Waterford community rallies around dancer who was blinded in vicious attack
Tobi Omoteso dancing in Waterford. Photo: Joe Evans
A music fundraiser is being held on May 2 at 5pm in Tully's Bar to raise money for Tobi Omoteso, a renowned hip hop dancer who was brutally attacked last March. Tobi spent many years in Waterford and was crucial in raising the profile of street dancing in the city. The Waterford dance and music community has been reeling since his attack and is coming together to support him in recognition of all he has done for the dance scene in Waterford.
One of the organisers of the event, DJ Jay Roche, told the , “I wanted to help him out as much as I could. There are a lot of people who are victims of assaults, and no one deserves that, but Tobi is the most undeserving person. He’s truly somebody who’d give you the clothes off his back to help you out.”
DJ and dancer Damien McCarthy has known Tobi since he was 14.
“He was doing dance classes in Waterford at the time. I was on the street with a few friends, and we used to pester Tobi every time he passed us to do some dancing for us. Eventually, we joined his classes and from then on we’ve been pretty close.”
Damien was with Tobi the weekend the attack happened.
He said: “It was even worse that it happened on the weekend when he was running an event for the community. It was a shock for us all - the funds are one thing, but also the events and gatherings are even more important because they’re something Tobi has always pushed for and always been involved in.”
Damien said that the support of the dance and music community in Waterford has been immense.
“It’s a credit to everything he’s done for this scene and for community work. If he can help you, he will. The support and help he’s given everyone, it shows that everyone wants to help him now."
Tobi started dancing in Waterford, according to Damien. When he first started dancing, the only dance school in Waterford focused on jazz and theatre dance. He joined forces with that school and introduced hip hop.
For the past five years, Tobi and Damo have been running a breakdancing competition as part of Waterford Walls.
“It’s a jam day where we have dance battles, break dancing, live rappers and graffiti.”
Libby Seward is a renowned dancer, choreographer and founder of the dance branch of Waterford Youth Arts. She worked with Tobi from 2007 to 2017 on a range of community-led and professional projects. Now based in the UK, she reminisced about how when Tobi was just starting, he and his friends would put cardboard on the ground outside the Book Centre and do performances – “they created quite a stir”.
She said that the type of dance Tobi did was “something the young people of Waterford were looking for – someone to do all these cool moves.” Tobi came down to Waterford to study, where his profile as a hip-hop dancer became firmly established.
Libby said, “He gathered people together.”
Between backflips off altars (“my heart was in my mouth,” said Libby) and breakdancing battles, Libby spoke about how hip-hop and breakdancing were entirely new to Waterford, and it was difficult in the beginning to legitimise the art form.
She said, “It was challenging – he didn’t have funds, so money for insurance and venues was difficult, but he kept going, he was determined.”
As part of the Imagine Festival, Libby put on an event celebrating all types of dance from Irish dancing to contemporary dance; whenever Tobi and his crew would perform, “it was a riot.”
Libby believes that Tobi’s success is his “innate ability to express himself” and his “charisma”.
Libby said, “He was just brilliant.”
Ed Cahill, owner of Tully’s Bar Waterford, spoke to the about the fundraiser.
“We’re not putting a number on the suggested donation; we’re just asking people to support us if they can. What’s been heartening is the impact Tobi’s had; he’s held in such warm and high regard that people are rightly rallying around him. That’s the mark of the man, really.”
Already, over €70,000 has been raised to help Tobi with his medical expenses and recovery. On the GoFundMe page, Tobi recounted the horrific events of the day.
“We were supposed to be celebrating. We had just finished packing the car, the seats heavy with gear and equipment for the 5th edition of our Hip-hop and Streetdance community festival in Limerick, which I co-founded and have been working on across Ireland for over 12 years.
"It was a day meant for music, DJ, street dance, movement, graffiti, art, unity and having fun for all regardless of race, religion, gender, age and ability. Instead, it became the end of life as I knew it.
“As I tried to leave my estate, a man sat waiting in his car at the exit. He was parked carelessly, tyres on the footpath, blocking traffic and creating chaos in an already small space with road works. After a brief exchange of gestures, something snapped in him. He chose me.
“He tailed me through the streets of Limerick, chasing me toward a well-known roundabout where he finally forced his way in front of me, swerving to cut off any hope of escape. I watched, paralysed, as he stepped out of his vehicle, wielding a wooden bat.
“He began to beat my car, then he struck and shattered the driver’s side window with the wooden bat, which exploded shards of glass, like tiny knives, sprayed across my face and buried themselves deep into both of my eyes.”
Tobi spoke to the about the fundraiser this weekend: “This weekend is going to be a celebration of what we do, which is hip-hop. The culture of hip-hop is community, peace, love and having fun.”
Tobi hinted that there may be some dancing at the event as well.
Tobi said the attack happened “all of a sudden”. He said his iris split in two and his lens was ruptured. He has already had two surgeries and he has two more to go.
“As far as my sight goes, my normal sight is a thing of the past.
"The field I’m in obviously requires sight - we’ll see what the future holds.”
He is trying to remain positive though. He said, “The community rallying around me is keeping me going.”
It is still not known how much of Tobi’s sight will be regained after this surgery, but one thing that is known is that the Waterford arts community will stand behind him every step of the way.
