Diary of up coming dates

We will be showing a selection of clothing from our Womens Wear range as House of Odycee makes an appearance on The 'Sisi Oge' Show 2009. Now in its fourth year, the Sisi Oge Show is presented by Ireti Doyle and would take place at Terra Kulture (Plot 1376 Tiamiyu Savage CresentVictoria Island, Off Ahmadu Bello Way, Lagos, Nigeria) on Friday October 16th at 6pm.

The 8th of November will find us in celebration with Mentor Data Okorodudu of JD7 as this veteran Couture House marks five years in the Fashion Industry. Its an apt celebration as she recently bagged two awards: ELOY's 'Female Designer of the year - Established' and another from the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC). Whislt we are here, a big thumbs up to the current DG, Otumba Olusegun Ronsewe for launching a 'new' national dress sense. What then you may ask is the 'new' national dress: good old ANKARA! a packed audience of 'Nigerians' and select Nollywood elite were in attendance at Planet One in Maryland on Sunday last week to watch the unveil. Kudos and well done Sir.

Stay with us for further details on our programs for the remainder of the year.

Oluronbi - The Dance Musical. Costumes by The House of Odycee

End Note

“Is not the point of every story, that it strikes a chord in us and goes into lore and becomes common property?”
-Ken S Wiwa

Encore!

Those nagging imperatives of ours; The stories we must tell. Truth, History, Identity and Hope are some of ours. These are the stories and oral traditions we try to impact in an objective manner primed by an intellectual curiosity that knows no bounds. Such that the generations that follow may ‘know’. That they may know and not be lost, or cajoled. This is our truth, tell us yours.

The arts, theatre and the business of enchanting we are certain, is the career for us. On the subject, we are free of doubt. Whilst those around us may loose theirs, our head remains firmly on our collective shoulders. Reality exists, and we do think it ‘knowable’. It is a question of animating the world we live in, here and now with the values of our past as this will tell us where we are going. The stories of our past give an essence of who we are today which enlightens us as to why we are here and what we can achieve.

This is HoON’s collective call and what we were placed here to do at this particular point in time. In our capacity as performers and creative persons from the Niger Delta, Nigeria and Africa at large, all we want to do is accentuate life. To the banks of 'Life-River’, take us. We shall bend, sip and drink.

Who is ever to say? With your input, these dreams we dream may just grow wings soar and take to the skies? So please, indulge us… just a little. Until you do, we shall just have to occupy our time in ways that amuse us until the curtains go up and our time comes.

…Oh and she will. We know. For we have beckoned her. Even now, her barge approaches….

In for the long haul,

Telema Tonye Batubo
Visual Artistic Director
April, 2009

An invitation to the round table

Calling all artistic and creative persons of diverse ethnic backgrounds with a strong interest in Costuming, Theatre and Performance Art

Seeking a team of like-minded individuals interested in joining/formulating a multidisciplinary theatre ensemble. A hotbed of Creative Talent and a proactive Art Collective. Odycee does not perpetuate difference but rather, empowerment.

We produce live performance art and theatric pieces based on the African ideal using traditional methodologies including mime, physical theatre, song and dance.

We are particularly interested in meeting facilitators and creative individuals with a strong commitment to excellence.

‘When one dreams alone, it is only a dream. When many dream together, it is the beginning of a new reality’.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

the House of Odycee believes that the implementation of equal opportunity polices stimulate a healthy and more productive atmosphere and creates a better quality of life and a fair treatment for all.

As an organisation working with people from many backgrounds, we celebrate this diversity of culture and community and the artistic and cultural enrichment from which we all benefit.

We are committed to the provision of opportunities irrespective of race, creed or gender.

CULTURAL DIVERSITY

“Cultural diversity depicts Society and its arts as containing a great span of different voices. It responds to the integrity of those voices and recommends they be accorded a fair hearing”.

At the House of Odycee,
We believe true diversity is inclusive and holistic.

House of ODYCEE – Media & Creative Consultancy Services

What We Do, cont.

Media & Creative Consultancy Services

A Stamp of Authenticity

Art/Visual Direction & Project Management (Primer Services)

• Fashion & Couture based projects
  
• Theatre Productions
  
• Show/Event Conceptualization & Content Development
  
• Creative Businesses Development & Consultancy
  
• Provision & implementation of high-class entertainment solutions.
  
• Co-ordination of Exhibitions & Conferences
  

Design

Set/Spatial Design for Film, Television, Live Stage & the everyday. Let us turn your aesthetic endeavour, passion and heart into a technical offering.

Interiors, Exteriors and Custom/Specially themed environments (Geomancy)

Costume & Prop Design for Film, Television and Live Stage

Design Notes, Research, Costing, Fabric Swatches, Co Market Advice

Fashion Design– Formal/ Semi-Formal & Haute Couture

Men’s/Women’s Wear, Casual Foot Wear (Men’s) & Jewellery

Creative Writing

• Poetry
• Speech Writing for Public Figures
• Communications for Creative Start-Ups & Art based Projects
• Preparation of Papers on themes of African Heritage & Culture
• Editing, Review & Adaptations for Books, Stage & Film Scripts

Other Services Offered

• Stylist for Photo Shoots
• Hair & Make-Up Consultancy
• Photography
• Choreography (Dance & Special Projects)
• Sound Design
• Light Design

House of ODYCEE - Theatre

What We Do, cont...
Venue & Performance Art Ensemble



Extravaganzas of a Spectacular Kind!

The Company’s artistic programme seeks to be both proactive and responsive, and works in partnership with many groups, organizations and individuals. The Company produces a diverse annual artistic programme.

We produce live performance art and theatre pieces based on the African ideal using traditional methodologies including mime, physical theatre, and song and dance.

ODYCEE - Theatre is committed to creating access and opportunity within theatre-arts for individuals and other marginalized groups and to develop new audiences for these forms from amongst Africa's culturally diverse communities.

The ensemble works holistically, and that is its strength.

CORE PROGRAM

The Ensemble hosts and presents annually a series of productions with linked-in participatory workshops/projects for young people & schools where possible.

An Annual Visual & Performance Art Exhibition/Event to bring a ‘new’ way of viewing Art particularly from the Niger Delta of Nigeria to a wider public within and outside of Africa. Employing Conceptual, Installation Theatre and Multi Media Art techniques.

House of ODYCEE – Atelier

What We Do

House of ODYCEE – Atelier
Fashion & Costume Designers


An eclectic Afro centric collection from design duo Tokini Bilaye-Benibo and Telema Tonye Batubo that seeks to make African Fashion & Style Understandable. We are the point of reference for all things African Attire particular the History on the style of dress of the Niger Deltans.

Design, Mono-Grams, Haute Couture & High Fashion Tailoring, for individual clients, Performance Artistes, Corporate bodies and Special Projects. It specializes in Men’s/Women’s Wear, Casual Foot Wear (Men’s) & Jewellery

ODYCEE-Atelier will seek to make an annual presentation of its collections during the global Fashion Show Season, beginning with its GENESYS! Collection.


The GENESYS! Collection
Clothing of a new ‘undiscovered’ Dark Continent. An assemblage of clothing and theatrical costumes that symbolizes ‘birth’ and the supernatural evolution from something to nothing. The story of GENESYS! is one of creation. Creation of everything we know to exist.

Beauty is Exuberance…
Creativity for us, is the glorious combination of the unlike, a marriage of differences.


We will not reason and compare,
our business simply is to create!

-Adapted from ‘Jerusalem’ by William Blake

OUR MISSION

Why we are (Contd.)

• We are a touring company offering nomadic entertainment, from site-specific work and Exhibitions to our own devised ceremonies.
• We educate, inspire, entertain and provoke discourse with music, dance, oratory and drama by exploring our coexistent ethnic mix and the collaborative nature of the arts.
• We encourage a wider cultural awareness of African Art forms and participation; and encourage the sharing of best practice.
• We encourage and invest in the creative talent of disadvantaged young persons of diverse backgrounds interested in theatre, fashion and the arts in general.

Variety without confusion

Simplicity without nakedness

Richness without tardiness

Distinctness without hardness

And quality without excess

OUR VISION

Why we are


To be the foremost providers of excellence in African Fashion and Live Theatre by promoting the profile and status of diverse arts practice.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Who we are

‘Odycee’ essentially has existed since 2000 in the UK and its sister organization Odycee! USA (An African American maiden dance troupe) has been performing for over twenty years.

Founded in 2008 in Nigeria as the House of Odycee Nigeria. A multidisciplinary ensemble of Theatre practitioners, artists/designers and creative persons of diverse backgrounds.

‘Odycee’ does not perpetuate difference but rather, empowerment. We come together as a collective to celebrate who we are without compromising the values of why we are. We work closely with young persons from The Abraham & Obadiah Foundation and other youth based initiatives, particularly from the troubled Niger Delta region in Southern Nigeria.

We produce/present live performance art and theatre-based pieces in site specific arenas. Our work draws heavily from the African experience with particular reference to the Nigerian Nation. This we do without neglecting our brothers and sisters flung else where around the global village in wide ranging geographies: such as the Americas, Europe and the British West Indies.

At the House of Odycee Nigeria, our remit is to produce and present enigmatic and high quality programs/products of Theatre and Fashion by showing our subject matter in fresh, contemporary and innovative ways.

The traditional versus the modern; migration, heritage; the search for a personal truth and enlightenment are all universal themes that crop up now and again in our work.

Odycee Theatre – A Performing Arts Ensemble (& physical theatre space).

Odycee Atelier – Fashion & Costume Designers

Odycee Media – Creative Writing & Arts Consultancy Service

The Abraham & Obadiah Foundation – An NGO for creative youths of Niger Delta extract.

hoonigeria@gmail.com

He Wishes For the Cloths of Heaven

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths

Enwrought with golden and silver light

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

W.B. YEATS 1865 - 1939

'As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord'

Telema Tonye Batubo
Principal Consultant & Visual Artistic Director


It is… love that makes the mortar
And it is love that stacked these stones
And it is love that made the stage here
Although it looks like we are alone*

…We are not, for we are the house that OBADIAH built!


*Adapted from ‘Show the Way’ by David Wilcox

Curtain Up

All the world is a stage, there are no endings, only beginnings...

I Believe

I believe in the wind
Heaven sent and whirling me
- into heights unknown
I believe in the pouring rain
that gushes and washes me clean,
yet retaining my character, my virtues
and every essence of me

I believe in the relentless African sun
that forces me into shades of hope
and shelters of unseen glory
radiant with promise, like the moon
I believe the elements, in reciprocity
despite the decay and despair around me

I believe in tomorrow, today
Just as I believed in it, yesterday
I believe in Children
In Fairy-tales and Stardust
I believe in the Nigerian child
and the gift with which he is bestowed

I believe in family
-by birth, adopted, inherited or self appointed
I believe in love and forgiveness
I believe in nurture
I believe in dreams
In karma, divine purpose, mother nature
and all else in-between

I believe in the Arts
In music and its power to heal
In painters and the magic of imagination
In writers that inspire
In works that provoke and entertain
I believe in wandering Minstrels
I believe in beauty
I believe in passion
I believe - womb to tomb,
That Fashion is my theatre
and Theatre is my Fashion
I believe

I believe in the good book and the stories told
- of Sangomas, of Shamen,
in Sankofa
and the Griots of yore

I believe in TRUTH
Though I see false Prophets a mile off

You call Him what you may:
I believe in the Christ, the risen one

I believe in innovation

This is why I believe
In the Vision
That is the House of Odycee, Nigeria

(In this photo, Creative Director & Snr. Partner,
Tokini Bilaye-BENIBO)

'Extravaganzas of a Spectacular Kind!'

Variety without confusion
Simplicity without nakedness
Richness without tardiness
Distinctness without hardness
And quality without excess