Lagos,Nigeria

Ẹrú-Ẹ̀rù: Ecologies of Fear

Ecologies of Fear is a hybrid, practice-led performance research project investigating how fear operates as a lived, situated, and historically conditioned phenomenon—across bodies, landscapes, species, and memory. It combines choreographic experimentation with cultural anthropology and affect theory to ask: how does fear move, and how do we move with it?

Taking fear beyond the domain of psychology or pathology, the project positions it as a relational ecology: a matrix of sensations, inherited trauma, spatial politics, and embodied memory. The work proposes dance not as representation, but as a method of research and transformation—a way to trace, disrupt, and recompose how fear circulates within and between bodies shaped by geopolitical violence, colonial residue, ecological precarity, and collective survival.

CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND

The phrase ecology of fear originates in ecological science, where it refers to how animals alter behavior under the threat of predation. In critical theory and political geography, it denotes the management of threat in militarized or postcolonial environments. This project expands that concept to map the affective residues of fear across human and more-than-human worlds particularly under regimes of racial capitalism, surveillance, extractive violence, climate collapse, and forced displacement.

The project engages not only with individual fear responses but with collective, intergenerational, and multispecies registers of fear, including:

The somatic afterlives of colonial terror
Gendered fear in public space and domestic environments
The choreography of fear under surveillance, protest, migration, or ecological crisis
Cosmologies of fear within indigenous knowledge systems
Spiritual or ritual practices of metabolizing fear

ANTHROPOLOGICAL INQUIRY: QUESTIONING THE ORIGIN OF FEAR

From an anthropological perspective, fear is not a universal instinct—it is a cultural construction. This project interrogates the origin of fear, asking:

Who taught us what to fear—and why?
How do ancestral myths, rituals, and oral histories encode responses to fear?
What are the symbolic figures of fear across cosmologies—monsters, spirits, "Others," borders?
How do power structures manipulate fear to maintain order?
Can movement rituals unearth or liberate us from inherited fears?

Fear, in this view, becomes not only a biological reaction but a socially choreographed inheritance. Across societies, fear is embodied and performed through gesture, silence, repetition, ritual, or control. The project draws on both ethnographic inquiry and movement research to make these choreographies visible and malleable.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

I. Phenomenology & Embodiment

How does fear manifest in the breath, posture, muscular tension, or voice?
What are the embodied signatures of fear across different cultural, political, and gendered subjectivities?
Can improvisation access preverbal or ancestral memories of fear?

II. Geopolitical & Historical Dimensions

How have colonial states choreographed fear through discipline, borders, and surveillance?
What are the spatial traces of fear in cities, camps, ruins, forests, or monuments?
How do displaced, racialized, or stateless bodies move in fear-saturated environments?

III. Affective Politics & Collective Subjectivity

Does fear unite or isolate?
What are the social choreographies of protest, silence, flight, or ritual resistance?
How is fear transformed—through ritual, ceremony, collective trembling, or aesthetic strategies?

IV. Ecological & Multispecies Perspectives

How do animals, weather, forests, or oceans register and respond to fear-inducing environments?
Can choreography become a speculative tool to attune to planetary trauma or nonhuman distress?

METHODOLOGIES (HYBRID & TRANSDISCIPLINARY)

Somatic Research & Improvisation:
Drawing from Skinner Releasing, Feldenkrais, Contact Improvisation, and Yoruba cosmological movement systems to map embodied fear.
Affective Mapping & Psychogeography:
Generating movement scores that trace how fear marks specific urban, ecological, or haunted spaces.
Oral History & Autoethnography:
Gathering multivocal testimonies across different geographies (e.g., migrants, queer activists, climate witnesses) to compose somatic archives of fear.
Anthropological & Archival Excavation:
Intervening in colonial or militarized archives to trace how fear has been used as a technology of control.
Ritual Design & Participatory Labs:
Facilitating public workshops and performative rituals to co-create collective responses to fear—including silence, vibration, choreography, shared listening, and speculative gesture.

PROJECT COMPONENTS

Phase

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Phase 5

Output

Research & Fieldwork

Movement Development

Performances

Public Engagement

Documentation

Method

Site visits, interviews, somatic labs, archival research

Improvisation scores, ritual experimentation

Site-specific performances, audience participation

Workshops, symposia, co-creation rituals

Digital archive, publication, movement scores

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

Performance Cycle: A series of choreographic installations and participatory performances across different cities and environments.
Open-Source Movement Scores: Rituals and improvisation frameworks made available to communities globally.
Digital Archive & Platform: Interactive online map containing oral testimonies, movement scores, sonic compositions, and embodied cartographies of fear.
Scholarly Publication: A critical research text linking somatic practices with affect theory, decolonial studies, and cultural anthropology.
Community Symposia: Forums where artists, activists, scientists, and elders share knowledges on fear, survival, and collective care.

SIGNIFICANCE

Ecologies of Fear is a provocation. It offers a way of seeing and feeling fear not only as pathology, but as history, as knowledge, as choreography. The project contributes to decolonial research, critical somatics, and interdisciplinary performance by reframing fear as a relational, ritual, and choreographic condition. In a world increasingly governed by fear—of migrants, of contagion, of collapse—it becomes vital to ask.

THE TEAM

This project brings together four dynamic and boundary-pushing artists whose practices span performance, sound, new media, choreography, and community engagement. Grounded in deeply personal and politically resonant explorations of identity, memory, and transformation, each of them contributes a distinct yet interconnected voice to this collaborative endeavor. Through movement, immersive technologies, sonic experimentation, and socially rooted performance, they invite audiences into a space of dialogue, disruption, and reimagining.

Taiwo Ojudun Jacob (it/ none)

Choreographer & Performer

Taiwo Ojudun Jacob (b. 22 July 1988, Lagos, Nigeria) is a Berlin-based Black queer dancer, choreographer, and curator whose transdisciplinary practice spans performance, social practice, and embodied research. Deeply engaged with themes of identity, marginalisation, and decoloniality, Taiwo’s work interrogates the sociopolitical structures that shape individual and collective experiences—particularly in relation to queer Black subjectivities and diasporic memory.

Early Training and Artistic Foundations

Taiwo began their artistic journey in Lagos, Nigeria, where they trained for over six years with the Crown Troupe of Africa, an influential performance collective led by Segun Adefila. This foundational period was pivotal in shaping Taiwo’s choreographic voice, grounding their movement vocabulary in everyday gestures, ritual, and the socio-political realities of urban African life. Their early work with Crown Troupe fostered a deep sensitivity to community-based practices, street performance, and the transformative potential of theatre in public and unconvention spaces.

Establishing Illuminatetheatre Productions (2015 )

In 2015, Taiwo co-founded Illuminatetheatre Productions, where they continue to serve as Artistic Director. The collective was born out of a desire to create a collaborative, experimental space for emerging artists

to explore radical and hybrid approaches to storytelling. Under Taiwo’s direction, Illuminatetheatre functions as a critical laboratory, foregrounding process-based, non-linear practices and politically resonant performance.

The collective’s work often intervenes in public and unconventional spaces, dismantling dominant aesthetic paradigms while engaging local communities. Through installations, performances, and public actions, Illuminatetheatre challenges conventional notions of authorship, archive, and access, with a core mission to democratize cultural production and foster meaningful community engagement.

Curatorial Practice Art Mobile, Lagos

In parallel with their choreographic practice, Taiwo serves as the Curator and Artistic Director of Art Mobile, Lagos—a nomadic, site-responsive platform for experimental art, dialogue, and postcolonial inquiry. Art Mobile connects artists across geographies through mobile exhibitions, workshops, and collaborative residencies. Taiwo’s curatorial methodology emphasizes horizontal structures, intergenerational exchange, and the amplification of underrepresented voices especially within postcolonial urban contexts and diasporic spaces.

International Residencies and Fellowships

Taiwo’s international recognition began in 2018, when they were selected for an artist residency at ZK/U (Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik), Berlin as part of a cultural exchange programme between Lagos and Berlin. Organized by Goethe-Institut Nigeria, Savvy Contemporary, and Galerie Wedding, this residency resulted in the creation of What If—a dance and documentary film examining the unfinished legacy of colonization across the African continent.

Also in 2018, Taiwo was selected as a fellow at the UCLG Global Youth Culture Forum in Jeju, South Korea, engaging in critical dialogue with young cultural leaders from around the world.

In 2020, Taiwo participated in multiple residencies, including:

Opendorf Africa Village Opera (Burkina Faso)
Tutuola Institute Residency (Lagos, Nigeria), where they further developed their somatic research and site-specific methodologies.

Recent Projects and Performances (2024–2026)

Taiwo’s work has been presented in numerous festivals and institutions internationally, including:

Lagos Theatre Festival, Dance Gathering, and National Theatre Lagos (Nigeria)
Hamburg Theaternacht (Germany)
FESTIWALLA Festival at Volksbühne Berlin (2024)
100° Diaspora at Berliner Festspiele (project Shadows)

In 2024, Taiwo premiered their choreographic work ‘’The Migrant’’ at the Volksbühne, exploring movement, migration, and memory through an Afro-diasporic lens. The piece is set to premiere in Lagos later in 2025 and will tour various European theatres in 2026.

Their collaborative piece Trümmerberg Cartographies has been selected as part of a research and performance series Unknown Geographies organized by TATWERK | Performative Forschung, running from 7 July to 1 August 2025.

Teaching and Community Engagement

Alongside their artistic practice, Taiwo has remained deeply committed to education and community exchange. Over the years, they have facilitated workshops for youth and high school students in Lagos, sharing movement-based practices rooted in African dance, somatic exploration, and narrative improvisation.

In Berlin, Taiwo has taught “Afro-Fusion” at Tanzfabrik Berlin Schule as a guest dance teacher and was a regular instructor at Motions Berlin, where they led a class titled “Rhythm and Soul”, focusing on body awareness, rhythm, and cultural memory in movement.

Choreographic Philosophy

Taiwo’s choreographic approach is grounded in experimental research focused on body memory and critical theory. Their performances are often participatory, durational, and politically charged—position the body as a living archive and a site of decolonial resistance. Through workshops, performances, and public interventions, they engage with affect, displacement, invisibility, and futurity. Their embodied poetics contribute to a growing discourse on performance as a space of epistemological rupture, social transformation, and radical imagination.

Contact
Email illuminatetheatre@gmail.com | hardearn4reral@yahoo.com
Website: https://www.illuminatetheatre.com/ | https://taiwoojudun.wordpress.com/
Instagram: here here
Mobile: +49 15560 569970
Address: 282 Karl-Marx Straẞe, 12057 Berlin

Jere Ikongio (he/ they)

Dramaturgy, Technical Director, Performer

Jere is a new media, performative and immersive artist based in Berlin and Lagos. Adopting a research based art practice, explores the intersections of infrastructure, identity, and archiving using mediums like performance, photography, video, animation, creative coding, fashion, installations, 3D and XR.

The artistic process employs audience engagement, affect, and storytelling, while contextualizing global to local effects and ramifications, and the digital revolution in political economy & the arts using interactivity, exploration of space, identity, and memory. These artworks attempt to blur the line between past, present, and future, creating a non-linear blend that presents a critical exploration of existing archives and a reimagination of public spaces (physical and digital).

Jere is a Magnum Foundation Fellow, a Digital Earth Fellow as well as a World Press Photo grantee. He has been selected for the Lagos-Berlin Artist/Curator residency 2021 and Dekoloniale Berlin Residency 2023. Jere’s work has been shown at the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, 5th Odessa Biennale of Contemporary Art, International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), Durban, the 11th Bienal do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, Savvy contemporary, Berlin, Hong-Gah Museum, Taiwan, ZKU Berlin, 2nd Lagos Biennale amongst others. He is a member of the curatorial collective TXL.

Sunmisola Omotoyosi Taiwo (she/her)

Dancer & Performer

Sunmisola Omotoyosi Taiwo is a multidisciplinary theatre practitioner and dancer with over a decade and a half of experience across Africa and Germany. Her work fuses traditional African dance, Afrofusion, and contemporary movement with experimental theatre to explore themes of identity, culture, and transformation.

She began her artistic journey at Footprints of David Art Academy and further trained with the Crown Troupe of Africa and the Society for Performing Arts in Nigeria (SPAN). Her performance and choreography credits include Ada the Country, Legends the Musical, Bloom Not Doom, and international engagements in Bielefeld, Kempten, and Accra.

Now based in Germany, Sunmisola works as a social, cognitive and physical developmental facilitator for children, while continuing her practice as a dance educator and performance artist with Connecting Family and Falkendom Bielefeld. She is committed to using the performing arts as a medium connecting education, development and social impact.

Sunmisola Omotoyosi Taiwo (b. 1 January 1998, Lagos, Nigeria) is a multidisciplinary dancer, educator, and performance artist whose practice fuses traditional African dance, Afrofusion, and contemporary movement with experimental theatre.

With over fifteen years of experience across Nigeria and Germany, her work explores the intersections of identity, culture, transformation, and social development through embodied expression.

Sunmisola began her artistic journey as a child performer with Footprints of David Art Academy, a Lagos-based initiative known for cultivating young artists through community-centered arts education. Her time with Footprints of David laid the foundation for a lifelong commitment to performance and cultural preservation through movement.

She went on to receive further professional training with two of Nigeria’s most influential performance institutions: Crown Troupe of Africa and the Society for the Performing Arts in Nigeria (SPAN). These formative years shaped her multidisciplinary approach and introduced her to a range of practices including traditional Yoruba performance aesthetics, urban storytelling, and collaborative improvisation.

Sunmisola’s choreographic and performance credits span theatre, dance, and international collaborations. Notable works include:

"Ada the Country" – A Nigerian musical exploring womanhood, resilience, and national identity
"Legends the Musical" – A vibrant tribute to African icons through song and movement
"Bloom Not Doom" – A performance work blending contemporary dance and spoken word around themes of personal rebirth and healing

Her work has been showcased across major Nigerian stages and international platforms, including performances in Accra (Ghana) and across Germany in Bielefeld and Kempten. These engagements have allowed her to connect her Lagos-rooted training with broader global conversations around dance, diaspora, and identity.

Community Practice and Interdisciplinary Work in Germany

Now based in Germany, Sunmisola integrates her artistic knowledge into the fields of education, development, and social work. She works as a cognitive, social, and physical developmental facilitator for children, applying principles of creative movement and embodied learning to support early development and cultural awareness.

As a dance educator and performance artist, she collaborates with organizations such as Connecting Family and Falkendom Bielefeld, where she leads workshops, choreographic projects, and intergenerational community programs. Her classes often combine storytelling, rhythm, and movement to encourage self-expression and collective healing.

Sunmisola’s practice is rooted in the belief that dance is both an archive of ancestral memory and a tool for personal and collective transformation. She uses performance as a space for dialogue—between past and present, between tradition and innovation, and between the body and the world it moves through.

Her evolving work aims to bridge education and the arts, advocating for greater integration of cultural expression into learning environments, and for the performing arts as a medium for social impact.

David Meng-Chuen Chen (they)

Sound Design & Performer

David Meng-Chuen Chen (Artist Name: Cavid Dhen) is a Berlin-based researcher and sound artist blending wind instruments with electroacoustic processing and extended techniques. Their often collaborative performances weave narratives through folk songs, organic noises, and improvised soundscapes. Through this process, they also compose and live-score form film and dance projects. David is also a doctoral candidate at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, with scientific publications on land systems, post-growth economics, and waste, which occasionally inform their musical work.

Selected Performances:

an(8)x Festival, 90mil, 08/2025 (upcoming)
Normies Study Group, Studio dB, 08/2025 (upcoming)
Whole Festival, Ferropolis, 07/2025 (upcoming)
Bar Neun, Berlin, w/ Soft as Snow, 07/2025 (upcoming)
Blaues Rauschen Festival, Gelsenkirchen, w/ Hannah Endrulat 06/2025
Soundcloud HQ, Berlin, Asian Heritage Month 05/2025
Chert Lüdde Gallery, Berlin, w/ Hannah Endrulat 03/2025
Übel und Gefährlich & Metropol Berlin, w/ Savanna Morgan 02/2025
Miss Read Festival, HKW Berlin, w/ Savanna Morgan 10/2024
Time To Listen Conference on Sustainability and New Music, ADK Berlin, w/ Hany Tea 10/2024
Wor(l)ding Dreamers, Galerie im Turm Berlin, w/ Legion Seven & Sailesh Naidu 05/2024