‘Unemployed:’ Why not dance for cash?

In the late 1990s, I had an undying passion for dancing. I wanted to be a dancer aside my aspiration of becoming a journalist. So … there were no twisting moves that the likes of the Slim Busters did that I couldn't imitate to perfection. Unlike today that there are proliferations of reality shows on our screens, in the late '90s it was as rare as armed robbery cases at Burma Camp, as Manasseh Azure Awuni – my mentor - would put it. Among the few reality shows we thronged behind people's windows to watch by peeping through holes was Embassy Pleasure; a dancing competition. Did you watch it, too?

It was my favorite and I wanted to partake in it. I had one of my sisters' approval to contest but my mother would not allow me to dance. And so, the spirit of dancing died off. Today, with the advent of the azonto and akayida, I hardly can tilt, like the Ghana map, to shuffle one of my feet left alone to clench a fist and throw it in the air.

It's been about fifteen years now since I hanged my dancing shoes and kissed the dancing floor a goodbye. Today, I've a school mate at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) who has taken dancing as a 'world cup'- serious business.

Meet Jacquelyne Sackeyfio whom I will call as Jacky in the subsequent discussions. She is a journalist by profession, an entrepreneur, [currently] a public relations student at the Ghana Institute of Journalism and a dancer. A dancer you mean? Oh yeah, she dances. I mean she dances for cash!

“Charley you for watch how Jacky de twist en waist at her rehearsal,” a friend had said to me. “Jacky? Rehearsal?” I retorted. There in that WhatsApp video that the dancer had sent to a close pal, I watched her with amusement; great one for that matter. She moved to the left, to the right and back and forth with rhythmic shivering of the body as if she had touched a naked wire. But to what extent must one value dancing? Does it indeed cause the economic rains to fall on a dancer? Listen up.

In one of the intros of Daddy Lumba's hits, “Med) w'as3m bebiree,” he acknowledges how important dancers are to his music career; “This song is dedicated to the newly formed 'Lumba Dancers' in Amsterdam namely Yvonne Prempeh, Abigail, Manfred, Brother Denis, Charles, and Kwabena (popularly known as Richard). I really love you. Thank you.”

Then in the jerry-hair-do era till now, musicians have been pulling crowds, not only with their creamy curled hairstyles and fashionable apparels, but, with their team of dancers, too.

Such dancers would do the formation dance moves either in front or behind the artiste who would take a lead role intermittently. From the lists of our legendary folks in the music fraternity like Nana Kwame Ampadu, Adofo, Akwasi Ampofo Adjei through to the Akosua Agyapongs and the Nana Acheampongs, down to the contemporary exuberant singers - rappers – Guru, Sarkodie among others, dancers keep playing a pivotal role in musicians' packaging of songs to their audience.

Talk of the music videos of any musician and it would be obvious that dancers are conspicuously present. They add color to the video which makes one directly or indirectly grow fond of such a song even if they didn't like it.

One is therefore not surprised that Daddy Lumba, who for the sake of “Koobi” swearing an affidavit to be known as 'Tilapia' also transmogrified into DL, says to his dancers “I really love you all.” Similarly, if you should ask Stonebwoy and Mz Vee how important Jacky is to them, they, like Adom TV, would say to her 'y3w) adze a oye.' Why? Simply, Jacky is their personally billed dancer!

“Although I am their [Stonebwoy and Mz Vee's] personal dancer, I do dance for other artistes on pay-as-you-go terms,” Jacky, told me in a WhatsApp interview.

“I have danced in the music videos of VVIP (Selfie), Criss Waddle (3shishi), Castro (Seihor), Vybrant Faya (Mampi), Choirmaster (Pull me down) and I was on the stage of the 2014 VGMA with Stonebwoy and Iyanya, 2014 Ghana Meets Naija with MzVee, and Afrobeat and GH Rocks again with Stonebwoy, in R2bee's Star beer advert and a host of others.”

Jacky says she does not dance on pro bono basis. “Would you mind telling me how much you charge your artistes then?” I asked. She laughed and replied “No, I don't mind because I dance alone.”

“For a music video, I charge not less than Ghc300 and on a stage show, I go for Ghc100 or something higher per music performed,” she observed.

Jacky after completing the Ghana Institute of Journalism in 2013 had had her certificate shelved; unemployed. Perhaps Jacky, like yours truly who has rejected some media houses' offers including that of a popular television station in Ghana, doesn't want to read empty contract agreements. She would therefore dance to survive aside the beads of accessories she makes and sells herself.

However, Jacky faces challenges in her dancing profession. When asked if she has a boyfriend and whether he approves of her dancing, she said “Yes I have a guy and he does not approve of it. So is my family. Both do not side with me on that.

“But since I like it [dancing] they do not stop me,” she said. “Do you enjoy what you do?” I queried. “Oh yeah, I am a professional dancer and I do it with style. To succeed, one has to love what he or she likes and I blow kisses at it. I love and enjoy it.”

The truth is that Jacky is not the only person who benefits from her dancing. There are other individual and various groups of dancers who equally get paid by dancing. Recently, on one Friday evening, a friend invited me to sit with him and another friend at a joint behind the Oxford Street Shoprite Mall over foods and drinks (not what you think). While we sat, a group of young children numbering five came to acrobatically display. From swallowing a glowing fire on a piece of a stick to standing on each other's shoulders, they lit up the place.

Thereafter, a young man dressed in the resemblance of the late Michael Jackson took the dancing floor. He had given his own collections of songs of the singer to the disc jockey of the street eatery. If the world searches for the Jackson-alikes, I can bet with the coins in my bank account that the Ghana Jackson would be chosen. From the moonwalk to whatever dance moves of MJ's you know, he did it to perfection. Then … he stylishly removed his fedora, placed it in his palm for the bowels of it to sit prostrate and moved from table to table to solicit for funds (for thrilling us). After taking his offering, he changed his apparel to a casual one, took his pen drive and away, he went to a different gathering of merrymakers.

In Ghana, professions like painting, plumbing, driving, including dancing and many others are either left to the so called uneducated in the society or discarded into the bin. I trust you know that dancing is considered a serious profession in the white man's land? So … while you are capable of doing the azontos, amandas and the akayidas, why don't you join a dancing group near you to sell what you do for free? Is it not better than waiting on that targeted job that never comes? When you finally decide to dance for cash, email me and I will link you up with Jacky.

Lest I forget, Jacky says I should inform you she will be on stage with VVIP this Saturday at the 2014 MTN 4Syte Music Video awards night.

The writer is a freelance journalist.

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