Modern Dance and the Nigerian Choreographer

Abstract

The dance art has had significant improvement in the Nigerian theatre. This is quite evident in the works of Hubert Ogunde, the Kwagh-Hir theatre, the Atilogwu dancers and the various performances of the National troupe of Nigeria, to mention a few. However, "modern dance" has not been given sufficient attention The Nigerian choreographer has not succeeded in creating dance performances that can adequately qualify as "modern dance" - a form that depends entirely on dance to communicate as an independent art. Until this is achieved, the dance art may not be said to have fully grown in Nigeria. This is because since the late 19th century, modem dance has become accepted as the peak of the establishment of dance as an art of the theatre all over the world. Modern dance is a dance theatre that is based only on the use of expressive movements with the aim of: startling the audience into awareness through its message. It is thus not a spontaneous action but a designed intellectual effort with the end value of communicating with the audience. (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1992.291). This paper, therefore takes a look at the various attempts the Nigerian choreographer has made in this direction. It concludes that for various reasons, the Nigerian choreographer has not been able to do a pure dance performance based on expressive movements alone. What has been done so far depended, in one way or the other, on music or dialogue or narration/speech for its meaning and understanding. Therefore a modern dance theatre tradition cannot be said to be in place in Nigeria. This paper thus takes a look at the problems militating against the choreographer and the art of choreography in Nigeria. Suggestions on how to lay a solid foundation for the proper take-off of modern dance in the country are also proposed.