Turning solo dancing into artistic expression

A professional dancer and mother of two, Diana Gaya’s story exudes deep passion. She danced her way through two pregnancies and never allowed motherhood to weigh her down. Instead, she used her status as motivation to push on in her blossoming dancing career. Diana’s passion for dance started in primary school.

“I used to love singing and dancing. While at home, I would often and spontaneously dance to music played on the radio,” she recalls.

Her passion was fueled by her parents who were lovers of arts. Her father and mother were both martial artists.

In 2005, once done with high school, Diana returned to Kisumu from Nairobi and for the next four years, she worked as a telephone operator of the once famous simu ya jamii, earning a paltry Sh3,000 every month. She also sold second-hand clothes on the side.

In 2009, she chanced upon a poster announcing an auditioning opportunity to join a dance crew by the name Youth Accosted with Arts (YAWA).

“Back then, there were very few dance crews. In fact, I didn’t know of any such group in Kisumu. So, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I couldn’t let go,” she narrates.

She impressed at the auditions and was picked to join a 40-member team of young, enthusiastic dancers. Without thinking twice, she quit her day job to concentrate on dancing. 

“Initially, we never earned anything out of it, but at least I confirmed that my heart, body and soul belonged to dance!” she exclaims.

For the first time in her life, she attended professional dance classes led by their artistic director and mentor, Hosea ‘Ozzy’ Odindo. The team was taken through different dance techniques such as contemporary, ballet, hip hop and African dance. 

So satisfying was her experience that Diana never quit even when she found herself frequently being left out of many productions.

“We were a huge team and they needed just a few of us for projects, so competition was very stiff,” she recounts.

“I once made the team that was to stage a performance titled Guantanamo. We travelled all the way to Nakuru to perform at an international school, and afterwards we were each paid a mere Sh100.

“By 2011, due to such frustrations, many of our team members had dropped out to pursue other things. What kept me going was the love I had for dance. It was not all gloomy as some of the team members got opportunities to travel to Europe to further their careers in dance and choreography,” she adds. 

By 2012, the fruits of their hard labour finally paid-off as they auditioned successfully to join Sakata, a premier dance competition in Kenya. 

Diana was among the team of five chosen to fly the Kisumu flag at the  national competition. The team took a leap of faith and majored in contemporary dance, a fairly new dance technique. After weeks of rigorous competition, they made it to the finals.

This feat saw them attract corporates and NGOs who supported them. It was a pleasant turning point for the few who had stayed on despite the challenges. They began holding stage performances to raise awareness on various issues. 

Having grown to become an associate artistic director at YAWA, in 2017, Diana left and formed Gaya Dance Theatre to feed her new love of telling stories through dance. She majored in solo productions.

Her first show, Skin, premiered in December 2017. It was a one-hour solo production drawing inspiration from Genesis 3:19 which reads, “For you were made from dust and to dust you will return.” Smeared in mud, she put up an intriguing performance that later earned her a nomination for Best Dance Theatre at the SANAA awards.

“I was three-months pregnant at the time of staging the show! In my first pregnancy in February 2018, I started rehearsing for a second solo-production titled Foetus Movement, which I was to perform in May.”

But, the show was never to be. Diana delivered her baby four days before the performance date.

“It was a period of mixed emotions for me. I had disappointed my fans but the baby was here. I was a new mother!” laughs Diana. 

During her second pregnancy, while eight months pregnant, she shot the Foetus Movement. The performance is currently at the editing stage. 

Diana has trained many young dancers and prepared many students for the Kenya Schools Drama Festivals. She also conducts fitness dance classes at several gyms.

Her passion has seen her grow into a choreographer and teacher with several choreography stints spread through the globe especially in Kenya, Tanzania and Netherlands.

Since 2017 she has continued to work for a project dubbed Dance into Space, a mixed ability dance programme for people living with disabilities. She has won several awards, including Best Dance Film at UYO International Theatre and Film Festival 2021 (Nigeria). She came third in the Open Horizons Long form category at Jomba Contemporary Dance Festival 2021 (South Africa) and was a nominee for Best Female Dancer at the Mzuka Africa Dance.

She recently qualified as a coach at The Ankata, a dance theatre school in Burkina Faso.

[email protected]