Dance
Limits are made to be broken for pioneering Nigerian dancer Blayke
Find out everything about the 2021 Red Bull Dance Your Style Nigeria champion, who turned a moment of humiliation into the motivation he needed to succeed.
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"If you ask where I want dance to take me in the future... I'm not much of a spiritual person, but I told the universe and God that I want him to let the world know who I am and that he created someone like me."
Blayke has defied obstacles and clocked national and international respect with his wildly unique dance style, passion and limitless drive. In 2021, he took the title at Red Bull Dance Your Style Nigeria and is currently gearing up to represent his country for the first time on the world stage at the pre-finals of the Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final. He also tells his story exclusively in the documentary (Un)credited - The Story of Afro Dance, which is set to be released on Red Bull TV on December 6.
He's a multi-genre dancer who fuses krump with hip-hop, lyrical flow and alternative styles with his popping and athleticism. Blayke wows crowds with ease and never fails to offer up the unexpected with his moves.
2 min
(Un)credited
Dive deep into the origins of Afro Dance in Nigeria and how it has shaped a global mainstream culture.
01
Against the odds
There's no question that Blayke was born to be a dancer, but he's had to defy multiple obstacles to reach his destiny. He cut his performance chops dancing in church at 14 years old with a group he formed with a couple of friends and his younger brother.
The reaction from the audience ignited a passion he already knew was burning inside. "I knew I wasn't book smart from the outset. I didn't like school, and there wasn't enough money for me to go," he recalls. "I made the decision to let my parents take care of my younger brother, and I would take care of myself."
I made the decision to let my parents take care of my younger brother and I would take care of myself
Blayke began going to rehearsals as much as he could with like-minded dancers: "I knew there was something else I was meant to do outside of school, and I also feel like if I had gone to school, it would have limited the way I would have been able to express myself. I'm not much of a talker, but I like expressing myself through my body. I'm a very shy person. Even now, I don't practice around other people because I only like feeling my energy."
At that point, Blayke admits he was the least talented dancer on the crew. "I learnt from all the other guys in rehearsals. I had no idea what genre of dance I was even learning," he says. "I knew we were creating some really good stuff, but I didn't know if it was hip-hop or what it was. I just thought, let me just get comfortable with it, enjoy it and get to grips with what I'm doing."
Blayke's journey with dance has been anything but straightforward
© Tyrone Bradly
02
When life hits hard
A year later, Blayke's life was flipped upside down when his mother had an accident and was hospitalised for 11 months: "No one could be in the hospital with her but me. I was 16 years old, taking care of her, and I couldn't go to school anymore because of that accident. Sometimes my friends would come to see my mom, or after I was finished for the day, I'd go to rehearsal, just because I loved dancing and the release was critical."
Dance was the critical release that helped Blayke through hard times
© Tyrone Bradly
In the interim, Blayke flexed his tenacity at home and took up an opportunity to learn about clothes and how to sew from his sister's boyfriend, a fashion designer.
His mom returned home, but his parents didn't support his dreams of pursuing a creative career. Initially, they could only see an academic future, and it would take a little longer to understand Blayke's talents.
At 17 years old, he left home. "I was sewing to the best of my ability and making clothes, but at that point, I knew that wasn't what I wanted," he says. "I was young, and I had so much energy. I think I was 16 or 17 years old. I knew I had so much energy and couldn't sit in a place making clothes."
Alongside his younger brother, he locked down a gig performing at a bigger church but wasn't comfortable doing it for money: "At that point, I didn't want to do it for money. I thought I wasn't a good dancer, so I didn't want someone to pay me. That was my fear." However, others saw Blayke's potential. One day after service, a guy came up to him and suggested Blayke put his skills to good use in a dance school.
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03
Turning humiliation into a win
"I wanted to move and explore and understand my body. So I went to a dance school called Dancedeal Training Foundation. I think I was the only student who didn't do an audition," Blayke explains. "I was sneaking into the back of the classes and going out immediately after because I had no idea what I was doing, and it was a new environment for me. I would try to come forward to the front, but I'd always regret it."
One particular day, Blayke's hip-hop teacher, Mr Fash, humiliated him in front of the whole class and insulted him. Blayke left the class and the school: "I was crying that day out of pain. I said to myself that I didn't care who he was. I was going to battle this guy and win.
Blayke took the blow and turned it into the motivation that he needed
© Tyrone Bradly
"Life went on. I left the dance school, but when I left, I didn't go back home to sit down and become my parents. I started practising. I started learning how to understand my body and I started learning how to create my own kind of movement. I started understanding that I'm a 'God' too, and I could create. I could create the things that I think of, and instead of learning someone else's moves, I could make my own."
Blayke practised tirelessly for a month and became more deeply connected to his own movements and style and hungrier for dance than ever before.
"I went back to school. I decided no one could humiliate me like that and expect that I would just go and give up. I knew what I wanted now. When I returned to class, they said that we'd be having an exam soon, where we would have to show a dance paying homage and replicating our mentor."
This would mark Blayke's first-ever hip-hop appraisal and his best shot at proving himself. He'd been introduced to Cyrus 'Glitch' Spencer by a friend, and Cyrus had not only become someone he was looking up to heavily at this time but also his mentor.
"Everyone had written me off. No one felt like I could do anything. Everyone knew I was a funny guy, but they didn't know that I could dance like I was about to," Blayke remembers. "When it was my turn to dance, everyone was in the studio – literally everyone. The CEO of the studio, the director, everybody who was somebody in that studio was there. So there was a lot of pressure on me to nail it."
This time, Blayke came prepared
© Tyrone Bradly
When Blayke finished dancing, the whole studio was on fire. "They didn't know I could dance on that level. Everyone went crazy. My classmates, who didn't talk to me, were clapping. The director of our studio, Mr Bimbo Obafunwa, was at the window watching. While everyone was shouting, he came over and said, 'OK, chill,' and silenced the studio. He asked me, 'Who are you?' and I told him my name was Blayke. The next thing he said, which totally changed my life, was, 'Now I know you'. It took eight months for the director of the studio to know that I was even a student in that school, and to this date, he's never forgotten about me."
Blayke developed his dance further and gained national traction. He became an adult and finally accepted that he could convert his talent into a paid profession.
04
Achievements to be proud of
Fast forward to 2022: he's worked with some of the biggest artists from his country, including Burna Boy, Simi, Teni and Ice Prince. He's in high demand as a performer and choreographer and has a lengthy list of fans queuing up to attend his workshops around the world.
But what about Mr Fash, the hip-hop teacher who almost cost him his dream? "I went on to win many battles but never battled him. Instead, we actually became really close friends. We started working together, and we created numerous pieces together. I learnt from him. He prepared me for my first-ever and second battle, and I also think because he's witnessed the pace at which I'm going, he knew, deep down, that if he battled me now, he would lose."
Blayke took the victory as the best freestyle street dancer in his country at Red Bull Dance Your Style Nigeria, but when pressed to reveal his proudest achievement so far, Blayke admits it hasn't been about a singular win.
Blayke is most of proud of being an inspiration to fellow dancers
© Tyrone Bradly
"I'm proud that I've been an inspiration to so many dancers in Nigeria, even before I won Red Bull Dance Your Style. I get a lot of phone calls, and I feel fulfilled when I see people inspired by my dance. When I see someone do my move or dance like me, or when they call me to tell me that what I'm doing motivates them, that means a whole lot to me, because no one thought that I was capable of that when I started."
Blayke's innate drive to trust his passion and not follow any rules or trends just to be a party or TikTok dancer is one of the main things sparking inspiration for rising new-gen dancers in Nigeria and the pioneers.
"I was an inspiration to some of the big dancers in the game here in Nigeria, even if they won't say it," he says. "I think I was one of the first dancers in Nigeria who broke out of the norm – who broke out of doing just a 'hype dance'. I didn't want to be viral. I wanted to feel something. I wanted it to be real. I wanted to meet my spirit. I was creating my own kind of movements. I wasn't really dancing like anyone else. I was dancing like me."
When asked where he gets inspired from today, Blayke eloquently replies: "I don't get my inspiration from just one person. I get it from life itself. The way I feel, how I explain myself and how I perceive human beings and the people around me. I get inspired by everything. I watch dance videos, but I wouldn't say I have a specific person who inspires me. As I'm talking to you, I might think of you the next time I'm dancing on stage. I could smile the same way I saw that you did just as a homage to you and because that inspired me, and I've loved this chat. My dance comes from accumulated emotions that I then execute."
05
Heading to Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final
Ahead of the Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final, Blayke focuses a lot on expression. "I've worked a lot on my mobility on stage. I'm working on my face more, because I don't really have a lot of facial expressions. I'm working on some really brilliant moves. I'm training a lot on getting comfortable with my body and appreciating every move I execute. The main thing I'm trying to do is push myself to the point where I don't feel nervous but excited."
Blayke won Red Bull Dance Your Style Nigeria
© Izzy Photography/Red Bull Content Pool
When asked what the Red Bull Dance Your Style win meant to Blayke, he confesses much more than most people knew: "Winning Red Bull Dance Your Style Nigeria brought me my respect back. After the pandemic, I gave up dancing for an entire year, because it wasn't paying me. I was broke. I saw people I knew I was better than making money off dancing, but there are some things I won't do in the industry. I won't sell out. Even my fashion line was really going down at that point. My house flooded. There was too much drama for me. But I thought, 'OK, let me go for Red Bull Dance Your Style and see what this brings'."
Blayke hit the studio hard for a week and started re-training. "I had to take the opportunity, and I did it. I won. When they announced it, I cried on stage, because it'd been long since I won. I felt that energy again, and it brought back the urge to do more. It made me really happy. Going to the Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final means I'm a step closer to something I've always wanted. I'm just being positive about everything, and it's a good thing for my career. I'm going to give everything on stage, let it all go and release with love."
Advice from Blayke: "Put your own hardships into your dance."
© Tyrone Bradly
Outside of the studio, he's handed his fresh set of designs to a tailor and is about to dive into working on his first collection for his own fashion label. Blayke's also a pivotal person in (Un)credited - The Story of Afro Dance.
Offering advice for rising Nigerian dancers and what makes the scene unique over the rest of the world, Blayke concludes: "Life here is different. Nigeria can be very hard, so Nigerian dancers dance with so much emotion. I believe God has given everyone a superpower, but unless you harness that power, I don't think you will go from A–B. Do you feel me? You'll fade away. I would advise young dancers to unlock their own style. Don't be like anyone else. Put your own story, hardships and happiness into your dance."
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