Fusing Music, Dance and Drama into Performance: The 'Zulu Sofola Experiment. 
Fusing Music, Dance and Drama into Performance: 
The 'Zulu Sofola Experiment
Felix A. AKINSIPE, Ph. D. 
Department of the Performing Arts University of Ilorin 
Ilorin, Nigeria. 
Email: felisipe@yahoo.com Tel: 08055259374,08080384058 
ABSTRACT 
Theatre practice in Nigeria had shown a fusion of music, dance and drama in a holistic nature. From the traditional to the modern theatre practice, music, dance and drama have remained highly inseparable 
   in their performance context. Over the years, however, attempts have been made by theatre practitioners of the literary genre to retain this symbiotic nature of performance practice. Their attempts have failed because most of their works have only made one arm of the performing arts to be dominant and the others just supportive. This paper, therefore, examines the unique approach of 'Zulu Sofola to the holistic nature of African Nigerian performance practice. Her approach gives each arm equal space to communicate as an independent arm, as well as maintain simultaneous symbiotic relationship with the other arms within the same play. The paper concludes that the 'Zulu Sofola's experiment is a unique dimension to the existing integrative co-existence of the performing arts in Nigeria and that is worth the effort pursuing and developing in this 21st century. 
Keywords: Music, Dance, Drama, Performance practice. 
INTRODUCTION 
The performance practice of music, dance and drama in the traditional African society can be said to be that of a total theatre 
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Fusing Music, Dance and Drama into Performance: The 'Zulu Sofola Experiment. 
Akinsipe holds that the traditional Nigerian! African art, 
is a fusion of music, dance, drama and other related arts. Indeed these elements are so interwoven in the traditional performing arts that the absence of one renders the whole performance incomplete and, in most cases, unacceptable to the people. (Akinsipe 
.~ 
2008: 76) 
It can therefore be concluded from all the above that a typical Nigerian traditional performance is made up of an active and perfect fusion of the different art forms of music, dance, drama, etc, towards effective communication. Thus the independent nature of each of the arts of the theatre in the performances of the Western world is not the same in the traditional Nigerian/African performances. 
The Nigerian university system, however, taking after the British educational system inherited this autonomous nature of Western performance as music and drama departments exist separately in the system and where dance is done in any, it comes as an appendage. Most attempts to maintain the traditional African holistic performance nature by the modem and academic theatre practitioners have not been successful as they usually lack the meaningful balance attained in the traditional performances. In the first instance, the performing arts are studied under the umbrella of theatre or dramatic arts in a situation where dance and music are mainly used as supportive arts to drama. Where it is a Department of Music, dance and drama become appendages. 
Most playwrights from the universities only write straight plays which give little or no room for music and dance or give insignificant  roles to them. After a study of a modem playwright's work in the year 2000, Akinsipe concludes that; 

Felix A. AKINSIPE, Ph. D. 
because it is holistic in nature. The performing arts freely enjoy the company of one another so much that when one is being performed the others are significantly present and well articulated too. This is  why Omojola(1994: 147) posits that 
• 
Music in traditional Nigerian societies is generally conceived as part of a multi-media, total theatre experience within which different aspects of the performing arts such as Poetry, Dance, Drama, often combine for effective communication: 
Euba (1982: 225) expresses the same opinion on music thus; 
One of the important characteristics of traditional music is its integration with other arts (to a degree which often approaches the concept of total art) and the realization of the resultant multi-art complex within the framework of social events. 
This is to say that there is a strong unbroken cord between music, dance and drama in the Nigerian traditional societies, such that even when one is created separately and independently, it is no longer recognizable as such in performance practice. Dance scholars like (Enekwe, and Akinsipe,) affirm the same: 
The Nigerian dance is characterized by a formalized rapport between musicians and dancers. There is active interaction between them. The music does not merely accompany the dancer. Both encounter each other, sometimes, in a dialectical sense (Enekwe 1991:26-27). 
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Ifure UFFORD-AZORBO, Ph.D 
This shift is informed by the philosophy of the Department of the Performing Arts she joined. According to her, in the department 
the three areas of the art of performance the art of Drama, the art of Music and the art of Dance - exist in a holistic symbiotic manner peculiar to the African definition of existence as dynamically expressed in African perception and practice of the arts. For the academic programme in this department brings the three areas of the art of performance together under the same roof in a harmonious and cross-fertilising relationship with each existing as an entity yet recognising the natural relationship that exists among the arts of Music, Dance and Drama (Sofola 1993: 1). 
The idea in the department therefore is to have performances that “incorporate all the three areas with a meaningful balance (Sofola: 1994), (emphasis mine).
The focus of this paper is the meaningful balance which she achieved in the plays she could not publish before her death in 1995, "The Ivory Tower" performed for the 1992 convocation of the University of Ilorin and "The Eclipse and the Fantasia" performed for the Committee of Vice-Chancellors' Seminar at the University of Ilorin in 1990. 
"The Eclipse and the Fantasia" is a play "which looked at the state of the academia in all its ramifications" (Sofola, 1994: 20). The play centres on the need to find solution to the problems in the Nigerian University system. The problems include government's incessant orders to the universities to increase the number of intakes before fund would be released to them and to give priority to admissions into Sciences against the Humanities. Others are the problems of debasement that are facing the universities, sexual 
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Exploring The Mirror Motif In An Appraisal Of Choreographic Education In Nigeria like most contemporary Nigerian playwrights, OIu Obafemi belongs to the category of playwrights who use dance more as an aesthetic feature in their works with considerable dependence on mime and pantomime. (Akinsipe 2000: 198) 
But 'Zulu Sofola in her play, "The Eclipse and the Fantasia" presents an exceptional dimension that effectively brings together a meaningful balance between the three arms under one umbrella. This experiment is what this paper examines and concludes can be pursued as modem form for realizing of the African traditional concept of 
: performance in the present day theatre. 
'Zulu Sofola and the African Concept of the Performing Arts 
'Zulu Sofola had been described as the matriarch of the Nigerian theatre because of her many successes in the discipline. For example, she was the first female professor of theatre in Nigeria and a . renowned playwright with many theatre honours to her credit. She obtained her masters' degree in drama (playwriting and production) 
from the Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C., U.S.A., in 1966. She wrote and produced many plays for the stage and 
television before her demise. 
A quick survey of her earliest plays like; Wedlock of the Gods 
(1973), The Wizard of Law (1976) and The Sweet Trap (1977) shows that 'Zulu Sofola wrote pure drama scripts with little or no space for the other arts in them. But with her 'encounter with the Department of the Performing Arts, University of Ilorin, in 1983, Sofola who has been described as "a playwright who is ready to move along with changing tide" (Ugolo 2011: 9) moved along the concept of the African holistic performance in her plays. 
So, from her play Song of a Maiden (1986) to later ones we begin to see the injection of music and dances at a larger percentage. 
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Fusing Music, Dance and Drama into Performance: The 'Zulu Sofola Experiment. 
followed by a dramatic scene between Dejo and Hugo two robotic characters representing the mind of the playwright as regards the dehumanization of human beings on the Nigerian campuses. At the end of the scene, the two characters "exit, blackout; music renders a tearful cry: duet dancers in agony enter ... " (Sofola 1990: 2). Again the progression from drama to music and dance was achieved by the playwright. 
Drama opened the second sequence where some of the 
delegates arrive for the  meeting and begin to discuss among themselves. They recall good times in the universities before gradual movement to the state of rottenness now been experienced. While not in agreement on the matter among themselves; 
(choral music is heard approaching from a distance. They gradually sense the direction of its approach and focus on them. Students process, distressed, despaired and worn out. They are showing in their song and  more mild rumbling which might get out of hand if not controlled ... the point having been made, they exit Hinging upstage as voices fade gradually to silence ... ) (Sofola 1990: 6-7). 
Having witnessed that scene, Prof. Dike could only say "This is grave" and Dr. Daura agrees with him; "It is dismal!" (Sofola 1990:I). 
This fusion continues throughout the playas 'Zulu Sofola intentionally blended music, dance and drama in unique artistic forms of expression. At the end of the play, another fantastic blend was achieved as; 
Lights fade to a dim. The dancer representing the academia dances on and ascends the revolving riser. Nene leads" Ekene to her and offers her to the dancer . 
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Felix A. AKINSIPE, Ph. D. 
harassment, mental derailment, lack of spaces and hygiene in tae hostels and classrooms. 
In the play, the meeting scheduled to discuss and take 
decisions on the problems itemized above was postponed at a short notice when members had already arrived. While some of the delegates wait for a new time, they discussed the problems and the causes. The non-academic staff that came to set up the meeting venue also took time to discuss the problem from their own perspectives. By the time the academia eventually had the meeting, it ended up being "blowing of grammar" as the non-academic staff had envisaged. No meaningful conclusion was reached and so the problem continues. 
The 'Zulu Sofola Experiment 
Zulu Sofola in her later plays, effectively fused music, dance 
and drama together in a balanced way. This can be seen from, the 
	instructions at the opening sequence. 	 
(Under a dimmed spot, the choir enters from the backstage in a single file, takes position ... Dovetailing the conclusion of the renditions, an explosion is heard with its smoke filling the stage as the singers burst into dance movements ... dance formations are created to anticipate the entrance of actors.) (Sofola 1990: 1) 
The above summarizes the manner in which she interweaves music, dance and drama throughout the play. In that same first sequence, she portrays the harmonious state of the university in music through the renditions of the choir, while the chaotic state of the campus life was shown in dance. "The dancers reflect the students and staff, academic and non-academic, in distress." (Sofola 1990: 1) 
Thus, music and dance play their roles independently to pass 
 across different aspects of the unfolding story. This scene was 

Felix A. AKINSIPE, Ph. D. 
Ekene is received and lifted up.' A song of hope is raised as academia in full academic regalia, enter from backstage and flank the riser. (Sofola 1990: 5) 
At this end, all dramatists, dancers and singers are brought together by the playwright to conclude her work and the blend. 
CONCLUSION 
The propensity of music, dance and drama to independently and jointly document, entertain and pass message to the audience was highlighted and buttressed in the play, ''The Eclipse and the Fantasia" by 'Zulu Sofola. Where dance is employed as the medium of expression, it does so in totality and the same goes when it is the tum 
of drama or music. 
It is also clear from the play that music, dance and drama 
were given an almost equal space in the development of the storyline so much that if the dances or any other forms for that matter were removed the play would become meaningless. Finally, very obvious in the play is the fact that none of the three arts of the theatre employed was used as an appendage to another. Each picked up from where one ended to further the course of the play. 
I cannot but conclude that as we move towards the 
development of dance as an independent art in Nigeria, the 'Zulu Sofola experiment is worth pursuing and highly recommended to playwrights, directors and theatre producers. 
WORKS CITED 
 Akinsipe, FelixA. (2000) "The Communicative Indices of Dance in Drama Productions: A Choreographic Approach to Olu Obafemi's Plays", in: Duro Oni and Sunday Ododo (ed.s) Larger than His Frame: Critical Studies and Reflections on Olu Oba/emi, Lagos: Centre for Black and African Arts and 
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Fusing Music, Dance and Drama into Performance: The 'Zulu Sofola Experiment. 
Civilization-CBAAC. pp.197-205. 
___ , (2008). "Dance Studies in the Nigerian University System: 
How Relevant to TID?" In MUKABALA: Journal of Performing Arts and Culture (Special Edition) Vol. 1. No. 1. 
pp.76-84. 
Enekwe, Onuora. (1991). Theories of Dance in Nigeria: An 
Introduction. Nsukka:Afa Press. 
 Euba, Akin. (1982). "Introduction to Music in Africa". In: African History and Culture.' Richard Olaniyan (ed.) - Lagos: 
Longman Group Limited. pp. 224-235. 
Omojola, Olabode. (1994). "Music as the Epicentre of African Drama: The Yoruba Example". In New Introduction to Literature. Olu Obafemi (ed.) Ibadan: Y-Books. pp 147-158. 
Sofola, 'Zulu. (1993). "The Department of the Performing Arts and its Vision". An Address Delivered at the Conference on Nigerian Music, University of llorin, 26'h - 29 January, 1993. 
_____(1994a). (Programme note for "The Sailors" an opera by Sam Amusan for the 1994 Convocation Ceremony of the University of Ilorin, June 2nd-4th, 1994.) 
____ , (1994b). The Artist and the Tragedy of a Nation. Ibadan: 
Caltop Publications (Nigeria) Limited. 
___ :, (Unpublished) The Eclipse and the Fantasia. A play. 
Ugolo, Chris. (2011). Zulu Sofola's Plays: ALook from the Womanist Perspective. In A lore: florin Journal of the Humanities. Vol. 20. pp. 1-12. 
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