Akoto Dance of the Ogu People of Lagos State: A Socio-Cultural Inquiry

Agnes de Mille once wrote: "The truest expression of a people is in their dance & music. Bodies never lie". This expression accurately describes the concepts captured in this write-up about the Ogu people of Lagos State, Nigeria and their autochthonous culture. The vast majority of the people prior the emergence of modernity and its resultant effect had cultural traits which were distinctive in its conception as well as its expressions. These traits review so much about the people's culture and they may be expressed through the people's body movements, choreographic pattern, rhythmic accompaniments, clothing, accessories etc. Akoto dance is one of the many cultural expressions of the Ogu People, the cultural birthmark and the stylistically patterned choreographic movements captured and artistically expressed in the dance signals the existence of the socio-economic, aesthetic, cultural and historic realities of the Ogu people. This study was conducted to evaluate the socio-cultural evidences expressed by the Ogu people in Akoto dance, and to document the dance before it is subjected to complete extinction by the various processes and phases of modernity.