SPAN holds festival of dance, drama, music

The Society for the Performing Arts in Nigeria (SPAN) has announced its 2017 edition of SPANFEST, a weeklong festival and the society’s biggest activity for the year. It is scheduled to hold from November 18 – 23, 2017, at SPAN’s Agidigba Community Centre (workshops) at Muri Okunola Park and Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

A non-governmental organisation set up in February 2005 with the aim of creating a world standard for performing arts education and expression, SPAN offers exceptional opportunities in dance, music, theatre and visual arts to talented Nigerian youth through inspiring, training, and empowering them, with the aim of unleashing their creativity.

According to its president, Mrs. Sarah Boulous, “One of SPAN’s main objectives is the empowerment of youths with various opportunities through skillset development. In 10 years of existence, we have consistently trained youths with appropriate skills and techniques that can help them build careers, as well as facilitate the continuity of African art.

“African people are known to have very rich cultural and artistic expressions that have shaped the artistic world for centuries, especially in the areas of dance, music, drama and visual arts. SPAN takes pride in these forms of art and is committed to its preservation and promotion. SPAN, as its name suggest, is more than just an organisation; it is a community, a haven for the unseen, a society enabling artists to soar beyond their wildest dreams. It is also a bridge bringing together various forms of arts, to ignite life-changing productions.”

Boulous also said through its 12-year journey, “We have been recommended and recognised by several international bodies for transformation brought to the performing arts industry, especially in the area of education and presentation. Some of these bodies include Goethe Institute, Lebanese Ladies Society, South African Consulate, French Consulate, and American Women’s Club.”

SPANFEST initially kicked off as an annual festival, but presently runs bi-annually (once in two years). This year’s event will be the third edition of what is rapidly becoming one of the most exciting contemporary festivals in Nigeria, and it has as theme ‘My Beat, My City’ (Iluu Mi, Ilu Mii) in celebration of the vibrant 50-year old Lagos and its citizens. This spectacular show of arts will feature five-day of intensive music dance and drama workshops and five days of mind blowing performance-packed events.

Boulous further said SPANFEST vision “is to continually create a world-class performing arts festival with the mission to train performing artists in music, dance, drama and performing arts management, present thought-provoking productions and artists and reward individuals, who invested their talents to make transformational changes in the performing arts community.”

As part of plans to take the festival’s audience on a ‘journey of wonders,’ SPAN will bring together artistes to make ground-breaking presentations. The festival will showcase Nigeria artistes mixed up in an alchemy that will inspire audiences, invigorate artists, stimulate the industry and forge productive relationships around the globe.

A line-up of events can be found on the website @ www.euphoriquepr.com.