NORMATIVE VALUES OF TIVTAKERA AND GBASELA TRADITIONAL DANCES

Abstract

This paper examines the normative values of Takera and Gbasela dances of the Tiv people. Personal interviews were conducted with participants of the moribund and stakeholders in traditional performances among communities in Shangev-Tiev, Konshisha Local Government Area of Benue State, where the dances were being performed until lately. Parson's, theory of social action and pattern variables are adopted to explain the normative values of Tiv traditional dances. It is the arguments of this paper that dance projects and transmit the prescribed canons of a people and the functional roles of traditional dances are found in the form, manifest in the functionality in relation to the participants with whom dance is bound in cultural transaction. The paper submits that Takera and Gbasela dances are functionally relevant in the development of modern Tiv society and Nigeria as the dances provide food for thought for social re-engineering, apart from their entertainment value. The paper recommends among other things that traditional dances should be properly choreographed as viable means of socialization needed to instil, safeguard and promote peaceful coexistence among global communities.