NIGERIA at 50!

I asked my sister what the line up of events for the day would look like, and she gave me a very promising one.
"At first, we'll go to the stadium and watch the march past, then later, to see the 'night of a 1010 laughs' and maybe...."
"A 1010 laughs?" I cut in rather hastily.
Well, when I left a few years back, it was still 'a thousand laughs'.

"Nigerians must survive", she replied.
Looking at her face, I'm sure she meant every bit of what she said.



We watched the pupils and the students march in their 'best' uniforms.
The dancers performed like they had never done before. Happiness and enthusiasm emanated from within them, it was almost like they were wearing their hearts on their sleeves.
Although, the sun was shining down on us like it was trying to prove a point, I still felt a certain joy right inside of me. I'm sure my sister felt it too cos I saw it in her eyes, and in that of most of the people that surrounded us.
I tried to curtail my emotions a lot, especially when I saw some children hanging down from trees, just in an attempt to catch a glimpse of what was going on; and also when I noticed a cluster of some very young hawkers trying to peep through the large crowd from a distance.

It was but a long day!

We summed up the day at the venue of the 'night of a 1010 laughs'.
I looked keenly at every performer on the stage, like I was trying to run some examinations on them just with the help of my eyes. They all seemed to look very fulfilled as they came out in their flamboyant clothes and talks that suggested that of a person that was living the 'perfect life'.
I looked around the audience, everyone seemed to have a certain similarity, they were all well adorned, laughing and cheering too.

I had a lot on my mind, I hope I didn't show it?
One would never stop to wonder why everybody was so happy.
Maybe  a lot of people didn't bother, but I did.
Well maybe it wasn't exactly happiness, maybe it was something else that was even less describable, I thought.

I tried to put together all the memories of the day;
...The hawkers
...The dancers
....The performers
....The audience
I had to resolve to one conclusion-this was nothing but pride!
Pride and passion for what belonged to them.

Wow! I exclaimed as I woke up to the sound of my beeping alarm clock. Thank God it at least let me complete the dream before waking me up. I'm sure it would have been so disappointing if I didn't.

I had to remind myself that I was not in Nigeria.
I promised to be in Nigeria to celebrate the next independence day, where I could really feel its significance and the celebration in the air.
Reading about Nigeria was all we did on the 1st of October of the previous years, and maybe some parties to commemorate the event - yea and we didn't forget to remind ourselves that we were 'Nigerians in diaspora'.
I wanted to stay close to where I could hear the speeches by the people that mattered.
It's our 50th, some parts of those 'speeches' just needed to change. I feel like I might miss these important parts, not because they didn't say it, but because I didn't have the right avenue to hear them. I do not want to believe that they would fail to say these things because they have been left unsaid for far too long and I strongly believe that its highly expedient that somebody took the plunge and made mention of them.

I'm happy to wake up to a beautiful morning on the day of Nigeria's 50th independence anniversary still.
"When there is life, there is definitely hope", they say.

I guess I have to put on my computer and check what is happening over there as usual.

Lest I forget, HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY NIGERIANS!
And to the rest of the world, HAPPY OCTOBER 2010!

Falconets! Glory Glory!

*Singing* Glory Glory!

Mehn I know this is so yesterday but I was just so busy during the female's world cup that I didn't really have time to watch them.
I have not really been one to like female football though, otherwise I'm sure I would have carved out time for it somehow.
Anyway, I watched the recorded matches, esp the important ones, most esp the ones with our girls playing ;)
Yea they are our girls o! Is it easy? They did what the men couldn't do!!! Abeg! follow me sing *Glory Glory*
I'm sure you'll be wondering "why all the excitement for just a silver medal?" So I thought when I came back and heard they lost the match to the Germans, until I sat down to watch the match myself.
Abegi! E easy? Did the guys even pass the group stage? And to think that a lot of people do not really take interest in women's football (just like me), so they were highly neglected.
According to the reports, most of the attention were channeled at the Super Eagles who had their own games a month before theirs. Not as if things changed even after the end of the men's worldcup, and that I could completely understand still. There's no way one could have dared to hope on those women when the men already couldn't do it.
I watched the match o! Mehn those ladies tried, they were able to hold down the Germans for a very long time until the effects of the excess consumption of akpu started manifesting.Lol
They became weak towards the end and the pressure of wanting to equalize the goal already scored by the Germans left so much loop-holes for the Germans to score another one,exactly at the nick of time.
But still they tried, they came out second positon and if you asked me, I'd say that's a great achievement.
Congrats the Falconets of Nigeria!
Never again will we under-mine you!
Still singing *Glory* Glory*

Summer 2010!

Hello blogville! Enjoying your summer holiday? Cos I am :)

With my previous post, I'm sure you would have received a little hint that I love music, true that! But that cannot even be compared to the love I have for dance.
Sometimes I like to believe that I love music just because it inspires me to dance or more like it brings out the best moves I could ever think of.



Well I'm a professional dancer but I'm also schooling, so that leaves me with always having to balance things up. I try to stay very focused and busy with school when school demands that I do, and I also dance myself out enough to last me for a longtime when I have the opportunity to, with that everything is well equated.
I was so busy during the year that there was not enough room to do a lot with dancing though I was able to perform a few times, still it just didn't seem satisfying. Thus this summer I promised I was going to do a lot to my dancing skills, enough to make up for all the lost opportunities. It's as though I always have a lot of opportunities when I'm very weighed down with school responsibilities.
I finished my exams early and started searching; maybe register with some very great dance teacher, or perform with other talented dancers, or have a very challenging performance that would require my working a lot on myself to be able to give it my best. I was looking for anything, just anything to put me back in form. All my efforts to get something interesting and inspiring just seemed to be very abortive.
Gosh! how could I not dance during this long holidays? The thought of it was sickening!
Well just when I had given up and decided to look for other ways to enjoy my holiday, the offers started rolling in. At a point it became too demanding that I had to pray not to break down.
I danced, I learnt, I taught and even had to talk about dance at a show.
I have been so busy and that is why this is coming a little late, but it's for real the best experience to make a great summer.

I just hopped in to wish everyone a very fruitful new month,
yea I couldn't forget that September is here :)
Happy September 2010!