Best of OYO – a success

The Ombetja Yehinga Organisation, foundly known as OYO, is a Namibian NGO aiming at creating social awareness using the Arts . One if its projecs is the renown OYO dance troupe, the first and still to date only dance company in Namibia employing dancers as fulltime performers.

‘2024 has been an exciting year for the OYO dance troupe’ says Dr Philippe Talavera, director and choreographer. ‘We staged at the National Theatre of Namibia ‘discovering Michel’, we created new pieces such as ‘Neville’ or ‘the party’, we devised for the UN day ‘Imagine’ and much more. To say thanks to all the people who supported us, we wanted to stage a medley of the work we did last year.’

The event, originally scheduled for February, took place on Wednesday 19 Mars at 7pm at the Franco-Namibian Cultural Centre. ‘the beginning of 2025 has been difficult’, added Talavera. ‘Due to global politics we lost quite a lot of funding overnight. But instead of dwelling in the negative, we want to celebrate what worked well and remind all the people who have helped us about the impact they had. The Arts are a powerful medium. We should not forget about it. The show at the FNCC will therefore truly be a celebration’.

With extracts from ‘Discovering Michel’, a traditional Indonesian dance OYO learnt thanks to the Embassy of Indenosia in Windhoek, a rendition of ‘Imagine’ and the public premiere of both ‘Neville’ and ‘the party’, the public saw the dance troupe at his best. ‘We are working hard to present an excellent show’ said Desmond Kamerika, one of the OYO’s two dance captain. ‘We appreciate the support we received in 2024 and hope we will be able to continue make a difference in 2025.’

The crowd was much appreciative of the effort, and touched after learning of OYO’s loss of funding, due to changes in USAID funding policy. Many people, following the event, reached out to OYO and decided in various capacities.