East Africa is ready – has been ready – for its moment in the limelight. At least as far as dance and professional choreography is concerned.

Quincy Icon holds this to be true, still reeling from the success of her continental debut at the CHAN closing ceremony.

As a professional choreographer and founder of The Force KE dance crew, Quincy first got the opportunity to showcase at the official CHAN draw ceremony held at the KICC in January, and impressed organisers enough to get the closing ceremony show.

I got that job through Karina Palmer, the other choreographer of the show. We were online friends and so she hooked me up with the job.

They were looking for a local choreographer who understands the local market and dancers here, and I got to collaborate with Karina for Leap Creative Studio in January. And they loved the work I did. Fast forward to now, they came back to Kenya for the closing ceremony and I got to work with them again.

Noting that East African dance talent is yet to earn full recognition on a global scale, Quincy is hopeful that the August 30th show gave a glimpse of what is possible.

It’s really important to have such a big platform. It requires us to have local representation and not just representation but having the people who are actually best in representing us because sometimes when these opportunities come, they go to the wrong people. 

The representation of Kenya, East Africa, in the outside market is very shallow but I feel like CHAN has actually shown East Africa on a greater scale and also just working with the local artists, dancers highlights the amount of talent we have and highlights our industry to the market out there.

Skin in the game. Energy. Fun. But most of all, a show that would put Kenyan dancers and choreographers on the radar.

Quincy Icon confidently stated that they “over delivered” on this opportunity.

Genuinely, such opportunities don’t really come often and I wanted to give my best. I wanted to show my art and the level of crazy talent we have here in Kenya. So even when it came down to choosing the dancers, I was looking for the best in the game.

I wanted to show that the dance industry in Kenya is actually greater than people think. And also just celebrating us choreographers who are mostly sidelined. Just showing that we have genuine choreographers in the game who can manage such a scale of a job with so much grace.

I over delivered. Like, I’ve been ready for this opportunity so I did everything!

Connecting with Sauti Sol’s Savara Mudigi and Grammy Award-winner Eddy Kenzo from Uganda were also a highlight.

Eddy Kenzo and Savara were amazing! They gave me such an easy time and I didn’t expect that because these are legends, like there are people that I have watched growing up and I have seen them work, it was a really humbling experience. They were really nice to me. They were open to listening to my ideas. They gave me creative freedom. So, it was amazing working with them.

Quincy Icon shared that a key discovery from the experience was the strong unity among East Africans and the abundance of under-celebrated talent in the region.

As East Africans, we’re very united. You could see the unity between the three countries involved. It was really nice seeing the art, and that is the work of art, by the way, because if art doesn’t bring us together, I don’t think there’s anything else that will. 

And I saw the way there was love in between us. You know, you’re meeting someone for the first time and they’re treating you like a brother, a sister. The love was real!

As far as big breaks go, Quincy confirmed that CHAN has boosted the appreciation for entertainment at sporting events. 

NFL Half-Time show, anyone?

CHAN was one of the biggest things I’ve ever done. I still feel like it’s very unreal, it’s going to take me some time to come down from that high. I’m getting engaged by people I have respected in the industry. They can now see my work. So that was a very huge platform.

It’s shown that Kenyans have been waiting because even the love Kenyans have shown to football is going to create so many opportunities. We’ve always been ready, it’s just that we lacked such resources and stadiums that can handle such a scale.The more these things happen, the more the market will shift to Kenya because Kenyans have such a welcoming, joyful spirit that is hard to find in the world to be honest.

Thank you! To my fans, fellow dancers and the people who have supported me and The Force, I genuinely appreciate you guys. Thank you for seeing me even in the times it didn’t make sense. 

To my team, I appreciate you being the backbone of everything that I do and supporting me in moving forward. 

I want to share love to my family, my loved ones, the people who have stuck by me, my ride-or-dies. I love you guys so much.

To my fellow choreographers, just keep being you. Keep pushing. Keep situating yourself in places that will attract more of these opportunities to yourself. As much as it doesn’t make sense to anyone else, as long as it makes sense to you, never give up!