CHOREOGRAPHY IN WEST AFRICA: KINESIS, PROXEM1CS AND ADORNMENT IN NIGERIAN AND GAMBIAN DANCE PRACTICE
CHOREOGRAPHY IN WEST AFRICA: KINESIS, PROXEM1CS AND ADORNMENT IN NIGERIAN AND GAMBIAN DANCE PRACTICE
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Date
2000-02
Authors
BAKARE, OJO RASAKI
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Abstract
The propelling goal of this research is to investigate the reasons for material
duplication and artistic complacency which have become obvious characteristics
of contemporary practice of choreography in West Africa. With the conviction
that creativity and personal statements arc central to the art of choreography, we
insist, the contemporary West African Choreographer must rise beyond a perpetual
regurgitation of old dances by creating his own dances which are relevant to his
time and society. This research however acknowledges and insists that the
"linguistic" properties of the old dances should be used as vocabulary since a
vocabulary of dance systems which produce new meanings is only possible
through an examination of the very basis for the production of dances already in
existence.
The methodology used in collecting data for this study is based on library
research and field experience in the two selected countries - Nigeria and The
Gambia. The researcher had worked extensively with dance practitioners in most
parts of Nigeria. Also, he was the choreographer in charge of The Gambian
National Troupe between 1994 and 1996. This enabled him to get relevant
information from books, journals and other bibliothecal materials as well as helped
him to secure first hand information from practitioners in some other west African
countries. After a careful study of selected dances, a body of vocabulary is
suggested to the contemporary West African Choreographer to improve upon.
This work is presented in five chapters. The first chapter introduces
us to the problem and our argument which is that the contemporary choreographer
in Nigeria should stop a whole sale pirating of the existing traditional dances and
instead use the movement vocabulary of this existing dances as a language to
communicate new and relevant meanings. Chapter two is a review of the existing
literature in the area of study. The review enables us to discover that there is an
abundance of anthropological information on the subject of choreography while
little attention has been given by scholars to creative technical discourse on the
subject. Chapter three explains the nature and essence of choreographic tools,
while chapter four is devoted to the analysis of selected dances in Nigeria and
Gambia. The analysis which is comparative in nature, enables us to unearth a
body of vocabulary used in the indigenous dances. Our deductions and
generalisations are discussed in chapter five where we also round off with a
conclusion.
Description
A DOCTORAL DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT
OF ENGLISH AND DRAMA FOR THE AWARD OF DOCTOR OF
PHILOSOPHY
(PHD) IN DRAMA (DANCE STUDIES)
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA.
Keywords
CHOREOGRAPHY,, WEST AFRICA,, KINESIS,, PROXEMICS,, ADORNMENT,, NIGERIAN,, GAMBIAN,, DANCE,, PRACTICE