Dance beyond Movement: A Semiotic Metaphor of Iduu Akpo Indigenous Dance Performance

Abstract

Indigenous dance is a window to the life of a people. But it has been misinterpreted as a mere annual festival, or according to some people, it is just their village dance. As a result of these misinterpretations, the enjoyment of various indigenous dances is based on aesthetics, pattern and style without considering their communicative potency. In order to understand the communicative potency of dance movements, this paper will be scoped on semiotic-interpretative analysis of Iduu-Akpo dance performance, thereby helping the natives to see, appreciate and understand the social, religious and economic status imbedded in the dance at the point of the performance. The methodology used in this paper is content analysis. This is to understand the Iduu-Akpo dance performance’s communicative purpose based on the community that owns its. In recommendation, government and wealthy people of the community should cease from regarding the indigenous dance as something mundane; rather they should re-appreciate it as an interconnecting rod between the community and the world at large. In conclusion, through semiotic-interpretation on indigenous dance, indigenes are helped to see their native dance as a communicative tool, a watchdog on their daily activities in the community, and a sustaining tool for upholding communal moral beliefs.