Lagos at 50: Eko for show with dance dramas
For the past one week, residents and visitors to Lagos have witnessed a different side to Nigeria’s foremost commercial capital as the city celebrates its Golden Jubilee in style.
In a bid to sensitise public, the fiesta has begun with guerrilla dance-dramas in different parts of the state spearheaded by the National Troupe of Nigeria and the Footprints of David upon the invitation of Professor Wole Soyinka, Chair of ‘Lagos at 50.’
Clusters of spectators lined up different parts of the city to watch the performances which began from the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja where the two troupes matched one another seemingly neck-and-neck in steps, rhythm and beats all enhanced in vibrantly-coloured traditional costumes, to the excitement of the cheering crowd.
The National Troupe with the piece, ‘Ajoyo’ heeding to the beckoning voice of its lead singer, Funmi Abe, invited all to be a part of the fête as they put up a participatory display with their audience whom they invited at intervals to join them on stage.
Their songs while they catalogued the achievements of the state also encouraged its leadership top forge on to achieve greater heights while exploiting the various potentials of the state.
The merriment moved on to under bridge at the Ikeja Roundabout where the party boomed into a carnival of acrobatic displays, gyrations and sing along from spectators with the performers matching their excitement with equal amount of nimble displays representative of cultures from various parts of the country.
It was a firsthand and first time encounter for many of the spectators who had only heard of the troupes or watched them on TV before then.
Dividers on Allen Avenue roundabout were the stage for day two of the celebration. It was to a great multitude that the troupes had to cater to this time around as it was Sallah holiday. Like day one it was another satisfying experience as it ended all too soon for spectators who had time on their hands and were yearning to see more of an already long performance.
It was the same enthusiasm and applause when the train moved to Maryland roundabout, Ojota Bus stop and the Kudirat Abiola Road amidst traffic jams as motorists abandoned their cars to watch the spectacle with the already dense crowd gathered who over and over echoed ‘Eko Akete.’
Head of Media of the National Troupe, Shaibu Husseini said: “Rather than wait to have them, we decided to start with these street performances as a way of bringing theatre to the ordinary man.”
He said the performances would be followed by two weeks of command performances around Lagos which will afterwards be open to public viewing.
Director of the dance drama of Footprints of David troupe which fielded its children group, Arnold Udoka who represented the director of the Troupe, Akin Adejuwon, said: “Dance forms an important aspect of our lives as you can see from the huge crowd that have come to watch us perform. This concept that made Professor Soyinka suggest the idea which we keyed into.”