On Wednesday, a lot of of people were surprised to see Dance entrepreneur, Kaffy, lash out at Davido and other artistes who allegedly disrespect dancers in Nigeria. In an explosive video lash out, Kaffy came for the music artiste, stating that it was disrespectful of him to dismiss contracted dancers at the very last minute. According to her, this happened at the One Africa Music Fest in the U.S in July and another similar issue also came up before the 3 thrones concert in Lagos over the weekend.
However, it appears her opinion on what went down during the second concert in Lagos was misconstrued. Some media outlets went on to report that the choreographer for Davido's performance at the 3 thrones concert debunked Kaffy's claim, saying although he did not initially want dancers for all his performances, the organizers insisted and he agreed. LIB reached out to the dance queen to hear her side of the story and she exclusively revealed the genesis of the problem, from unpaid debts to more. Read after the cut.
LIB: You lashed out at Davido for disrespecting contracted dancers at the One Africa Music Fest in New York back in July. You also made an example using the 3 thrones concert in Lagos. This was where the controversy set in as his official choreographer at the concert states clearly that his dancers performed with Davido on stage. What do you have to say about this?
The One Africa Music Concert in New York is the concert that Davido disrespected the dancers. While he was climbing up on stage, he told the dancers that he doesn't need them any more. Not the 3 thrones concert. People got that mixed up. They were disrespected right there by the side of the stage when they were about to climb on set. By the time he heard the uproar of the audience, he said "I no need dancers, i no need dancers' and just ran past them. I spoke to Kamal (Davido's manager) and tried to find out what exactly was going on. This was after I had been contracted from Lagos, because i was the official choreographer for the concert. My Job was to contact all artists and ask them if they need dancers. It's not an imposition. If you do need the service, let me know and then pay the dancers. That was the deal. Before i left for America, they had already acknowledged their request for needing dancers. By the time we got to the back stage/his green room at the Music fest, they were still reminding me that Kaffy i hope you've got our back. I Said i do. I've gotten costumes from Nigeria and everything, you guys are good to go. All that was done, so why would you say you don't need the dancers when you are about to climb on stage?
Now the full story of that was, at the end of the day the dancers still went on to dance for him, because after speaking to the manager that whether they dance or not, you guys have to pay something. They've already been contracted to dance for you. The Manager was acting confused and also shocked about the issue. The Ladies decided that since they were going to dance for the next act, they would start changing and deal with the Davido issue later. Now as the girls were changing for the other artist, Kamal came back and said they need to go on now. I challenged him, saying but you said you don't want the dancers anymore? Kamal said Davido said it was for the first song that he did not want but he needs them now and they should come on stage. They eventually danced for him. Now I have been pushing them for the payment of these dancers for the past 3 months.. since July. I even had to pay the money myself. These are American dancers. I have never worked with them before. One music fest gave me the opportunity to work with them.
The issues I've had with some dancers is based on these kind of disappointments. Where artists or clients or people will contract us and at the end of the day, default on payment or change the budget at the last minute. Imagine dancer where i tell you say you go collect 15k? 2 days before the show, client cuts the budget and i would have to pay you 10k? Why won't you think that i'm the one cheating you?.. To cover it up and prevent any lawsuit since American dancers have a union and could put either myself or Davido in trouble, i paid the dancers out of my own pocket. Months after, i have not been paid back.
Just before this second one music fest, I went to the star mega jam iin Abuja with Darey Art Alade. Davido was there and i felt it was the perfect moment to remind them of the payment. I spoke to his manager, who apologized and said it was because they were traveling up and down that they forgot to pay. He said 'you will not need to remind me', that by the time 'I get to Lagos the following day, i would get an alert.' But they can't pay me in dollars. 'I said well i paid the dancers in dollars so you will have to give me the equivalent of what the dollar rate is now or else i won't be able to get my value back.' This was our agreement.
Two weeks after this conversation, nothing happened. I was at a video shoot in Ikeja when I sent him a message again, requesting to know how far with the payment. An hour later, i got a message saying David blasted him. "I told you i don't need dancers. You keep pinning them on me. I'm not going to pay any money". I questioned this development and asked why is this coming three months after?
Now DNMT boss Micheal is the official choreographer for the 3 Thrones concert but i'm officially for Tiwa Savage and was involved in the 3 thrones concert. I coordinated Tiwa's performance and went for rehearsals to guide dancers that were going to work for Tiwa. While I was there, I saw Micheal put up rehearsals for Davido and Phyno. I witnessed the hard work of those dancers. Only for me to hear a day ago from dancers that were present that David did not turn up for rehearsals. But a day before the event, he came and was rude to everyone. "Who are this people, I told you i don't need dancers", he reportedly said.
This was what I reacted to. My dancers in New York that he initially did not allow to dance, and refused to pay when they finally did at their request. Also, the fact that he disrespected dancers at their rehearsals, even after weeks of effort which he did not turn up for. If you know you did not want dancers, why did you not strike it off your contract from the very beginning? Why allow this dancers to work so hard and then tell them off or talk to them rudely at the last minute?
More than one of the dancers present there said David also said that if dancers must dance on his stage, that he's marking out a perimeter that they must not cross. That got me so pissed. People reached out to me to address this. If i'm lying, let David or Kamal come out and say Kaffy it did not happen this way. Let them come out and face me.
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