Michael Fernandez Brings African Heritage to Life at Hatfield Carnival 2025

Dance is essential in African culture. While it is an artistic performance, on this side of the world, it also has its roots in rituals. Each step, and movement speaks of either pain, or a story that reminds of cultural values. However, lately, dance has been a tool for entertainment, and from Esa ogbin, to […]

Dance is essential in African culture. While it is an artistic performance, on this side of the world, it also has its roots in rituals. Each step, and movement speaks of either pain, or a story that reminds of cultural values. However, lately, dance has been a tool for entertainment, and from Esa ogbin, to Michael Fernandez, African dancers have taken this art from their homesteads to the global stages.

Michael Fernandez is a revered international dancer, performer, culture promoter, and ambassador. With over twenty years of distinguished professional experience in this ecosystem, he has got his print on the performing arts sector, cultural preservation, international cultural exchange, and academic scholarship, making him a force in his field.

The Hatfield Carnival is an annual event that reminds of the charm and beauty that could be birthed in creativity, community, cultural diversity, and resilience. At this festival, African, and Caribbean culture is celebrated. During its 2025 edition, Michael Fernandez plunged into his ancestral spirit to showcase his skills on the dancefloor.

This dance, an Afro dance embraced the reflective moment of an elder whose heart finds euphoria. These steps meet again with the rhythms of energetic drums and drummers, raising high the spirit of Ubuntu; for truly, Michael Fernandez is, because every African at the festival stood.

His execution with his hands and legs are calculated. He sways freely, and lively. The first is the position of his legs. They are well-spread apart, then the movement goes left, and right. His legs are the pillars to these dances, and when they are shaped, the hands formed in vertical waves follow the momentum. Michael Fernandez as an experienced dancer knows the charm also stays in the face. So, his smile lights his dancesteps.

His costume, a lemon-green short agbada, fits his body movement. The costume also showcases African heritage. His fila, draped to the left gives a core-yoruba vibes which matches his costume. His white shoes leave his dress complete and make the free move of his legs complete.

The audience, a mixture of different personalities and races witnessed this celebration, and dance. At some points, some joined in his dancing. They were elated to have joined him on the dancefloor. They also witnessed the ancestral practices and heard the traditional drums of the Yoruba land straight from home, even while they stayed in their land.

Michael’s high spiritedness and energy literally hovers around his drummers, and audience. This also shows in how he taught those that came to him while he was dancing in that space. Relating to this is how he’s also accommodating without racially discriminating against those around him from other races.

Michael‘s dance was so in sync with the rhythms of the drum, making his performance so infectious. His dancesteps, carry each and every Africans’ pride. African drums carry African dance steps, and with Michael’s years of experience, he put to play the cultural knowledge in his dances, and continue to impact people through this.

This performance however needs an explanation to the people of other races. While art is meant to be appreciated, it is never bad for it to be understood, so as for it to be more appreciated. He was able to teach the dance to them, but it should have been layered with its innate essence.

Michael Fernandez is one of Africa’s dancers whose impacts transcend the dancefloor. His representation of the culture brings prestige and reassurance to the people. This dance at the Hatfield, 2025 reminds the world of a world that can thrive, even with our cultural diversity.