A Mixtape for Mourning @ OVRHL
Song Circle & Creative Exploration for people of African descent w. Nkeiruka Oruche
Ékè Sat March 21, 3:30-3:30pm
OVRHL, 465 9th St, Oakland
Join me for an In-person session to hold space for the transition in season.
Drawing from her Igbo ancestry & culture, Onwu Di Njo invites participants to connect to their ancestral cultures and activate song, spoken word or chant as tools for grief and commemoration of loved ones who have died. The session features group singing, personal inquiry, reflection and creative exploration. Onwu Di Njo is part of Oruche’s ‘Obi gbawara’m’ project documenting practices around death in Igbo culture, and the African diaspora.
About
Nkeiruka Oruche
Nkeiruka Oruche is an Igbo multimedia creative, and cultural producer. She created and directed ‘Mixtape of the Dead & Gone #1’ dance-theater comedy about death and igbo cosmology. She is founder and director of Afro Urban Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to boosting art, media, and the tough-but-necessary conversations of the African diaspora. She co-founded and stewarded BoomShake Music, a social justice and music liberation organization. In 2023, she was on SF Playhouse ‘Nollywood Dreams’ creative team. Oruche was a Dance/USA Artist Fellow, Kikwetu Honors Awardee, a NYFA Immigrant Artist Fellow, and YBCA 100 Honoree, and has received awards from Creative Work Fund, MAP Fund, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and California Arts Council. Her work has been featured in BBC Africa, Goethe-Institut, Fjord Review, Coal City University-Enugu, and Oakland Museum of California. She is focused on deepening and sustaining grassroots change-making, and community wealth through her work, play, and family life.
OVRHL
OVRHL is more than a space—it’s an ecosystem for movement, healing, and transformation. Rooted in intentionality, & inclusion, OVRHL is a sanctuary for those seeking to elevate their physical practice while deepening their connection to self and community.
Blending movement, breathwork, and mindfulness, OVRHL creates experiences that are both grounding and expansive. Whether through pilates, yoga, strength training, or ASS-shaking (trauma release), we believe in the power of embodied movement as a pathway to clarity, resilience, and joy.
At OVRHL, we honor tradition while embracing innovation, offering a vibrant and inclusive space where every individual/body is encouraged to move with purpose and to evolve with intention. This is more than fitness—it’s a lifestyle, a ritual, and a return to self.