ABSTRACT
The aim of this thesis was to address the fact that in most traditional African festival performances, other elements of dramatic manifestations are subsumed in sound and movement expressions. The study was therefore to validate dance as the central purveyor on which the traditional festival performance rests. The research demonstrated that the Ihuen – Eguare annual festival performance of Egoro kingdom is a mirror of the way of life, an embodiment of the people’s philosophical and religious thought and generic symbol and a reflection of their art form; verbal, visual and mimetic. Basically, the thesis looked at the essential elements of the Ihuen – Eguare festival performance of Egoro kingdom in Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria and the essential role of dance in the entire process was identified; described, discerned, evaluated and analysed.
In terms of the methodology, the objectives of the research focused on the participant and observation methods of data gathering. Also used were the historical, sociological and the literary methods of research which aided the study as primary and secondary sources of data. Useful data were collected and garnered from libraries; books, journals, magazines, seminars, conferences and video coverage and other internet information added value to the quality of the study. Oral interviews were carried out on some of the aborigines of Eguare – Egoro. In the process of the research, it was noted that one of the telling qualities of the Ihuen – Eguare festival performance is its graceful and uncluttered prose, coupled with its ruthless exclusion of convoluted, tortuous or obscure expressions from the musical accompaniments. As is general in art, the activity of dance is connected with the joy of survival and self-expression and results in satisfaction achieved from creative activity. However, the theoretical frameworks used in this study rests on a tripod of the ‘Cultural Trait Theory’ by Peterson Royce, the ‘Theory of the Dynamics of African Religious Dances’ by Omofolabo Ajayi and the ‘Theory of Performance’ by Richard Schechner. Consequently, dance is a component of human culture. When movement becomes dance; dance becomes art.
Based on the above, it was discovered that the festival marked the traditional end of year and the beginning of a new year to the Eguare – Egoro people in terms of calendar calculation. It was also discovered that the processional dance of the Ihuen – Eguare festival performance took off from the town square and went round the cardinal entrance and exit points of the community so that evil spirits and negative thoughts of the enemies of the community could be exorcised, averted and neutralized. This study also found out that the dance in the festival performance of Ihuen – Eguare was what made up the actions that brought about the excitement and euphoria of the celebration. The study recommends that the various aspects of the festival could be extrapolated as an intellectual discipline with the introduction of viable guild system – with specialists in music, dance and drama as well as other aesthetic articulations so that Ihuen – Eguare festival can become a repertory in the search for an alternative in contemporary performance module in Theatre Arts.
