'Choreoclecy': Beyond the Borders of Choreography

Abstract

The framework upon which the structure, form, contents and chronological sequencing of dance hinges has always been considered to be choreography for as long as it fulfils the requirement of being consciously and purposely done. However, since there are two sides to dance especially in Africa; the secular (that which warrants consciousness to do) and the sacred (especially the trance inducing ones - that abhors being consciously done), the term ‘choreography’ has often been inadequate to capture the science of creation of such latter kind of dance. This is why this paper is concerned with examining the extent to which the term can really fare where it concerns esoterically inclined African worship dances with propensity for trance. To atone for this noticeable gap, this paper has adopted being descriptively analytical in its approach to navigating the strength and weaknesses associated with the term choreography in dance composition situations. The paper goes beyond pointing out the gap to making frantic efforts to solving it by introducing the term ‘Choreoclecy', being; that which converges both the sacred and secular motifs, movements, actions, patterns, designs and forms with the ontological and worldviews of a people in evolving as well as inducing dances for worship irrespective of the depth of consciousness that is required. This term is articulated through the basic principles and formulae that are required to aid easy dissection and analysis of the inherent compositional structures in most worship dances.

Keywords: Choreography, Choreoclecy, trance, worship, dance