OYO Dance Troupe get much needed exposure at Botswana festival
The OYO Dance troupe recently performed at the Maitisong Festival in Gaborone where they had the opportunity to meet with other dancers and performers from Botswana and South Africa.
Pilippe Talavera, Director and Choreographer of OYO said the festival was a great opportunity for the team which manged to perform a triple bill at the festival in collaboration with the Maru-a-pula school of Arts.
“They have an amazing theatre and it was exiting to to perform in this venue and in many ways I think Botswana takes the creative sector and the Arts more seriously than Namibia, because they invest more in artists and in art venues and they realize Arts can be a source of revenue for artist and invest in Arts activities such as the festival,” he said.
He explained that it was an opportunity to expand their network and meet new people. “We were only there for three days so the days were full, but we were glad we could represent Namibia,” he added.
The OYO dance troupe also had a chance to perform at the University of Botswana and meet with representatives of the local Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture as well as with H.E. Mbapeua Muvanga, High Commissioner at the High Commission of the Republic of Namibia.
OYO was established in 2001 with the Kunene Regional Council and is the first and currently only dance troupe in the country employing dancers as full time performers.
