Support Ehmi Khid’s DanceWEB study opportunity

Hello, I am helping my friend to raise funds for a dance programme in Austria.

Please read his text below:

Hello, my name is EhmiKhid Emmanuel Anosike C., and I truly appreciate you taking a moment to read my story.

I am a Nigerian movement artist, choreographer, community engager, curator, and storyteller. I specialize in Contemporary Dance and believe that Dance is a powerful tool for advocating for the underserved communities and bringing about positive global changes. Especially for African children and young Nigerian creatives.

I have been dancing professionally since 2011. I am a dedicated and passionate dancer who loves working with children. I believe that every child should be equipped with the necessary tools to make a significant impact globally. To attain this goal, I founded in 2017 the "EHMI KHID ART AND YOUTH EMPOWERMENT FOUNDATION" an NGO that is aimed at eradicating social vices prevalent to youth through Dance and other Art forms.

Last year, I applied for the DanceWEB programme 2023 in Vienna, Austria and got selected. The danceWEB Programme is a 5 week further education and exchange programme taking place every year in July and August in Vienna in the frame of ImPulsTanz – Vienna International Dance Festival.

The Program, which costs 6750€, offers young professional dancers and choreographers from mainly European but also non-European countries the possibility to take part in an intense multinational further training program.

I unfortunately wasn't able to raise the fees of the programme on time and therefore missed this great opportunity for my dance career.

I re-applied for the 2024 edition and I was happily among the 57 dancers - out of approx. 700 applicants from 61 countries - who have been selected for the danceWEB Scholarship Programme 2024. My participation in danceWEB 2024 was only possible when I succeed in securing the co-funding of the scholarship costs - 2400€. The school helped me find sponsors to cover this cost because I wasn’t able to raise the funds on time in here. Then, I was only left to buy my Round Trip flight Ticket fare from Abuja, Nigeria to Vienna, Austria - which cost approx. 1000€.

I didn’t reach my financial goal to buy my tickets but that wasn’t it. To everybody’s big surprise, my visa to Austria got denied.

But I don’t want to give up on this dream and therefore, I am trying to save up for the next year’s edition and be well prepared.

It has been my greatest desire to get an international platform that will guide me to examine my artistic skills in depth, explore new trends, focus on artistic work and also in creative collaboration. I am excited about the opportunity this programme offers, as it would push me a step further in my professional career.

I believe that there is no better place to develop my dance career as it relates to artistic creation, production, performance and dissemination of contemporary art than this programme. I consider it a very rich experience to get the opportunity to meet dancers from all over the world and learn about their cultures and values, get to develop strategies for collaboration projects with each other and sharing ideas with teachers and choreographers to establish a network. I know that this programme will bring me a step closer to my goal of becoming internationally exposed to the art of dance and gain a more informed perspective on the exchange of artistic and curatorial projects, expand in research works and understanding of different art cultures.

It will mean so much to me if the donation goal is achieved, because I will like to build a community, grow in my projects, create alongside with other artists and return back to my country to share what I have learnt with my art colleagues/community.

Any amount you're willing to contribute is so greatly appreciated, and if you aren't able to contribute money at this time, a share with your friends and family would mean the world to me as well.

Thanks and God bless you all.