Created and produced by Leeds based choreographer Nii Kwartey Owoo, Kweku Ananse is a contemporary dance performance and an outdoor procession that brought West African music and dance to the streets of Leeds at the 52nd West Indian Carnival. 

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Kweku Ananse has both a vital educational and creative dimension, facilitating the examination of the traditional roots of Caribbean carnival for new generations of Caribbean young people in Leeds. -Dr. Emily Zobel Marshall 

 

Kweku Ananse celebrates the folkloric stories and traditions that travelled with the archetypal trickster character, Kweku Ananse (the spider), from Ghana to the Caribbean, America and Europe during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Nii Kwartey Owoo has been working with Leeds-based dance artists Omari Swanson-Jeffers and Catrina Nisbett to bring the character to life over the last three months. The parade also features dance students from Irie! Dance Theatre (London) and community troupe members.