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Multi-faceted African Dancer, Titus Fotso,
Refuses to be Boxed in as he Expands his Career
By Linda A. Annan
Renowned dancers, Vado Diomande and Hamidou Koivogui are among the many African master dancers who have broken into the Western world with their creative and artistic dance concepts. Much the same goes for 34-year-old California-based Cameroonian choreographer, Titus Fotso, whose ingenious and innovative dance moves have gained recognition around the world, and is now diverting his passion to one left unquenched for a while—becoming a full-time recording artist.
Fotso arrived in the United States during the 1994 FIFA World Cup with the National Ballet of Cameroon. In 1997 he was discovered by Debbie Allen, an American actor/film director/choreographer/television producer to assist with research, dance choreography, and songs for Amistad, an award-winning movie she co-produced with Steven Spielberg and Colin Wilson. “I've been blessed,” he said. “As a dancer from Africa; as a choreographer, she just put me on a high platform. I've been so lucky to work with this lady, she's a legend,” he says of Allen, to whom he credits for the jumpstart of his career and will forever be thankful and grateful for. The door that opened for Fotso during this time has led him to turn almost all of his career goals into reality, that is, establishing other projects of his own that have caught the eyes of many, including the city of Los Angeles.
Born and raised in Cameroon, this master developed a keen interest in dancing at an early age of eight during major Cameroonian ritual dances, which became his official initiation into African traditional dance. “Singing and dancing is just a way of life, that' s how you grow up. In my family, it has always been music and dance. I'm the only one who took it to the next level,” he said. After viewing an amazing and inspiring performance by a dancer at church as a young boy, Fotso was convinced he wanted to be a dancer; he was then 11 years old. “I just saw myself,” he said of his initial response to the performance. The decision to become a dancer or musician however, was not an easy one for Fotso because his family expected him to take on a medical career or work for the government like the rest of the family. By age 16, he was undergoing harassment from his older brother who was then a police officer and abhorred Fotso's passion for the arts. He began to give Fotso “bloody beatings” in the hopes of discouraging him from pursuing his dream. To avoid this persecution, he usually waited until everyone was asleep before sneaking out of the house to perform at some late concerts, under nicknames like “Camouflage,” and “Jimmy.” Around the same time Fotso was leading his high school Dance Team and won the annual “Fete de la Jeunesse” National Dance Contest at the Cameroonian Cultural Center in Yaoundé, the capital. This he won in two categories, Best Traditional and Best Contemporary Choreography and was eventually invited to join the national ballet.
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