Monday, February 24, 2014

Interview Questions

Kiara Lewis
Clothier
Capstone Project
February 2014

Capstone Interview Questions
For my interview, I will interview a professional Nigerian dance teacher. His name is Olubanjo Adigu. He has been dancing Nigerian dance for over 30 years. I chose him as my field expert because he is very knowledgeable about the topic of Nigerian dance history.  What I hope to gain from this interview is a more specific type of culture of the history. I will begin my interview with questions that are very specific. I want to know how he started dancing, where he is from, how long he has been dancing and how long he has been teaching. These questions will open the conversation and will help the interview progress. These questions will help me understand how verse he is in his craft.
My next few questions will then move towards the history and everything he knows personally about the Nigerian dance.  I want to know how far he is removed from Nigeria, did he grow up there, what village is he from, and are there difference between Yoruba Nigerian dance and other villages’ Nigerian dance. These questions will allow me to shape the rest of my questions geared towards him specifically: does he dance with his family, who taught him how to dance, how he got inspired to dance, why he dances today, how Nigerian dance has influenced his life.
My last few questions will be the most specific and will need the most elaboration. I plan for these answers to lead me to more questions that I cannot forecast. I want to know what the meaning of Nigerian dance is. Why do Nigerian’s dance, what is the story behind all of the moves and the drum beats of the dance. I want to know the specific garments that they wear and what they mean. I want to know the difference between Nigerian dance and other African dances.
These questions range from very specific to very general. I believe that the interviewee is very intelligible about Nigerian dance and will be able to answer all of my questions thoroughly and completely. I plan on learning so much from this interview and I will be able to search and expand on a lot of the topics he brings up. This interview will be taken over the phone so the clarity of the conversation is important. I am very excited to interview this man and I know it will be like interviewing a talking book.


Saturday, February 8, 2014

Annotated Bibliography

Kiara Lewis
Dr. Clothier
Capstone Project Annotated Sources
4 February 2014
The History of Nigerian Dance: A List of Annotated Sources


Ajayi, Omofolabo S. Yoruba Dance: The Semiotics of Movement and Body Attitude in a
Nigerian Culture. Trenton, NJ: Africa World, 1998. Print.
       
This source provides information on the Yoruba culture. Yoruba is one of the major cultures in Nigeria. This focuses on the history of Nigeria as a whole. This book analyzes what makes Nigerian dance, Nigerian. It explains and summarizes where the dance comes from, who dances it, and what it means in today’s society. The chapters that will be useful for my investigation are: “Dance in Ancient Yorubaland,” “The Dance Culture in Contemporary Nigeria,” and “Dance in Religious Communication.” This book is full of historic examples of where Nigerian dance came from.
        This source will be very helpful for my capstone. I believe that this source is where most of my information will come from. It is a book full of facts, photos, and stories of the Nigerian and Yoruba culture and their dances. This source focuses on the “Semiotics of Movement and Body Attitude in a Nigerian Culture.” This is the perfect source that will answer all of my specific questions. The writing, itself, is approachable and easy to understand. I will have trouble correctly pronouncing the names of these iconic dancers/ dances i.e. Ijo Obatala, but I will learn the correct pronunciation for my oral presentation. This source compared to my others, this one will be the strongest one. It focuses on dance in Nigeria which is exactly what I need.
        This source has helped me narrow down my original idea with Nigerian Dance. This source helps me focus on the specific culture that created Nigerian dance. Yoruba is a culture of dance. This source has chapters about the steps, the rhythms, the colors, the history and the culture of Nigeria. It is written by a native Nigerian and the credibility of this source is un-doubtful. This will be the main source for my capstone.
       
Dagan, Esther A. The Spirit's Dance in Africa: Evolution, Transformation, and Continuity
in Sub-Sahara. Westmount, QC, Canada: Galerie Amrad African Arts Publications,
1997. Print.


My second source that I will be using in my capstone about Nigerian dance is the Spirit’s
In Africa: Evolution, Transformation, and Continuity in Sub-Sahara. This source is like an encyclopedia about dance in Africa. This book has every single culture in Africa and all of the dances that are there to perform. There are maps and pictures that help the reader visually understand the culture and geography of Africa. This book is full of information about any type of African dance that is danced.
        This source will not be the most helpful to me because it covers all African dance and not just Nigerian. There are a few pages in this source that mainly focus on what Nigerian/Yoruba dance is. With this encyclopedia style, it is difficult to focus only on Nigerian dance, but that is something that I can easily overcome.
        This source will help me with more of the general information about Nigeria. This book has information on the background and cultural history as well. I will not solely use the information in this book for my capstone because it is so general. I will back up the information I read from this source, with another source that is more specific to the culture of Nigeria dance.


Murray, Jocelyn. Cultural Atlas of Africa. New York, NY: Facts on File, 1981. Print.
       
Like the source above, this one is also an encyclopedia style book. This source is not as narrow as Spirit’s In Africa: Evolution, Transformation, and Continuity in Sub-Sahara; this one is about Africa as a continent and the culture and history. This book gives insight of the wars and the struggle of the African people. This source has a chapter on Nigeria that I will focus on.
        The pages of this source are laid out as a history book. It is intimidating at first, but I will learn how to decipher and dissect the information that I will need to move forward with my capstone. This source compared to my other sources is rich with African history and culture but lacks in the history of dance in Nigeria. This source will allow me to answer my more general questions about Nigeria in Africa.
        This source has helped me understand, as a whole, what Africa has been through. I will not use this source as much as The Spirits Dance in Africa or Yoruba Dance, but I will use it more than relying on unreliable sources from the internet.
       
Welsh-Asante, Kariamu. African Dance: An Artistic, Historical, and Philosophical Inquiry.
Trenton, NJ: Africa World, 1996. Print.


My last, but not final source for my capstone is a series of chapters from a larger book about African Dance. This book is a combination of several essays from dancers, choreographers, professors and writers about African Dance. The chapters that I will focus on are specifically about Nigerian/ Yoruba dance. It gives visual evidence and a timeline of Nigerian dance in Africa.
The outline of this source is easy to digest. The layout is a comfortable style; it is easy to understand what these writers are trying to get across. This source gives me the information that will help me further my project. This source explains what the steps mean, what the rhythm and the drums mean, and the garments that are worn during the dance. This source also focuses on Bi-Okoto, which is the style that most Nigerian dances emulate. Bi-Okoto is the base of most Nigerian dances and I will learn the base dance from a dancer who is educated in Bi-Okoto, Adebola and Jeaunita Olowe.

This source narrows down my search because it has led me to what exactly Nigerian dance is. This source will answer all of my specific questions that will help further my capstone. This source is the definition of Nigerian dance. There are pictures, outline of steps, drum rhythms written out, garments described, and the history rewritten. This source, in conjunction with, Yoruba Dance will be the main sources for my information for my capstone on Nigerian dance.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

February 2, 2014

I have gathered so many sources for my capstone
I have learned that Yoruba is the form of Nigerian Dance that is the most popular, this is the style that Nigerian Dance is!
First, I need to know and comprehend, fully, the history and culture of Nigeria, then I can move forward
My field expert lives in Philadelphia, but I found someone who teaches Nigerian Dance in Lawrence Kansas, I must go!