DANCE, PERCUSSION, SONG, THEATRE, POETRY
WORKSHOPS and PERFORMANCES
AYO is a respected teacher, workshop leader and performer of West African Arts in England. He was born and raised in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where music and theatre were all around him. He originally performed and toured around West Africa with many dance and theatre groups, including the National Dance Troupe of Sierra Leone, Kailondo and Tabula Theatre Companies, and won the Progress National Actor of the Year Award.
Since coming to England with Gbakanda Afrikan Tiata in 1987 he has been performing nationally and internationally with musicians and theatre companies as musician, drummer, dancer and actor. Now based in Devon, he has gained a wealth of experience teaching in schools, universities and communities, as well as to African Arts enthusiasts throughout the UK. He is sharing his culture in the UK, America and Canada.
Ayo’s credits include Dancing with the Ancestors for Dance Theatre Kabudu (2002) Makbet (2004) Awooplay (2005) for TR2 Plymouth, God is Black (2006), Cross Cultural Sea Shanty (2007) Bristol and Exeter, Mami Wata and the Black Atlantic (2007).
MISSON
Ayo’s mission is to interlink cultures and break down barriers.
Ayo aims to build bridges, by means of the arts, between Africa and Britain.
VISION
Ayo’s long-term vision is to establish African cultural centers both in Devon and West Africa, which will benefit people of all races and nationalities. He wants to develop a sustainable exchange programme for artists.
EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS
Ayo’s workshops are designed individually for all ages – primary, secondary and further education, and for all levels – from young children to adults, from primary school to university or community projects. The workshop involves moving to music, an insight into African art forms from an authentic source and helps develop self-expression in a fun way. Workshops are built on these values:
- CULTURE an insight into African Art Forms
- INSPIRATION from an authentic source
- LEARNING through participation
- FOCUS as moving to music absorbs
- FUN development of self-expression
- COMMUNICATION and EXPANSION
Workshops fit well into National Curriculum guidelines and can be linked to many subject including PE, Music, Geography, Religious Education, Art and History. Workshops can be specific or combined in:
- African Songs
- African Drumming
- African Dance
- African Popular Theatre
- African Percussive Music
- African Poetry and Movement
Workshops have a varied and flexible repertoire, classes can be arranged to suit particular project needs and time-tabling requirements:
- Lesson-length Workshops - throughout the day which could be spread across different classes within the school
- School Day Workshops – half or whole day spent with one or two groups
- Long-term Workshops – repeatedly booked projects on themes of Africa Weeks, Arts Weeks, Out-of-school Residential
“Dance with Ayo was different. His hair was beaded. His skin was dark. His clothes were bright. Ayo had the feeling, the feeling of rhythm. He thought us the steps with exceptional talent. The movement of the dance was brisk. The vibration of his drum beat through the air. The pattern of music was alive. The music danced through my body. Enjoyment and excitement.” Hilary Bowler, a pupil at Norton Fitzwarren. School, after a primary school workshop
“As a teacher he demonstrates enormous skill and charisma. Participants from five-year-olds to university students quickly find themselves achieving attainable targets, in a transformative atmosphere combining fun with focus.” Dave Evans, IMULE Theatre for Development, on Ayo’s work
“…the playfulness becomes absorbing, engrossing, all-consuming, serious even. The spirit warms. Memory burns brightly. The fires of intelligence away, and self-consciousness evaporates…”Ben Okri, author and poet, on learning through play
EVENTS and PERFORMANCES
- SOUND OF AFRICA – Ayo regularly organizes a Summer School including drumming, dance, song and mask making workshops, performances. This year the project celebrates the Spirit of the Forest with traditional West African masks.
- TAMARANEH,in a translation “bringing together” is an evening of African music, dance, songs and stories. Ayo has developed a model of an interactive performance making the audience active participants of the event. He aims to create a performance that breaks the boundary between the audience and the performer.
- BAKA BEYOND– Ayo is a lead percussionist with the multicultural music group Baka Beyond www.bakabeyond.net
PROJECTS
- FREETONG – Experiencing Sierra Leone From The Inside
Ayo has developed a special exchange project focused on exploring culture and traditions of Sierra Leone “from the inside” in the way that cannot be done as a tourist. Ayo introduces project members to his people and instead of being observers, they can become acting participants. The project offers discovering beautiful, unspoilt country and it’s people.
“For several years my country was troubled, but now things have changed. I have been back several times since it ended 7 years ago, and have found it to be a beautiful, undiscovered, friendly, safe and dynamic country, that I am very proud of. I want to share this wonderful place with people who are interested in exploring unspoilt Sierra Leone, with it’s stunning beaches and their fishing village communities, the lushly vegetated mountain peninsular, to interact with the exuberant Salone people and experience the bustling Capital, Freetown with its vibrant street culture and music.”
- SAMEBOAT PROJECT - www.sameboatproject.com
Ayo is part of the Sameboat Project that is a not-for-profit organisation committed to using cross cultural art and performance for reconciliation, participation and community building. It aims to develop an understanding of the historical roots and contemporary results of The Slave Trade using performance, art, ritual, music and water sports to commemorate and redeem the past sufferings of all races. The main objective is to send a crew from Africa, the UK and the Caribbean to retrace the Atlantic Slave Triangle on a sailing boat and for that crew to transport a cargo of cultural arts and symbols gathered from theatre audiences in the UK, Europe and Africa.
Project introduces a highly physical show usually performed on a boat called “Black Man Don’t Float?” to UK schools and studio theatres. Performance “Black Man Don’t Float?” helps UK audiences understand why African migrants are leaving their continent in search of the European Dream. When performed in West Africa, the show seeks to prevent Africans from drowning in poorly planned and equipped voyages. Workshop programmes connect UK audiences with young Africans.
“The two men have to co-operate to survive, but their differences appear overwhelming. The sea they see is not the same sea. They are confined in a small space under a vast sky, but are they in the same boat?”
- KABUDU– energetic, expressive, dynamic and joyful
KABUDU is a dynamic group of performers celebrating the traditional and contemporary cultures of West Afrika through music, dance and theatre. Formed in 1997 by Ayodele Scott and based in Devon, Kabudu has members from Gambia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Benin, Senegal, Ghana, Jamaica and the UK. Through the medium of percussion, kora, song and lyrical dance, Kabudu create a richly woven tapestry of senses evoking a journey through African performance styles.
Roughly translated, the name means “all of us” and it was the aim of Ayodele Scott and his company to involve everyone in the spirit of the performance.
KABUDU is a unique and joyous fusion of ages, musical backgrounds and cultural roots. KABUDU has performed for example at Glastonbury Festival, WOMAD and Sidmouth International Festival of Folk Arts etc. KABUDU was touring with performance called Douniya that combined West and Southern African music, songs and dance, evoking a journey through African performance styles.
“Ayo is an accomplished communicator with a wry sense of humour, and it is his mission to interlink cultures and break down barriers… There was a wonderful air of seemingly random spontaneity about the whole evening, clearly the result of much experience in communal improvisation. As a final, Ayo managed to fill the stage with dancers of all ages from the audience, and the evening ended as an impromptu party.” Gavin Wilinson, Newbury Weekly News, May 2002
CONTACT DETAILS
AYODELE SCOTT
Email: thindo@hotmail.co.uk
Mobile: 0044(0)07771966093