03/02/2026
By Their Dance Steps We Shall Know Them
During my graduate school days we usually have public lecture series that ran once every month. It was tagged 'Professional Seminar'. It involved expert guest- speakers from outside the college who present papers on a choice subject in their professional field . After the lecture , there was often the usual interaction session with the students on the subject matter. In those days, unless for some unavoidable reasons, I made sure I attended these sessions.
Of all such numerous seminars I attended, one particular session stayed on my mind, it was a lecture by a renowned Nigerian musicologist and educator, the late Professor Sam Akpabot. What made this session unforgettable was this brilliant don's choice of subject and his method of presentation.
It was a highly interactive session from the start to the end, and was packed with humor.
The title of the lecture was 'The psychological impact of music and dance on a people'.
The college auditorium was full as usual with students and lecturers. No one knew that Professor Akpabot came to the lecture with some simple musical instruments stuffed in his pocket. On mounting the rostrum, immediately after introducing the subject, he took out a rattler from his pocket and started rattling it, while doing so he asked, 'what will be your reaction to this kind of sound, anybody? Immediately, without a thought, I started to ululate, Ooh lo-lo-lo-lo!. Of course hundreds of staring eyes got fixed at me, and I felt like, 'oh my... What have I done? suddenly Dr Akpabot excitedly shouted 'That's is, that's it, who did that, could you please stand up' I jumped on my feet and the entire auditorium resounded with loud applaud. It felt good.
From that moment, the lecture gained momentum. It was full of interesting information about the beauty of diversity, which is Nigeria. From this lecture I learnt that the way we walk has a lot to do with the way we dance, and the kind of music we play in our community. If you consider the footsteps of an average African American, for instance, you will get the point clearer.
Professor Akpabot drew an analogy on the connection between the way the people from the three main ethnic nationalities in Nigeria dance and the general perception of the attitude attributed to them by their fellow countrymen.
Hear him.
"When the Yoruba people dance, they dance with pride, they practically swell up, trying to look larger than their size. The men let the sleeves of their 'agbada' rob flow down, giving the dancer a sense of strength and princely look. He will seem to be saying 'Hello! Check me out'
The women on the other hand show off their back side, teasingly shaking it . They also constantly tie and untie their upper wrapper cloth as they dance." According to him, this attitude the Yoruba portray while dancing speaks dozens about the general perspective of the ethnic group as a people who love having a good time.
A people who use every available opportunity to showcase their pride and beauty and possessions.
A people who will first try to use the boastful threat to scare away intruders, before taking any other actions.
For the Hausa-Fulani ethnic nationalities, the learned professor demonstrated the way they dance. Their basic dance step according to him was - one step forward, one step backwards; One step forward, two steps backwards. This is repeated several times as if they are undecided on what will be the next move, then suddenly they will jump up, but still standing at the same spot.
He said that if you compare the space used by the Hausa/Fulani dancer during his performance, with that of the Yoruba dancer, the Hausa/Fulani dancer would have used less than half of the space covered by the Yoruba dancer.
Their dance moves according to him is in tandem with the perception of the Hausa/Fulani as a people who watch events very carefully for a long time before making a move. They prefer to stay within the limit of what they know, and will take the next step only after a long and satisfying consideration, that is, if they decide to move at all.
And finally on the Igbo he had this to say, "they dance in every direction, jumping gyrating, writhing, breaking every boundary, even into the audience. They even move objects within the arena, pointing and making faces to imaginary challengers.
This according to him also goes with the general perception of the Igbo ethnic nationality as a people who are all over the place. A people who approaches everything they do with aggressive interest. A people who travel far and wide seeking new challenges.
I will like add here that if we extend this theory to the remaining ethnic nationalities that make up our great country, we will find related results. The same theory will also go if we use the test on any other nationality anywhere in the world.
I want to use this medium to pay tribute to great minds like the late Professor Sam Akpabot who contributed a lot in the education of the youths of our country Nigeria, he also did a lot of work in the arts especially music. His great musical 'Opera Jaja' which was a national success in the late 70s and the beginning of the 80s comes to mind. I do wish someone in that field will revisit that work for a possible reproduction.
Ike Ude-Chime is a writer, broadcaster, and culture activist.
