NAFEST Dances Do Not Represent All Ethnicities – Prof Tume

Dance Expert and Professor, Federal University Oye, Ekiti State, Tosin Tume has said the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST), do not represent all ethnicities/dialects within a participating state. 

The professor and member Board of African Women Writers Development Guild disclosed this at the just concluded maiden edition of the Abuja International Theatre Festival (ABITFA).

Tume who spoke on the ABITFA IIAN-led Seminar on Inclusivity in the Performing Arts, cited findings on her research paper Inclusivity in Cultural Diversity, NAFEST As a Case Study, that indicates that unlike the rotational hosting of the festival amongst the 36 states of the country, the dances aspect of the NAFEST does not represent the diverse ethnicities/dialects within a state. Rather it keeps representing a particular ethnicity within a state year-upon-year. 

This, she said leads to the exclusion of other ethnicities, and thus fails in achieving the major objective of the festival which is the integration and unification of the country post the 1967-70 Nigeria Civil War. 

“The dance event of NAFEST lacks a choreographic method/approach. I am not talking about the entertainment dances but the artistic dances, that require choreographed movements, costumes and other nuances that embody or highlight particular ethnicities in a state via dance.”

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Tume blames the lackadaisical approach to the festival on the fact that states Commissions of Arts and Culture have not keyed into the (unity) ideology of NAFEST; and require reorientation and capacity building to do so. 

“There has to be a reorientation, capacity building and trainings to reacquaint/familiarize them with the theme of NAFEST, and how they can plug into it.

“There has to be theories guiding NAFEST activities which should be purpose-built for the festival. Similarly, artistic dance activities at the festival, not the entertainment aspect, should be story-driven to enhance (chances of) representation,” urged Tume.