Uhmmmmmm, every trade has its rules. This is an extract from the interview foremost dancer Tessy Yembra granted Punch Newspapers:
You must have lived in Lagos for a long time for you to speak Yoruba language very fluently…
Oh yes. I was born and brought up at the barracks in Morroco, Shomolu. My mother had a shop in Fadeyi, where she sold clothes and beads. But she was an all rounder. She also sold garri, pepper and other condiments from our state -Delta State. I used to stay with her in the shop.
So how did your dancing career start?
I would say I started dancing right from my mother’s womb. My mother was a beautiful dancer. She was in one association. After every meeting, she used to dance so well. My father was an accountant. He was first a soldier before he went to work at the UTC as an accountant. He was a singer. It was not as if they were professional entertainers, but it was something that was natural in them. I inherited that from them.
Who discovered you as a professional dancer?
There was somewhere in Maryland where some people used to organise disco. They organised events like Disco 80s. I was the best dancer that time. I used to party in all the clubs in Lagos then. People would be looking for me to come and dance for them. They used to call me ‘Snake Dancer’ because they said I wriggle like a snake. We used to move from one club to the other and we were enjoying ourselves. We were always rocking. But I never took my dancing abilities as a profession. I was just having fun.
So what eventually happened?
I went to Madrid. I was still clubbing there and of course, dancing very well. But I eventually came back to Nigeria and a friend of mine took me to the late Ayinde Barrister’s show. I didn’t understand what he was singing then because I come from Delta State. But I was still dancing to his songs. I didn’t know he was watching me where I was dancing. Eventually, he went to my friend and told her that he liked the way I was dancing and he wanted to meet me and tell me to feature in his video.
Let’s go back to what you said earlier about clubbing and rocking. Did you like fun so much that time that you were going from one club to the other?
I love fun. I don’t smoke and I don’t drink. But I dance to good music. It is not only juju or afro juju music that I danced to. You needed to see me dance disco then. I was a queen of dance back then. There is never a dull moment with me.
You said you never sold your body for money. But then, a lot of people might have perceived you as such because of your clubbing and dancing…
I am a very disciplined and decent lady and I am very hard to get. I couldn’t sell myself because I was a dancer. Shina used to tell me that I should be mindful of his friends who would be looking at me lustfully because of my dance steps. He told me I should never date any of them because they would sit back and discuss me. I never even allowed anybody to see me after every performance. I would just leave the stage and wait for Shina who would take me back home or put me in a cab. They used to spray me dollars and pounds while on stage but they never got the opportunity to see me after every performance.
But didn’t you have problem with Shina’s wife eventually? Women would always feel insecure if another woman is close to their husband…
Such things would always occur but really, I didn’t have any problem with him or his wife. When I left Shina, I went back abroad and as soon as I came back, I had to go and stay in my house. We remained friends but I decided to stay on my own and establish a dance school which I called Tessy Turner Dance Academy. Artistes were coming to me for dancers. I pay the dancers and take my commission. I needed to get girls off the streets. That was how I made dance a profession in Nigeria. The profession has become respectable. But when we started, people were calling us names.
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But people said you fell out with Shina Peters. What really happened?
I didn’t quarrel with him. I was just hurt when he travelled abroad and didn’t take me along.
Didn’t you know he was travelling?
I knew he was travelling. I was supposed to be among his dancers and band members. But all of a sudden, he dropped me.
Why?
I still don’t know the reason. But some people said it was because I couldn’t wear sexy dresses. But I am a mother. You cannot expect me to wear indecent clothes. I couldn’t just showcase my bum because I want to dance. Some other people said I would carry drugs if he took me. They told a lot of lies against me. But even when he came back, I still went to greet him. I went for his welcome party. We have remained friends. I don’t have any problem with them at all. He travelled about three or four times later and he didn’t take me with him, but I still couldn’t take offence. I didn’t take it as the end of the world.
Would it have really been a terrible idea if you had worn sexy clothes?
I am a mother. But when I used to perform at Stadium Hotel, I was wearing sexy tights. I would also wear sexy tops. You could look sexy without revealing your ‘vitals’. I just couldn’t go nude. I wasn’t ready to expose my body. My dancers would do it, but I couldn’t do it.
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