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