A mixture of. Lagos nigeria population more than 20000000 a small group of dancers has arrived from germany they aim to create a new kind of ballet that will include the best of western and african influences. This created tension is led by choreographer richard c. Go. Play. The dance studio is located behind a gas station in the middle of an Industrial Area the dense is known each other some of the project was in the Development Stage others have danced on stage with siegel. He is. The beginning was incredible when he came running to musical out on all. 3 if so. Their energy is contagious i think theyre amazing. The. Choreography is done. Redone and redone i mean done it redone its a volatile art form and at times its useful. Just to release some kind of Latent Energy which may still exist within the world. We have this downs thats choreographed we can teach it parts of we can modify parts of that but it shouldnt if its not just in one direction thats what im what im saying the important thing is exactly what has happened when we walked into the room and you guys were dancing and the music was good and we started going and everybody just started dancing and now im a sweaty mess. Thats exactly. What we came for we have. A situation where of we can hybridize or as long as were open as long as we learn from one another as long as we are. Ready to translate and really see the other. Jammy a few months earlier the ballet of difference company was Getting Started the Diverse Group of dances are among the best in the world some left prestigious Dance Companies to work with siegel. People have come to work people have come because theyre because theyre passionate about dancing in general and about dancing together in this group specifically. And the ideas that are motivating. Siegal challenges the traditions and rules of classical ballet especially in his work you need text. Number. Of sign for an album. For him. Or an album from start to. The 2 terms ballet on one hand and difference on the other. Appear to be oppositional they appear to be oppositional. On one hand ballet. If i say that word it immediately elicits ideas of conservation and of and of heritage in coded in in an infile it art form something that really that really has contra. And on the other hand we have this idea of difference thats the world that we live in today very very much so. And its messy and its complex and its boundaries are not clear and its its still forming its its process its process and its passionate and contained within it a lot of energy and putting these 2 things together of differences ballet of conservation progression of innovation and heritage and makes a friction. That thats thats not only very productive but i think its very necessary i think thats exactly what we need. Images of diversity images of coexist. Images of power. Its a positive optimistic hopeful. Attitude towards our future. Of our art form or society. That doesnt also discount perhaps the obligation for us as artists to also express friction uncomfortable moment that were passing through as a society in our steps toward a more perfect future. In 22 of the Good Institution invited siegel to conduct a Dance Workshop in lagos that was a key point in the development of his major work uni text. I was invited by the Good Institute to come and make something for their festival that they were that they were having there and they brought together a group of west african downstairs. All over and we were working in an old. Printing factory in the middle of the city that was just one concrete open space. Of course there was a strong african. Flavor vocabulary in the piece and the traces of that are very much in the in the ballet and what gives it a certain live thats very exciting to watch. What began. As a workshop with African Dancers which i was making the movement and they were translating my vocabulary. Underwent another translation process and ultimately became the ballets you know text. Thank the public you know the performance and so did the dancers but Richard Segal choreography is a process so hes revising the pace to bring it closer to his original concept. So i think the best thing to do would be to just actually kind of pair you up and what will end up doing is well have well have you know 2 people doing doing the same thing but then i think were going to start to make little modifications to it as as a as it goes. In my case i have frank toward you and frank who is a energy bomb. And we have a completely different audience so my body i realize working with him that its really like i can twist in a different direction and hes a great impact its a very strong so its that he he gets the steps in a different way and its the really interesting because i also dont speak french and when he speaks well hes basically im trying to count in french for him as well trying to translate basis just for the body so we dont we all have a possibility to just share it chords all that big we have as i like to. Call the. 000000. Just me doing this tricks for we just tedious so when i see the full flight 0000 that you get to do nothing is going. To work for it every day that gap. Ballet is not natural like its turning out like they had the same knowledge that its not true self it makes for saying. That she simply just gets a little different because im more at home in African Dance afro dance. I have a dance school in ivory coast so i do performance as a choreographer and performer. But my dance is african afro dance afro beat and all that. With richard its very different with richard its classical contemporary afro japanese march choreography its japan. Europe. Africa a mixture. That. You know im watching them work right now its really interesting to some some of some of the vocabulary of you know textures is quite electric now lets hope that in classical ballet by and large you always keep your shoulders over your hips fight vertically and these styles of. Dancing african styles and what the 1st thing that im and im imitating what im trying to do the steps is there is the posture of the horse shows and of course as soon as you bring your your or your shoulders in front of your its and you bend your knees and you can you and your lecturer measure but those bags theres a lot of movement potential. Youve got this group of african drummers coming tomorrow and i think it would be really interesting among other things to do with them would be to actually change the music in. Ill switch the music out see what happens and for that the best thing would be if we could push it a little bit further the choreography a little bit further so itself more and more secure before we swap the music out. Simple lives in madrid and travels to various european cities to work on new productions. He 1st learned about afro caribbean dance in the late 9900 small study new york. Immersed himself in the citys dance culture and quickly realized the benefits that the diversity could bring to contemporary Dance Society has changed so fundamentally since the establishment of classical ballet as it is still practiced in many places segal felt compelled to reflect this in this comic opera face. So the 1st time we ran it with the drums i thought it was really on top of the of the counts anyway yes and up in the council and the 2nd time i lost it becomes completely halfway through because we have certain accents also in the electronic the that yeah yeah i take as a cue yes so. In the end of my caribbean part just came out. Her younger feel that reflects todays multinational and multicultural societies that siegels trademark here unlike us its easy to see how the contributions of dancers from diverse ethnic backgrounds can enhance a performance it doesnt matter where the dancers were born they find a common language of artistic creation the blues foundries. The job it was the freedom of this process of experimental sale of what they think you know like bring it out to bring in all the best in the us or that could definitely one lets you do its just my piece this my feet you know misfits its visited my court case i was so youre like oh come on like trying to do anything with the now youre revealing this into your piece thank you so much. Thank you but i do expect you know it today in the coming days for more and more to let their vocabulary. And churn and she got into the choreography course were starting here because it gives us a good. Scaffolding on which to hang the other our other other cats in but im sure thats the way that its going. Dancing its just been wings has been with a major you know like its coming no no like we have to make it seem to our community wouldnt we have to change the way i do kids in them or in dance to go from a show i teach judys all to this so that i think that this will come on its own. Douses thats his thats his life. Thats his everything. Lagos is often disparaged as a sprawling dystopian cauldron of a city but it has a rich cultural scene with concerts an opening at performances like this one honoring the life and work of afrobeat piny a senate committee. To see a coexistence of lifestyles and gas was and of cultures. That can share the stage there is nothing the only long flowing. Valley of difference does give expression to that form for or for that diversity and openness of of. Spirit and curiosity about the other or everything like you know frankly with without discriminating without making a hierarchy that these things can coexist thanks siegel recently staged the premiere at the new work called made for walking. Its an intimate chamber play and like unique text the music is based on african poly rhythms. Thank. You. Hes working with poly with this which means that theres multiple resumes happening in the body at the same time and yet its been a challenge i think for all of us to go through that door. Just because when you think of like being a musical dancer and this are very new so this sort of like rounded out 8 count or 3 4 1 to 4 or something thats very kind of measurable and these are all over the place and like a 5 and a 7 and 8 and a 3. And a half to kind of difficult so like keep it all in your head at the same time but at the same time its a nice scientific experiment so break down something that actually will actually occur is like he was saying in African Songs and dances and like natural rhythms but just sort of break it down and counts and so that we can visually kind of play with it you know exactly in each of their in their in their bodies theyre describing 2 rhythms and then those 2 rhythms are combining with the other ones as well so we get even more probably rhythm i just figured ok as long as we have 3 out of 4 of the dancers here as long as made for walking is based on the rhythm specifically the african drum theory that its only fitting that we should we should experiment a bit while we have a big name for the drummer uses for the body which we just use so can i can i see just just the hand through his. Head. Yes its a language. The language for a talk and drum talks and prove all of. The talk in drama when he wants you to move your hand. When no one suits or move your legs so we dont just dance with listening to the drama its like you wanted. To well i dont speak that language we needed a bridge there with a guy smallish like trying to the job be yourself yes. Thats really interesting listening to your own rhythm being yourself and insisting on the integrity of your. Your way in and in the world at this and he took that initiative was a very interesting choice for him to. Do. More than well sealed up so thats what we did we tried to remember her right there and right then right there without the assistance of video. Some of the tiriel and remits actually to you know to restructure it. And on top of that we later in this this lives music to. Today it became more incorporated in the body of the things we learned the last 2 days yeah and all this all these speeds is just kind of fused in my body with also the classical training because the last few days i was so i feeling bad for being a big classical and then today it just all came together and i wasnt really judging it. To. Be. The drumming it was for made for walking was about. Being yourself rock about being yourself. And dance to your own dont feel really in your own rhythm. Box yeah. Dont imitate dont imitate it. Just be yourself and follow your own direction which is interesting because in the piece actually its a lot about following but its also a lot about leading up to saving time and always trying to find this useful measure between leading and following and the question the central question is who who will lead if no one follows and who will follow if no one the same way you alluded to that when you followed up odds are that it will show for you if you watch is really cool if you want to make music if you want to make music yeah. I like the idea of open and and like you just have a good head and what also all of a adam said that you know only. And i cant help and let it affect you. What can i do i can grin together a group of of people of artists who share the attitude or at least we are cultivating the attitude were trying theyre trying. Where in a position to be making the world better. To repair the world. As one might say it is our obligation. The idea of repairing the world is its not mine and i inherited that. This is my own tradition of my parents of the jewish tradition that i come out of to come along is that is the is the hebrew translation of of repairing the world. And i like it and i want to own that i can decide what values i want to own and the idea of repairing the world yes its a grand notion but. You know whats happened whats wrong with having values we all have that power culture belongs to only the people who decide to own it. Eco africa is. The correct way to cool coffee pushes. The move into gloomy view of this place the happy thought for the seafood from an outdoor Training Session at the Climate Academy in kenya. The Fairtrade Foundation is showing farmers how to work economically despite the effects of climate change. The. 30 minutes. In the book you are now going to keep warm because i like you know. Exposing injustice global news that matters. To me for minds. Its been 15 years since the. Jeep was the 1st man to walk on the. As a small boy she dreamed of the stars. As a place shed seen anything no matter to. Go to. As an astronaut she took part in the greatest adventure in history. Armstrong was his destiny starts july 20th on t. W. Play. Play. Play lead. The lead. The lead. Player. Play. This is. A ship carrying dozens of vibrance docks in the intimate the attics lands in defiance of fanned by a hot night interior minister. And now the Aid Organization missile with refugees on board is waiting just off the coast also coming up. At the womens world cup to sweden in the 3rd place to ensure a major new products empty handed