By Gabriel Olawale

Van Calebs is a dancer, choreographer and promoter who was born and spent his early childhood in West Africa, Ghana. His works can be recognised by combinations of different techniques and styles.

One of his best known features is collaboration with other artists which we see in his project collections.

“My greatest influence has been the patrimonial, traditional dances of my country. That is what guided me, thats my influence, these are my roots and that is what is at my core. Because if you don’t know where you come from, you will not go far. So these are my roots,” Van said.

The 31-year-old dancer, “believes in the ability of dance to change people’s lives and has always been committed to sharing her passion as an act of transformation and regeneration.

His love for dance has seen him choreograph and inspire the young generation in Ghana. He is also the founder The Walking Stick Foundation and Van Caleb empire, an African dance group promoter, and with their dance classes always genre being Afro-fusion. The dancer has created several viral choreographs in several music videos and on his social platforms.

He dances in the open air with bare feet, dressed in a flowing tunic that shows his body, and explores space while running and turning. Watching him and his dancers, you would swear you were watching the joyous whirlwind of Bacchantes.

Van also created such a torrent of new ideas in choreography that it’s hard to focus on any particular one. His abstract dances fascinate with their fluidity and coordination, making him uncontrovertibly a central figure in post-modern dance.

Asked how important was dance in African culture when he was living in Ghana? The dancer said, “For us, dance was just something we can have fun or play with. That is how I understood it because when I told my father and other family members that I wanted to become a professional dancer, their reaction was: “You can’t do that; it’s not a real world. Dance is just for having fun and that’s all”. Even people who were great dancers were joking about dancing. That was a common reaction 20 years ago. Now I am the only one in my family who has an artistic profession.”

When asked how he would describe traditional African dances to people who have never seen them? The dancer said, “I don’t know how to describe it. Just when I see it, I know that it is authentic, it is not made up. It talks to me because it came from the same place as I did. It is stronger and older than me. Have you ever seen or heard something that made you feel right? I have the same feeling for traditional African dance.

When told that he is an artist who combines very different dance styles, such as hip-hop, traditional African dances and contemporary dance and asked how he transforms these dance styles, the dancer said, “I use dancers’ material. When we are working, I ask them to perform certain movements. I make the rules. But most of the time we create the movement together, by sharing our moves and combining them. We merge together everything that pops up during meetings. We try to build something out of the mixture that represents who we are as dancers.”