How to Dance Waist and Leg Cultural Dance? — Ibibio and Igbo dance Mix

From the picture above, you can tell that I'm in constant motion. It's just that the camera chose to make me hang in motion. So what's this all about? My physique and appearance should tell you that I'm a traditionalist and cultural bearer. The hand, leg and neck beads can add salt to the explanation.

It's cultural in Ibibio land to see a man wear a singlet, a chief cap and a wrapper around his waist. The neck beads especially can't be an exception. It must be there to make the movement a memory. I'll be teaching you guys how to dance an Ibibio cultural dance called Ekombi or Itembe from scratch. I'll be dancing to the tune of the Ibibio folk song, Eyen Eyen o, meaning 'child of God'.

Dance name	Itembe/Ekombi
Song name	Eyen Eyen o.....

To dance this dance effectively, you must master your leg, hand and waist movements. These two things are very essential in determining how your body will flow with the rhythm of the song when dancing. Let's take a few practice sessions before dancing the main song. You must be able to shake your waist or butt.

Beginner's level

• Bend your back with one hand on your waist, your left hand precisely.

• Try moving just your butt to the left and to the right with your legs moving up and down. Your hand acts as a support to your waist. Then try it without holding your waist.

Once you can do this, you try standing to shake that waist you shook when bending. Just keep your two hands in front, bent as if you want to flap like a bird. Then shake it out without ceasing. You'll get it right.

Step 1	Step 2
	Step 3....The standing phase

Hands Dance

Hand dance is very important in dancing Ekombi, your hands must move essentially in different patterns.

• Two hands move down to your waist angle and tweet

If I want to explain the steps it may confuse you. Just watch the video. Your hands must be flexible. That's the secret. It must be ready to take any dimension. The same applies to your legs. You must be able to take it back and forth while bending as that's the beauty of our cultural dance.

	These are your hands tackling one leg while bending. One leg must be taken back with your hands as the subject and your legs as the object. In simple terms, your hands are beating your left leg to go back. Same applies to the right leg and right hands
	This is the opposite of the above as your hands would be channeled to your sides instead of your knee.
	This is the opposite direct with hands to the side movement
	In this step, your hands would be suspending in front of your body, doing some regular movement while your legs would be taking turns, in and out.
	This step is done when the hands aren't moving to the knees and sides, but are propelled to the thighs, in front of the body.

Now let's dance to the song from this video. You'll be able to achieve something now that you've mastered the act of using your legs, waist and hands. Dancing is all about feeling the rhythm and knowing how to passionately make your hands, legs and waist fit into every song line.. This would capture your audience's attention and could make you win a trophy.

I never had the opportunity of being taught how to dance because they usually say dancing is for girls. In my secondary school, I only observed but couldn't partake. Now, I'm using what I observed to give my body some healing. Check out my diary game on Monday, as I'll show you guys how I displayed my dancing skills at the traditional marriage of @ay-mart brother.

I hope you learnt something. For the Igbo dance, I can't explain the steps perfectly. I think @okere-blessing can handle this. I could only dance to its song.