Thesis Abstract

<p> </p><p>Painterly images and imageries from the Tiv Swange dance steps here is an studio<br>exploration of colour that probelmatized the body language that is inherent in Swange<br>dance as a creative resource for painting. This project, thus intends to capture the<br>poetics of corporeal communication expression embodied in Swange dance. Generally<br>through the response of the human body to the language and rhythms of music and<br>dance. The project did not aspire to realism in terms of form and content, but the artist<br>relied on economy of creative means to seek meaning at that point where stylization<br>meets with symbolism. This project undertakes a study of the communication that goes<br>on between music and dance and tries to capture the experience in frozen graphic<br>movement. The artist is not just interested in music and dance but in the meta-art that<br>result from the body movement. However, the project visually documents the Tiv<br>Swange dance/music for cultural preservation. The painterly forms equally serves as a<br>stepping stone for other researchers who may like to do further research in this area. For<br>a better appreciation of the project, some drawings and photographs are used to<br>highlight the studied paintings as well as their production processes. The project report<br>is divided into six chapters which help to bring more insight to the studio project.</p><p>&nbsp;</p> <br><p></p>

Thesis Overview

<p> 1.1 Introduction<br>Artists are always interested in those aspects of our daily lives that intrigue their imagination<br>such as people, animals, human activities, abstract things and so on. From pre-historic times to the<br>present, humankind has had interest in nature and human activities. The pre-historic man-made<br>paintings of animals on the walls of his cave dwellings. Also, the ancient Egyptians were equally<br>interested in nature.<br>Similarly, artists, from as early as the fifteenth century, have drawn inspiration from their<br>environment, resulting in drawings and paintings of the various elements such as animals, trees, people<br>and human activities, in various expressive ways, for aesthetic purposes. Consequently, this research<br>intends to look into the possibilities of exploring Swange Dance-steps, movement of the body,<br>gesticulations, gentle swaying of the waist with a view to examining the painterly and imagery aspect<br>of Swange Dance steps. Thus, the study of Tiv Swange dance steps forms the core of this research.<br>Dance<br>According to Bhatt (2014), Dance is a performance art form consisting of purpose selected<br>steps of human movement. This movement has aesthetic and symbolic value, and is acknowledged as<br>dance by performers and observers within a particular culture. It further explained that Dance is the art<br>form in which human movement becomes the medium for sensing, understanding, and communicating<br>ideas, feelings and experience. Tyonum (1989), opines that dancing is a type of art that generally<br>involves movement of the body, often rhythmic in time to music; performed in many cultures as a<br>form of emotional expression, social interaction, or exercise, in a spiritual or performance setting, and<br>is sometimes used to express ideas or tell a story. Dance may also be regarded as a form of non-verbal<br>communication between humans or other animals, as is in dance and behaviour patterns such as<br>mating dances. Tyonum also notes that what constitutes dance can depend on social and cultural<br>norms as well as aesthetic, artistic and moral sensibilities. Ummeed Theatre (2014), definitions of<br>dance range from functional movement (such as folk dance) to virtuoso techniques such as ballet. The<br>Martial art are often compared to dances, and sports such as gymnastics, figure skating and<br>synchronised swimming are generally thought to incorporate dance. In some cases, the motion of<br>ordinarily inanimate objects may be described as dance (the leaves dance in the wind). Symbolic<br>gestures may also be used in dance as in many Asian dance forms. People of different cultures dance<br>differently and for varying purposes, and these varied forms of dance can reveal much about their way<br>of life.<br>Music<br>Music is sound that is usually produced by the use of instruments or voices that are arranged or<br>played in order to create effects. Without these arranged sounds produced by the traditional musical<br>instruments and voices, there would almost be no performance, as the performance itself is enhanced<br>by the music. Music and dance are aesthetic art which are valued and appreciated in every society.<br>Music and dance, largely serving entertainment function also inform, mobilize, educate and bring<br>about correlation of parts of society. By this functions, music and dance bring about social charge.<br>(Ayu, 1986) argued that Tiv traditional music and dance serve similar functions in Tiv society.<br>According to Tyonum (1989:p8), “the beauty and grandeur of the Swange dance is enhanced by the<br>performers”.<br>Hence, Swange dance steps form the core of this investigation as the paper is in essence an<br>investigation into the series of body movement and steps, gesticulations, gentle swaying of the waist<br>and organised steps which are some of attributes of the Swange dance.<br>Dance Culture in Nigeria<br>Dance does not leave behind clearly identifiable physical artefacts such as stone tools, hunting<br>implements or cave painting. As such, it is not possible to say when dance became part of human<br>culture. Jordania (2002) suggested that dance, together with rhythmic music and body painting, was<br>designed by the forces of natural selection at the early stage of hominid evolution as a potent tool to<br>put groups of human ancestors in a battle trance, a specific altered state of consciousness. Performing<br>art is deeply woven into the social fabric of Africa and generally involving aspects of music and<br>theatre as well as rhythmic bodily movement. According to Peggy H, (2015) it is widely<br>acknowledged that African music has undergone frequent and decisive changes throughout the<br>centuries. What is termed traditional music today is probably very different from African music in<br>former times. Nor has African music in the past been rigidly linked to specific ethnic groups. Yet, the<br>individual musician, his style and creativity, have always played an important role.<br>Nigerian dance is a subset of the African dance culture, it is a very dynamic, rich and magnetic<br>phenomenon, it is not easy to classify all Nigerian dancers. Music and dance are part of life of every<br>Nigerian. Nigeria is a vast multi-cultural nation with more than three hundred ethnic groups spread<br>across the country. According to Abimbola (2010), “with over 300 different ethnic groups and<br>languages, Nigeria has one of the richest cultures in the world. Each ethnic group has a unique form<br>of identity: language, dance, music and musical instruments and its own religion and tradition”. This<br>can be seen in the Ekpe dance of the Efik and Ibibio, the Atilogwu dance of the Igbos and the Swange<br>dance of the Tiv which are already well known in Nigeria and beyond.<br>“Iorngurum (2013) asserts that “Dance is the transformation of ordinary functional and expressive<br>movement into extraordinary movement for extraordinary purposes”.<br>Tiv Swange Dance<br>The Tiv, as an ethnic group are largely found in the Benue valley. Omosa (2009:p9) further<br>confirms that, “they are a hardworking people who are rightly branded as the food basket of the<br>nation”. Apart from the farming activities, the Tiv people of Nigeria are endowed with cultural<br>activities like any other ethnic group in Nigeria.<br>Swange: This is an Imo Igberen (singing). Agber (2013) reveals that the accounts of chronicles<br>of the form of Tiv traditional music into what is known today as Swange music was an evolution of<br>different genres of traditional music in stages, from Kwagh – alom or Kikya songs, music and dance<br>through Ibyamegh and Ange to a dynamic and more refined hybrid state of a special form called<br>Swange.<br>Omosa states that. Swange is a very popular Tiv music/dance that is orchestrated all over Tiv<br>nation and beyond. Its origin is as far back as the 1930s and has survived unto this present day. On the<br>contrary, Manta (2006)opines that Swange is a contemporary popular social dance of the Tiv people of<br>Benue State in central Nigeria. It is a dance of fast, slow rhythmic and undulating movements,<br>expressing youth and vigour.<br>Plate 1: live performance of Swange Dance, Photo by Ephraim Agba 2014<br>Statement of the Problem<br>There is reasonable volume of scholarly research on the literary, still and motion photographic<br>documentaries on Swange Dance/music within and beyond Nigeria. However, such studies have not<br>been concerned with problematizing the body language that is inherent in Swange dance as a creative<br>resource for painting. This project thus undertakes a study of the poetics of corporeal communication<br>expression embodied in Swange dance and appropriated in the studio painting in the form of frozen<br>graphic poetry.<br>Consequently, the studio project will not aspire to realism in terms of form and content. Rather,<br>it will depart from the realistic preparatory sketches by relying on economy of creative means, the very<br>essentials of form, to seek meaning at that point where stylisation meets with symbolism.<br>Aims of the Research<br>The artist aim at visual documentation of the Swange music/dance is to sustain the culture for<br>posterity sake. Also the research will add to existing scholarship, through graphic poetry and the<br>communication-expression of moral and ethics from the Tiv culture. Finally, the exploration of<br>Swange dance/music will further the economy of creative resource for painters and hinder possible<br>extinction of the culture.<br>Methodology:<br>In accomplishing this research, information was collected from primary and secondary sources. The<br>Primary sources of data include: books, catalogues and interviews and purposive observation of the<br>live performances. Secondary sources of data include still and motion photographic documentaries.<br>The primary data was collected from literary archives such as the Benue archives, internet, individual<br>literatures on Swange dance, and careful observation of live performance from the troupes. Also<br>interviews were conducted with the performers to know how the dance steps are organised.<br>Secondary data such as still and motion photographs and documentaries were previewed to<br>deduce necessary knowledge that will be added to the body of information pertaining to the Swange<br>dance. Thus, after the relevant data was gathered, the analytical approach was employed in order to<br>analyse and condense the data for the studio work and the project report. The analytical approach used<br>involves ideating of imageries, themes and titles. Subsequently, the themes, and titles gotten from the<br>data above were used in producing sketches, colour roughs for the studio work and project report<br>Scope of the Study<br>This research is concerned with the images and imageries from the Tiv Swange dance with<br>emphases on the body movement, the gentle swaying of the waist and the organised steps.<br>Limitation<br>The challenge here was the inadequate funds to carry out a more extensive research and the<br>unavailability of documents on the Swange dance from the Ministry of Art and Culture, Benue State.<br>Also, the apathy of some civil servants who usually are unwilling to release information as well as<br>lack of knowledgeable people to interview.<br>Significance of the study<br>The study will visually document the Tiv Swange dance / music for cultural preservation. The<br>painterly forms will help further the Nigeria cultural aesthetic and enrich the painting tradition.<br>Furthermore the study will explore the possibilities of using the body language that are inherent in<br>dance as a creative resource for developing more painterly orchestrations. This work is significant,<br>because it intends to capture the poetics of corporeal communication-expression embodied in Swange<br>dance. It will equally serve as a stepping stone for other researchers who would like to do further<br>research in this area. <br></p>