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“I Have Been Dancing For 40 Years”

When one thinks about the rise of indigenous dance, “Egwu Amala and Egwu Otah”, in Asaba in the past four decades, the name ‘Nwaneamaka Adimkpaya’ comes to your mind. Nwaneamaka, who brought the spiritual dance to Asaba, is widely credited as Asaba’s foremost dancer, singer and choreographer. To her, dance is more than just art. It is very cultural and has spiritual significance embedded in its moves. Nwaneamaka, who doubles as a dance instructor and a sand dealer, has been dancing for so many years and has trained so many people in cultural dance profession. In this interview with LUCY EZELIORA in her Umuda village of Asaba, Delta State, she spoke about her passion for dancing and her love for culture and traditions. Enjoy.

I heard you singing and praising the river goddess (Onishe) as your mother, do you believe in Christianity or going to church?

We can’t start without praying and sing­ing praises to our mother, the river goddess (Onishe Ahaba) Nne is giving me food 24 hours, everyday because I am sand dealer. My dredger machine is inside the river Niger, Onishe is protecting it and giving me money every day. So I worship her traditionally and spiritually. I am a cultural woman from origin, inspired by my father. Nne, has done alot for us. She doesn’t kill or hurt. Anything we ask from her, must come to us. Nne, is a woman of peace. She is our first mother. She fights for us and protects us. Talking about the church, many say they are going to church but they are wicked and heartless. They kill and hurt but Onishe worshippers are not like that. I am a traditional worshipper and I am proud to be one.

What does it take to be a member of your dance team?

It takes passion. I have been dancing for over 40 years. If I see a very good talented person, I call them up or they come to me and we try and work it out and they realize how much they have to train to be part of us and that is how we become a group. We travel to all part of the country to dance not just in Anioma communities.

On a parting note, not everyone believes in traditional and spiritual dance moves, How best can you describe it’s meaning?

Dance is a freeform, it still builds on existing traditions before it and constantly transforms into shades of beautiful art form in time and space. For instance, hip-hop dancers, from time to time, appropriate some traditional moves into their dance exhibitions. On the other hand, health-wise, dance acts as a recre­ational activity, blowing off steam of mundane activities, enhancing its recreational values. Despite the mainstream nature of dances, not all dances styles follow that pattern, for they bring to bear the cultural sensibilities, reli­gious and belief systems of society. Spiritual dance is entertaining not fetish. “Egwu Amala” is one of our cultural identity. It serves as a religious and ceremonial dance that signi­fies and wields good fortune and scares off evil wandering spirits. It can be called a tool of cultural expression to convey a lot about society and to the observers. The rhythmic flow of the body can mean many things to different people dictated by the pace of the movement. There are dances of war to pump the ego of the valiant men and places like Kogi had naked women dancing as a tactical approach to subdue their opponent. There are ritualistic structured dances to appease the gods for farmers to have a fruitful season and other types of dance to initiate a process. Dance is filled with aesthetic values, making it distinct from one society to another and is shrouded in symbolism that expounds on the cultural heritage of a community accordingly being unique from one society to another. , Traditional dances affirm the belief of the system of society. It is used in the oral perfor­mance of ancient cultures as mimes to pass on myths and traditions from one generation to another.

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