Reinventing Igbabonelimhin: An Icono-Cultural Emblem of the Esan (original) (raw)

Dance and music are integral components of Esan culture and the Igbabonelimhin, an acrobatic masquerade performance among the male folks is one of the major traditional dance/music types of the people. This paper employs the historical methodology to investigate the origin of this genre, the training of the performers and its context of performance. While striving to achieve this, it discovers that in spite of its uniqueness and aesthetic appeal, the opportunities for Igbabonelimhin performances are thinning out by the day. It is in view of this that this paper advocates the deployment of the screen media approach, specifically the video-film technology to document, preserve and re-propagate Igbabonelimhin dance-theatre for local and international audience. This is because the folk dance, if kept alive will not only serve as a means of solidarity and social cohesion among the Esan, possibly boost trade and tourism potentials of Nigeria but also serve as a window into the indigenous ...