachers,” she says.
“We rely on human connection too and now we have longer dryer seasons, because you can’t travel as freely to get gigs. Unlike with music, dancers don’t hold royalties to the services that we provide. Tiktok and other social media platforms have definitely changed the game, and whilst there’s a lot of #challenge culture (which is a different kind of dance, which requires dancers to be current and up to date) it has given people the opportunity to be seen.”
"The pandemic has also pushed many of us to seek comfort in caring for ourselves."
After all the hard work Irobunda puts in, when she’s not dancing, she unwinds with some of her favourite things, other physical healing antidotes like skin care remedies and massages.
She willingly shares some of her routine: “After dancing I usually have a massage, whether professional or at home and I like to create my own unique oil blends for my skin care routine. I do some stretches; foam rolling and use tennis balls as well as take some time off. For example, after the Grammys I took a longer recovery period because we had longer rehearsal times.”
Healing is a process, and often we have to reflect on our past to heal our present. When she looks back, Nneka believes that her 8-year-old self would be proud of who she is now. “She would be wearing print with corduroy pants. Probably a floral top with white sneakers. I was that kid, [she laughs]. My parents dressed me well. She would say just ‘keep going. Lock in and focus’.”
We also have to look ahead too in order to envision better futures for ourselves—Irobunda is looking in this direction too. “We [Africans] have always been the future. To that fact, I have dedicated myself to changing the narrative of black women through movement. People are just catching up. We don’t even know half of what our cultures have given to the world.”