Dancing is an art. It is a way of expressing feelings creatively through movement and rhythm. Young people have always been the leaders in developing new forms of dance. In the West, dance evolved alongside technology. Many dances, such as “social dances” changed during the 20th century, while many new dance styles were created by white dancers, who also appeared in films.
In Africa, dance is very creative and a lot of fun. We Nigerians use different types of dance to express our emotions and feelings. One example is dance theatre, which is made up of theatre and dance together. We also have a lot of street dancers with many different dance styles, who use great music for their choreography. For example, there are unknown dances, creative steps, styles and fashion, known as “freestyle”, which many people would like to learn. I think that the whole world should know about street dancing!
In parts of Africa hit by crisis, war or bad government, people use dance and dance theatre to express their feelings. Dance has an important part to play in African society. African dance has many variations, because of all the diverse cultures on the continent, not only in terms of language and dress, but also because of the different music and movement styles.
Most students and young people love music and art. I would like events and shows to be organised in order to empower youths everywhere to express themselves and embrace their goals. Also, to demonstrate our talent in schools here in Europe, and in other places. Because if you are not passionate about the goals you are setting yourself, you will never achieve them.
*This article has been published in issue #15 of “Migratory Birds” newspaper, which was released as an annex with “Efimerida ton Syntakton” newspaper (Newspaper of the Editors) on October 12th 2019.
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