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INTRODUCTION
African dances as performed in the global age can be classified into varying types such as traditional, popular, etc. and art types. Each of these categories is so broad that there is no way a study like this could cover them adequately. Our focus in this paper is to reflect on African dance performances as staged occasionally in a diasporic context. The term 'diaspora' as popularly conceived in Africa is a denotative label for dispersed peoples removed or exiled from a common territorial origin. Melville Herskovits (1990), Zora Neale Hurston and others, following the pioneering work of Carter G. Woodson (1968) and especially W.E.B. Du Bois (1970), identified the problematic nature of 'race' as an analytical category and focused on culture as the key element in the analysis of these peoples. It has been emphasized that the greatness of Africa lies in its culture and not in its science or technology (Nketia, 2001). Culture includes the totality of the arts, of which dance is a significant part. African dance research is a complicated issue, given the paucity of written material and because most of the documents that we have access to were written by 'others' and not by Africans themselves. This study therefore raises questions such as: what musical instruments are associated with Bata and Dundún dances? Do Bata and Dundún dances create an identity for Africans (Nigerians)? Do African dances have any relevance in the global age? In trying to proffer logical responses to the above questions, it is important to note that the concept of dance in Africa refers to a combinative strategy which includes music as an inseparable element. Music and dance are twin arts, which authentically give an identity to 'Africa' in their performances.
DANCE AND MUSIC MAKING IN YORUBA CULTURE
Culture is regarded as the way of life of a people (Eagleton, 2000). Among Yoruba people this way of life is inseparably bound up with music and dance. Music and dance are therefore a part of the culture of the Yoruba people, located largely in the south-western part of Nigeria. Without music and dance, the people cannot properly create poetry, record history, educate or train children, celebrate at festivals, praise or abuse, entertain, instruct, disagree, marry or have funerals....