An Analysis Of United We Stand As A Dance Performance By Bauchi State Council For Arts And Culture

Dance as a mother of all arts is tolerant and accommodating in nature. All the variants of both plastic and performing arts find their living expressions in the production of any dance theatre. This is because dance stands as an entertainment and natural phenomenon constantly predicted on conscious or unconscious movements of man within a social setting. Ability of dance to accommodate these arrays of production codes can be linked to its double learning on time and space. This study therefore, analyses the performance of united we stand by the Bauchi State Council for Arts and Culture as dance theatre. The study employs the descriptive and analytical methods with participant- observation approach as instrument of research. The researcher uses direct involvement in the dance performance as produced by the Bauchi State Council for Arts and Culture at Bayelsa’s NAFEST, 2013. In addition, interviews were conducted as books and journals were equally consulted. It is discovered from the foregoing that united we Stand Dance performance at the 2013 NAFEST in Bayelsa State, is a dance theatre. Music, costumes, makeup, lighting, properties and other theatrical elements enhance the communicative potential of dances in modern time as the blending of dance, costumes, music are expressive and not mimetic. This concludes that no art; plastic or performing arts, is an island of survival as they co-exist in the continuous development of their cultural abode. If art is a recreation of life, and life activities goes beyond imitation of an action (drama) to expression of unspoken feelings in gesticular movements, then, a conglomeration of all performing and plastic arts cannot be overemphasized. it is therefore our recommendation that clinical approach to dance packaging be adopted to make it a total dance theatre. Because if dramatic presentations can be enliven with intersperse of dance performances, then choreographers should as a matter of artistic relevance, be pragmatic in their thematic arrangements of choreographic elements. This will enhance its recognition as the mother of all arts