Dance groups need mentors to stay in business - Sedofu

Mr Stephen Sedofu, Deputy Volta Regional Director of the Centre of National Culture (CNC), has said it is important that local dance groups accept mentorship to stay in tune with appropriate performance regimes.

He said the groups should also be managed as corporate entities, with members paying dues, to show commitment to the pursuits of the group.

Mr Sedofu said this when speaking at the launch of a programme to revive and promote traditional and live band music in the Volta Region.

He said the groups should have accounts from which they could draw to support their activities and that there was need to sustain the region’s traditional dance forms and music to save them from extinction, observing that borborbor, a recreational dance with original compositions had been adulterated by Church hymns.

He called on political leaders in the region to give a lot more attention to cultural activities than is currently the case.

Mr Eric Foster Nkani, Executive Secretary of the Volta Music and Entertainment Industry Board (VOMUSENTIB), said the idea was to trace the few people with knowledge about these traditional dances for documentation before it was too late.

He said the youth were stranded between the attractions of western music and indigenous culture, which needed some propping.

Mr Nkani said dance forms such as Gabada, Egbanegba, Asiko and Zigi were among other dance forms that were endangered.

He said the programme being piloted in the Awudome Traditional Area would be extended to other areas of the region.