Traditional Igbo dances as non-verbal communication: A study of Iduu dance

Abstract

The popularity of dance as an art form in Africa is outstanding. But little knowledge on dance communication is affecting its popularity, and this limits the body of knowledge available in the area of choreographic practice of non-verbal communication in traditional Igbo dances. The inability to explore, preserve and sustain the use of body language, symbols, signs and paralanguage, as creative metaphor in African traditional dances is a big problem. The poor level of documentation of most Igbo dance semiotics has deemphasized its essence as mere festive performances which in real scholarship are far beyond that. Also, the dearth of literature on the Iduu dance is worrisome and it calls for more findings and documentation. Similarly, most traditional Igbo dances have received limited scholarly attention though, some researches had earlier been done in the area of traditional Igbo dance performances. This study therefore, looks at non-verbal cues in Igbo traditional dance as means of interpretative communication for cultural propagation and preservation as well as an interpretative connecting cord between thoughts, ideas and impressions of a given people. The research study adopted the Semiotic Theory. The positive interpretative potency of the use of semiotic theory in our traditional dances assumes that individuals are not entirely bound by culture, rather they can act systematically and consciously to free themselves to some extent from cultural, historical and institutional constraints while doing performance analysis on any dance. It also gives a detailed overview on the historical origins and analytical views of the Iduu dance performance thereby, bringing the meaning of the dance and its central metaphor before the audience, who can now  appreciate every movement in the dance performance towards understanding the communicative potency of the semiotic non-verbal communication cues used in the dance based on its socio-cultural effectiveness. It is on the foregoing, that the researcher recommends that dance as an art should be practiced, studied and equally appreciated in our various societies. Societal changes, religious practices, ignorance of the art and personal understanding should not be an impediment to dance appreciation.