Abstract:
Traditional African performance is a documentation of history. African moonlight games as a traditional performance is a time set aside for children within the ages of eight to fourteen years – to interact. An avenue for relaxation, entertainment, letting out of pent-up emotions and an informal method of traditional education where the children learn moral lessons. Using the “Akugbe-Oretin” (moonlight games) presented by the Edo State Council for Arts and Culture at the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) 2009 in Minna, Niger state as a point of reference, this paper seeks to establish the challenges of the choreographer in structuring and presenting the African moonlight games for entertainment outside its original context. It emphasizes that the various extinct and extant traditional African cultural forms can be revitalized to suit the present taste of life, by exploring the cultural and educative values of African moonlight games to situate the contemporary African child within his/her proper cultural milieu, and avail him/her the opportunity to consciously imbibe the cultural ethics of his/her people as well as get entertained.
