ARTS
                       DANCING  FOR DEVELOPMENT :

Here in this arts forum:- 
Dancing, we will examine the roles of dance in the
context of political and social-cultural development
culled from the presentation of Dr. AHMED YERIMA;
dramatist;teacher and artistic director of the
National Troup of Nigerian; at the Nigerian National
Theatre Lagos. Published by the Guardian,of
sunday,Aprail 28,2002, By JAHMAN ANIKULAPO, Professor
Susanne langers observation on the form of art Dance:-
        No art suffers more
misunderstanding,sentimental judgement and mystical
interpretation than the art of dancings,its critical
literature,pseudo ethnological and pseudo aesithetic
makes weary reading,yet this very confussion as to
what dancing is  what it expresses,what it creates
and
how it is related to the other arts, to the artist and
to the actual World  has a philpsophical significance
of its own.
Because of the basic belif that dance is taken for
granted.Dance belongs to natural consciousness,it is
the mostcommon aspect of peoples culture.
        The common belief,which has even grown into a
derogatory statement is that all blacks can dance or
the African or blacks are born with the gift of music
and dance,so again with an endowment by nature without
the religions to teach and learn dance formally in
most traditional settings.
      The big deal about dance is that it is a central
part of the celebrative aspect of people cultural
entity.  In discussion of the cries or circumstances
of
communal polarisation, which can be easily identified
as language,region and religion.
     Therefore a studyof dance is an attempt to
understand futher the essence of the peoples (Nigeria)
existence, because even when the music defers or the
dance step defers,the magic or the mystic of the dance
in the language of the lyric of the songs, the region
of the country the dance emenates from ,and the
religion,the communal aesithetic of the dance is one
and the same.
   This is the philosophy of dance and why no matter
how developed a society is dance is sacred, because of
its ability to compliment development, its ability to
date the beginning of development, and its ability to
assimilate,infuse,adapt to the new developmental
trend,be they social or political or social 
political.
     The significance as noticed by  LANGER in
attemtion to find meaning for dance, can also be found
in the understanding of the World cultural development
within a given society. It is also known that the
strategies for the transformation of society into a
developing one demands a great measure of progmatism
on issues within the social  cultural <wreality of
the
society that can be both part of the past, and also
fluied into the interpretation and placement of the
present consciousness and reality of the society .
  In mordern times, dance has become a primary aspect
of culture, because it is a medium of the entrapment
of cultural patterns and expression of any given
society.
Therefore,what is dance? In Nigerian and indeed
African,dance is art.For all dance emerges from the
source of illusion and the creative of the society it
belongs, and all dance possess that basic abstraction
where dance as illusion is shaped with gesture and
patterns.
   *Dance weather skilled or not,perform the following
frictions, especially in act of turning dance into an
art form.
    *Master the shapes handed down by their ancestors.
    *Recognise the highlight of such patterns of
dance.
* Accentiate the mechanical style and perfect the
acrobatics of the inherited dance,and modernise the
inherited dance by endowing it with personal charms
and erotic desieres. By searching for new pictures,
stories,music which he can attaches burning creative
thought and desires.
     Therefore it is through the dancers that African
dance attains any form of dance art,yes dance may form
part of our celebrative heritage,it is the dancer that
endourse it with the spectaul of shifting pictures or
fluid statues or image in motion.
   It is the dancer that makes dance a dramatic art
through the exaggerated gestures and twisted forms,
which elisate homour,and laughters and it is the
dancer who within the provided space create
shapes,lose himself or herself in the rhyethmic flow
of energy, and gesture to the beat of the music with
the agreed step patterns of a particular dance.
      Though music,another forum of art,dance as art
form,finds an ecsence,through which it can express in
gesture what he hears and feels as the emotional
content of music.
    Dance art  therefore remains that art form which
dance revolves into during that period of
performance,in which the vivid imagination of the
audience is termpered with that they become both the
appreciators and the co-performers.
    To become machinery for political ans socio
cultural development therefore dance must transferred
enjoyment and entertainment ,it must operate through a
wider entity,culture in oder to futher affect the
consciousness of the whole society.Dance through
culture has remained a relevant tool for political and
socio cultural development because of its four primary
functions,dance performs through culture in society.
     *Dance remains a lens for communal perception as
it allows the scholar to see that a community and its
consciousness through the eye and practice of dance.
     *Dance can be seen as the fountain of motivation
or spring of inspiration for the to move it. It
consciousness towards.
     *Dance can also contribute to the national or
cultural identity of a nation,It can be used to
communicate the cultural heritage. Using dance art as
a machinery for political and socio cultural
development is the attempt by individual countries to
react to the pressure and change of development
happening around it.
     One way of using dance art as a machinery for
political and socio cultural development is through
the organisation of Festivals  African countries
celebrate cultural festivals to enable them proclaim
further the new found sense of identity.
     But the awareness and socio political and
economic development of that particular festival will
never be quantified successfully because of
transcended even the objective of the festival. After 
FESTAC??, the awareness of the need for the national
councilm for art and culture(NCAC) had been          
as a parastatal in 1975.The ____  policy followed in
1988 and the Nationaltroup of Nigeria(NTN) a
parastatal whose major objective was to celebrate the
cultural heritage of Nigeria through music,dance and
drama established in 1991.
     *National festival, tilltled National restria of
Art and culture(NAFEST) was created under the
supervisor of           .The primary objective of the
festivel as it concerned the issue under review
___________.
     *Helping to revive,celebrate and creat an avenue
of exploration of dance step and dance development in
Nigeria.
      *Facilitating word acknowledgement and
acceptance
of the old and new cultural development within
country.
Although,the themes of the festiva because diversified
         
from year to year, sometime leaving out dance
totally,it stll help the government and invariable the
artistes use and evolve dance art tradiction which
the country could also use to propagate the other
aspect of our inter relationship and interaction as a
people diversified in tongues,but held together by the
spirit of oneness to celebrate cultural heritage.
      Another way government can help use dance art as
machinery for political and socio cultural development
is through the establishment as it was done in Nigeria
by the establishment of (MAMSER) the directorate
quickly realise the important of using Dance Art,
Daramatic Art, and the Musical Art in a theatre form
which was refered to as the community theatre. The
theatre was used as an instrument for 
       *Moblization and socially conscientising all
Nigerians.
       *Theatre is a very powerful weapon especially
is a semi literate.  And semi numerate under developed
country like Nigeria.
       With the scrapping of the directorate and the
establishment of the new parastatal to continue to the
National Tropup was set up to run a pepertory of
dance,drazma and musical performances, where they
could document old dances,creat new dance and help the
nation in fulfilling cultural exchange agreements and
complete the terms of bilateral relationships which
Nigeria has with other countries.
     Dance art has also found a central place in the
new aspect of diplomacy. This invariable look dance
away from just entertainment. It look dance to
international festival. The establishment of the much
awaited endowment for the arts scheme could also help
to use dance art or machinery for socio cultural
development.The scheme would creat avanue for dance
groups to be financially encouraged to futher develop
the art of dance.
          Artistes would then be able to afford the
luxury of
research,documentation,recreation,experimentation,and
dance art development. For dance realy must develop
for it to be effective machinery for use.
      On the part of the artistes, there must be
effort to build the bridge between the old and the new
dance by organising workshop and seminars for exchange
of ideas, and also dance steps.
       They must also tap the resources provided by
foreign organisation in order to further complement
dance development efforts.
        With the achivement locally and
internationally of great dances both groups and
individuals,attention is now being given to Africa
dance so that it is now no longer considered as a
premature art form,but an art form which can take its
place in a comparative study,as a very modern or
contemporary art form.
        And as the pressures of growth affect a
particular country be it the first world or the third
and developing world the need for development
countries to mount,and this pressure is usually on the
condciousness of a people,and this means in most
case,the culture of the particular people.
       As the process of cultural hegemony takes place
in societies,so much the increase in which the society
can use the different creative art forms,most
importantly,the creative art forms,such as the dance
art for it is when a society has learnt to use its
culture to develop itself politically and socio
culturally has the society begin to find its place
within the new world order.