FIND THE GROOVE

Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu brings the party to London’s new dance venue Sadler’s Wells East

- Lydia Spencer-Elliott

When Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu walked into a New York nightclub in 2008, she froze. Locals were dancing with such carefree confidence that the professional choreographer’s own self-belief was immediately zapped. She cowered against a wall alone until one unrelenting regular ushered her into a crowd of ravers, who applauded as she twirled.

“They were just boosting me up,” she says. “I felt like Janet Jackson. And then I danced the whole night.”

Now Igbokwe-Ozoagu’s work based on the encounter, Our Mighty Groove, which incorporates the choreographer’s blend of club styles (house, waacking and vogue) as well as African and contemporary dance, will serve as the inaugural show at new powerhouse dance theatre Sadler’s Wells East, opening this month.

The theatre, backdropped by West Ham’s London Stadium in Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, is part of the £1.1bn East Bank development. Neighbours include BBC Music Studios, London College of Fashion, UAL, University College London East and V&A East, and the purpose-built dance space features six breezy studios, an elegant 550-seat auditorium, two Eva Rothschild tapestries, and a cafe-side dance stage for community classes.