The fourth Come to the Concert class helps us with our musical preparations for Christmastime.  The Kamloops Symphony Orchestra, the KSO Chorus and soloists always present a joyful selection of seasonal music. The class will explore the programme’s highlights, from familiar longer works such as Messiah, but also take the opportunity to introduce the class to some other delightful but less well-known works.

In this new body of work, Raluchukwu Ojah explores questions of cross-cultural exchange and the immigrant experience through fashion and dance. Ojah’s research draws upon a traditional spiritual masquerade called Ekpe, performed in his hometown of Amaekpu, Ohafia, Nigeria. Through a series of life-size dancing figures hanging from the wall, Ojah reimagines the Ekpe masquerade to reflect upon his own roots and the ways in which ancestral rituals are spread through contemporary Nigerian western fashion. Ojah’s figures capture the dynamic movement of traditional Igbo, Enugu and Ohafia dances, which have had a strong influence on contemporary dance, especially hip-hop and club dance culture.