FOR 30 minutes on Friday afternoon, members of the National Troupe of Nigeria thrilled guests in the capacity-filled 4000-seater Anumouabo amphitheatre of the Palais du Kulture, Abidjan.
It was in the course of the 2022 Market for African Performing Arts, MASA in Abidjan.
Described as one of the highlights of the week-long performance arts fiesta, which started March 4, the performance was witnessed by the huge gathering of students, international and local participants and guests, ias well as members of the Nigerian diplomatic mission in Cote d’Ivoire led by the head of mission, Ambassador Martins Adamu Senkom.
“He hosted us to a warm reception at the embassy. Plenty food to eat. It is the second time in the history of the NTN that we will be hosted in that grand manner by our mission abroad,”, stated a senior member of the 16-man delegation which arrived Abidjan on Tuesday March 8.
MASA, a huge cultural fiesta, is designated a “market” as it attracts huge attendance from art coaches from around the world who come in to shop for troupes and artists they could put on tour.
The 16-man NTN delegation led by the Artistic Director, Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed, also has the Director of Drama, Dr. Mike Anyanwu, the Director of Dance, Dr. Shaibu Husseini and the Head of HR, Bisi Ayodele as members.
The piece presented by the Troupe, in the words of Dr Shaibu husseini, the Director of Dance, “is a 30 minutes straight dance piece an extract from our one hour touring production titled “Ajoyo”. Ajoyo celebrates our rich and diverse cultural heritage in dance and music. It takes us on a dance excursion from the south West with Dundun Drumming and Kposhe dance: to the South East with Abriba warrior dance and Egwu Odum; to the North with Fura Dance and we return to base South West with Yengben, a worship dance that will appeal to the yoruba’s in the continent and in diaspora.”
MASA is a cultural development program for African performing arts. Its main objectives are: support for the creation and production of quality shows, facilitation of the movement of creators and their production in Africa and around the world, training of artists and operators of the production chain. performances and the development of the performing arts sector (Music, Theatre, Dance) within the African continent.
