​

In the first few years after graduating, I worked as a dance artist, choreographer and teacher on an exciting arts education project called Tales of Power, with the Manchester Arts Education Initiative (MAEI).

​

MAEI was a collaborative group of artists and educators who delivered INSET training for teachers in dance, art and drama, alongside annual performance programmes for children. Each year, the programmes centred around a story, theme or historical event, bringing together dance, art, music and drama. Children performed at venues across Manchester, including the Library Theatre, Contact Theatre and Victoria Baths.

 

Tales of Power was created in 2002, the year Manchester hosted the Commonwealth Games. With additional funding available that year, MAEI partnered with Nigeria, one of the Commonwealth countries.

 

Artists from Nigeria — including musicians, drummers, praise singers and dancers — came to Manchester to work alongside us. They visited schools, performed and shared their culture, music and traditions, enriching the project and the experience for everyone involved. I was fortunate to get to know some of these artists and to work closely with them.

​

It was during this project that the Nigerian artists I worked with gave me the name AdeShewa. They explained Shewa to me as meaning “one who inhabits beauty” — an interpretation that has stayed with me ever since.

​

I was deeply touched that they chose to give me this name. I use it not only because it was given to me as a gift, but because its meaning speaks so strongly to something I believe:

​

We all hold beauty within us, and we can choose to live a beautiful life.

​

Shewa — pronounced Shay-Wa.