We immerse ourselves in the business of taking advantage of the satisfactions life has to offer.

A birthday party of an academic colleague.

We celebrate the person's entry into the world in an innocence and relative freedom from care we admire but cannot recapture.

Beauty, elegance, vibrance, mental and physical dynamism, the joy of the moment, all these shine through these images.

Cheeks rosy with the controlled inebriation and magnetism of life force, eyes flashing with the immersion in the electric power of the moment, people in the peak of life live it up, every moment drank for its essence, no moment returning as times flows ever forward, the previous moment receding into a largely unreachable distance.

Azonto, Etighi, waist speaking, body vibrating, legs marking space in rhythm, hands alive with a mind of their own, the whole body animated, dance as play ....

 

Adeyinka Olarinmoye:

Dance is an expression of culture. 

We can use dance for entertainment, erobics and rituals.

 

There are purposive dance steps such as in erobics and rituals, we have some dances that are attributed to various divinities and professions among the Yoruba; bata dance is for the hunters and worshippers of Ogun.

 

i can also affim to the 3rd category which we all take part in, the spontaneous faaji dance. Social or entertainment dancing affords a more dynamic range and infussion. It can be adopted, imported, adapted and invented by individuals and groups........ i must have been taking part in social dance.

 

i was dancing the fad dance we have in Nigeria now; azonto which has its origin in Ghana and etighi, a Calabari dance step made popular by a Nigerian artist, Iyanya.

 

You engage all parts of your body in the two dances and twist your waist and legs more with etighi......... very interesting especially if a woman has thick and curvy waist.