| Popis: |
The origins of Nigerian dance' are open to speculative reconstruction from contemporary traditional practice and from oral history (see Begho, 1977). It is first necessary to give a brief account of the central characteristics of Nigerian dance. Dance in Nigeria is synonymous with music and is even indistinguishable from play: one term covers all three activities. In Edo, for example, dance, music and play are iku, in Ibo egwu. Moreover many dramatic performances, both traditional and modern, rely heavily on dance for their impact and some would say do not constitute truly Nigerian drama without it (see Nzewi, 1981: 433-56 and Nwoko, 1981: 476). This interrelation of the performing arts conceptually and in execution does not necessarily entail a concomitant unity in terms of production. While there are performer-directors who are skilled musicians, actors, dancers and choreographers, as epitomised traditionally by the chief priest and currently by the actor-manager, there are also instances in which performance is the product of a clear division of labour. Ceremonial dances performed at the court of the Oba (king) of Benin are the product of a complex guild system which underpins all Edo courtly art and the geographical layout of much of Benin City. Performers, costume-makers and propertymakers each have their own domain; Ogbelaka and Eguadase, which are both guilds and quarters in Benin, are charged with the music for different occasions, the latter for Ekasa and the former for Igue and Ague for example; the Ikpema are drummers, the Owina ne Edo costume-makers. Although this form of artistic production and specialisation seems to be characteristic of economic and imperial expansion in Nigeria as elsewhere, other forms of Nigerian social organisation such as that of the Ibibio, have produced equally elaborate and specialised performances (see Ogunbiyi, 1981 a: 12-13). Religion, traditionally conceived as socially ubiquitous and all-pervasive, is said to have provided the initial impulse for |
