By Chijioke Kingsley
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – A female group of dancers based in Jos, has been selected to perform at the prestigious Institut’ Francais’ Dance Festival known for its global appeal.
The dance group under the aegis of Eagle Dance Company have been dancing for eight years, Chief Executive Officer of the group, Patience John Ebute said while speaking with our correspondent at the weekend.
Ebute said though she had been performing as a dancer with other groups all her life and had traveled to 42 countries, she only started her own dance company eight years ago.
Sighting the France trip as one of their major breakthroughs, Ebute said the group is excited to welcome more open doors after the completion where they will debut their very own “Aleku” dance.
“France is very important to us because it will open another face and chapter to us. As a team, this is our first appearance internationally to perform our own original content. I am looking forward to what Aleku will open up for us”, she said.
Ebute who also participated in the 2014 Maltina Dance All season seven and came second, said amongst the 400 participants worldwide that applied for the France international competition, only six were picked.
“From the selected six groups, we are the only group selected from Africa, so we are not only going to represent Nigeria but Africa”, Ebute explained.
She continued: “Aleku took us two years to put together. Its a 30mins episode of an African female spirit”, she said.
She said their aim is to win the competition in France and not just to participate, she said.
The Eagle Dance goddess narrated how the journey started, saying that it was not an easy task to break into the entertainment industry, but acknowledging that the storm is over.
“Our aim is to promote dance as a commodity where kids can go into and over time will find their footing and begin to make money for themselves.
“We have a dance studio where we teach people and train people who desire to take up dance as a profession. We also teach people who just love to dance for the fun of it”, She said.
The Eagle dance said they charge between N138,000 to N69,000 to teach or train students who come to their studio for training.
They also said they can be paid between N9 million to N300,000 for performance, a venture that pays the bill for them.
“We don’t intend to stop dancing anytime soon as we have chosen it as a life time profession”, Ebute said.
Also speaking, a member of the group, Miss Grace Philip, who will also be traveling to France, said she cannot hold her excitement as the journey so far is a dream come true for her.
