Yoruba Dance Revision

KALAMAZOO COLLEGE SPOTLIGHTS AFRICAN DANCE
By Brit Sumyk








KALAMAZOO, Mich.— On Tuesday, Oct. 14, an enthusiastic Kalamazoo College crowd turned out to hear a lecture on the cultural meanings and roots of the African tradition of Yoruba Dance.
Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka of the University of Kansas spoke for the First-Year Forum and Liberal Arts Colloquium event. Approximately 80 percent of the Connable Recital Hall was filled with approximately 65 attentive and interested students and faculty.
Ajavi-Soyinka followed her welcoming applause with a background and history of Yorubaland, Nigeria. The visual mapping aid helped set the stage for her introduction of Yoruban culture, which relies heavily upon philosophy and a holistic system, drawing inspiration from the Living, the Ancestors, and the Unborn.
While describing the dance, Ajayi-Soyinka mentioned how Yoruba is the attitude of that body and cultural body, and said that “you are supposed to flaunt it; flaunt that body.” There are different purposes for Yoruba Dance, one of which is to mark the different rites of passage in life. “Each age stages its dance to mark its passage in the culture,” she said. Yoruba Dance also plays a religious role, and tells the stories of the deities.
Costumes play a significant role in the dance, and are usually made from fabrics and items that have the ability to be in motion. “That’s when the dress becomes alive; that’s when the dress tells its stories,” said Ajayi-Soyinka. In order for a story to be a success, the dancers must perform and listen well to what they are hearing in the music.
Ajayi-Soyinka mentioned how Yoruba dance is gaining popularity and recognition worldwide, and is becoming a contemporary form of theater. First-year student Katie Wright said that “it is truly a wonderful thing that a dance with such historic significance is taking a forefront in such a prevalent industry.”