First Gentleman with Wilson Orhiunu
(Email: babawill2000@gmail.com Twitter: @Babawilly)
Dancing is a good thing to do. There are so many benefits to dancing and the beginning of the year is a nice time to decide on increasing the amount of hours we spend dancing a week.
Dancing for joy is a well-known phrase that describes that spontaneous burst of movement that occurs when something thrilling happens; with or without music. A goal being scored during a soccer match springs to mind. However, this natural order of events could be reversed. There is no need to wait for super news to break into a jig. One could dance one’s self into a state of joy.
This year let’s dance more than we did last year. Dancing as an activity is good for our health and our moods without any added costs. It is one of those life’s pleasures that is taken for granted. Why wait for a wedding or birthday party to dance? Let’s take Dance like we take our Vitamins – daily.
Dance is an aesthetic art that can be done with or without music. Within a style of dance there are specific sequences of movements that make it recognisable.
Dances can be performed on stage for an audience or can be participatory; where everyone has a go. With participatory dances, one can either dance alone or dance with one or more partners. Dancing alone is the most convenient for those who want to dance daily for partners may not be easy to come by when one wants them.
In Chubby Checker’s hit song of 1961 ‘Let’s Twist Again’, we find the lines,
Come on lets twist again
Like we did last summer
For the Naija dancer, last summer is too long a time in dance. Just as it is with the sweet sound of hit music, so it is with dance; there will always be something new (and the beat goes on no ni).
The latest dance is what we should be doing not the ones from 10 years ago. Latest clothes, latest phones and latest moves all go hand in hand. When we learn new dances we learn new ways of standing and coordinating our bodies. New connections develop in our brains to facilitate the new demands being placed on our bodies and this keeps us fresh.
Young people do this naturally and might think this article is a waste of time, after all they go out dancing every weekend and would not even consider being one nanosecond behind when it comes to what is trending on the dance floors. It is the older people who have the problem. The types who ask, ‘what is ‘shoki’?’ or ‘what is this ‘whip and nae nae’?’
Dance features heavily in most Nigerian cultures and you generally dance till you drop. The concept of dance being for youngsters is a new and urban thing. In pre-colonial times in Nigeria when most communities were mainly agricultural, physical fitness was ‘an occupational hazard’ and everybody was as fit as Eden Hazard (Up Chelsea!). The long walks to and from the farm ensured everyone got their ten thousand steps each day. So, when the annual festivals came around, everyone danced. Today, modern life has brought with it modern problems of obesity and a lack of exercise. But it is time to fight back.
Steps to enhancing your groove
- Put on YouTube and dance. Find something you like
- Believe that your body can learn new moves
- Laugh at yourself when you do the moves wrong. There is nothing more attractive than a bad dancer. Just dance confidently
- Never be embarrassed that you cannot dance as well as Michael Jackson
- Love to dance alone
- If you have a partner beg them to dance with you once in a while
- Join a dance class if that helps
- Any style of dance will do
The Naija syllabus
How dare you present yourself to a Nigerian party and you cannot dance Azonto? And you call yourself a Naija? Abeg practise till you are perfect and stop disgracing your village. Azonto and shoki are no negotiable requirements of Naija citizenship. You attended the party, ate Naija jollof and five moin moin and chicken. We then played Naija jams and you are forming Gangnam style. Take time before Buhari withdraws your passport.
I am sure you know that violent nursery rhyme that tells you what happens to the Naija who cannot dance –
Gbedu juss dey scatter
Bros I come wander
Upstairs and downstairs
Till dance floor I enter
There I met an old man
Who couldn’t do the shoki
I took him by the left leg
And threw him down the stairs
(Goosey goosey gander tinz)
