Cece Nama
Creative Direction and Photography // SHOKIRIE CLARKE // Styled By KESLEY THOMSON // Movement Direction METTE LINTURI
Who is Cece Nama?
I am a Black, British, African, South-London girl, just trying to make it in this world. No but seriously, I’m an artist, I’m a dancer, I’m a creative. I just feel like I exude art in whatever way feels necessary to me at the time.
How did you start dancing?
“When I was in year 7, I had five best friends and they all decided to start taking a dance class after school on a Wednesday. Initially I was like we have double PE on a Wednesday, I’m not trying to sweat after school and do that, but then I ended up joining the dance class because I had no one to hang out with on a Wednesday evening. I ended up being really good at it, which was consistently reassured to me by my teacher. It felt super easy to me, so from there I continued diving into it and discovering more things. By this point my friends ended up hating it, but I actually really liked it so they all left and I stayed. That’s kind of how I started my dance journey.”
Talk us through your journey as a dancer.
I feel like I don’t have a conventional story because I didn’t go to dance school. I was doing mathematics, economics and was going to study accounting at University, but I just felt like I was really good at this. So, I asked my mum to let me take a gap year so I can figure this out. In that gap year I ended up taking so many classes, I got a bit obsessive. I was like right okay, what are all the dance agencies, I researched them all and then I was like okay what do the black girls on those dance agencies look like? I realised I needed to get my look together, and that I needed to be in these certain classes if I want to be seen by these people. It was very strategic because I knew I only had a year to almost prove to my parents that this was the right decision for me. As I said I was doing maths and economics, and there was other stuff I could’ve gone into, but it just felt like it wasn’t right for me.
How did you start choreographing?
From the real top top tiddedee top, I have a younger brother, a god-brother and a cousin, and we basically all grew up together. It was like the Rugrats and I was Angelica and I made them do shows for our family. I got those hoes together! I said come here Jefro you’re gonna move to the left, Jesse you’re gonna move to the right, I’m gonna come through the middle, pop up! I was choreographing from basically wee high… I’m sure I was like six years old. In late primary school, beginning of secondary school, I continued that because I had a best friend and I would make her make routines with me in the school playground. I’d be like “girl, do you like this Ciara song yeah? Let’s like, why don’t we just like make a little [unintelligible]? Do you know what I mean, to it."
Lets skip 15 years down the line, when I started dancing professionally. I would be around friends choreographing and I would make suggestions and they’d say “oh my god that makes so much sense". I thought oh my god, I think I can do this, so that’s how I started. As well as making routines on myself, I started collaborating with people as well as covering classes now and again. I decided to ask one of my mentors that was teaching me a lot of what I know now, “should I start a dance class? Because I think I can do it!” and he was like "do it, do it!". So that’s what really propelled my journey as a choreographer.
How do you feel dance has shaped you as an artist?
I feel like it’s made me understand my body. I'm more of a perfectionist, more meticulous, even if someone’s ankle is slightly out of place I now understand how the smallest thing can change the whole picture. How the small details can make it more consumable, make you feel like you can breathe, or just relax in it. I also feel like it has helped me so much with my artistry because I am able to nitpick at little things that people wouldn’t even notice that can just change everything.
Have you had any frustrations within the commercial dance industry?
Oh yeah. I feel like sometimes dancers are looked at as the bottom of the barrel and they’re not paid enough for the amount of hours that they put into it. I can say I’ve been training for nearly 10 years, and while I'm not saying it’s the same as a rocket scientist or a surgeon, there is also a science to your body that I’ve trained, and the fact that sometimes I’ve gone home in situations and not been able to pay my rent is so messed up. Especially bearing in mind that everyone in the room is probably being paid enough to sustain themselves in life. It’s always a second thought with dancers.
Fortunately, it's slowly changing as we have things like Dancers Network that is really fighting for our rates and our rights, how many hours we work and making sure that we are fed on set. We actually make the show, and the amount of energy that we use means we need to be looked after to be able to do our job to the fullest of its potential. Even down to respecting dancer’s time, if you say it’s going be this long and then all of a sudden it’s 12 hours longer, it’s not right! My main frustration with the dance industry is our treatment. We should be treated just as good as other artists.
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What does Cece hope to achieve in the near future?
Um… world domination [laughs] I’m joking, no I’m not. I’m actually not even joking, I’m not even half joking. I want to make an impact on this world. I know, I don’t know what it is but I know I have incredible ideas and I know I’m very good at what I do, so I just know that I can create something magical. I just need someone to give me the money, time and belief and I swear to God, let’s go. I don’t even know what it is, I don’t know whether it’s to choreograph a tour or be in a movie, I just know that there’s something there and I’m going to keep pushing until I figure out exactly what it is. But I just need some trust and some money… world domination [laughs].
What does Cece hope to achieve in the near future?
You can find my work on YouTube if you write my name - Cece Nama, my Instagram @cece_nama and I’ve also got a TikTok, it’s bit more fun you know, a bit more free, but you can find my stuff on there too. You can also find my work on cecenama.com!
