Timothy Wlue Nevin

The National Cultural Troupe Dance Dramas (”Ballets”)

The Liberian National Cultural Center at Kendeja (also sometimes spelled Kindeja, or Kendejah) is located roughly ten miles southeast of Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia.  The researcher, or interested reader, not having had the chance to go there while the center was active, might wonder what types of performances were given there by the resident National Cultural Troupe. Luckily, since many of these former troupe members are still living, through a series of interviews conducted both with Liberians living in the US, and over the course of two research trips to Liberia (in 2005 and 2008) I have been able to compile a short list of the major dance dramas performed by the troupe. This research is part of a broader effort; my forthcoming dissertation, tentatively titled “A History of the Liberian Cultural Renaissance, 1970-1989″.

Liberian dance dramas are also called “ballets”, a French term perhaps borrowed from Les Ballets Africains, the national cultural troupe of nearby Guinea founded under the patronage of President Sekou Toure. Les Ballets Africains was purported to be one of the best troupes on the continent during their heyday at the time when the Liberian National Cultural Troupe was established in 1964 under the patronage of President Tubman. The Liberian National Cultural Troupe spent countless hours rehearsing and performing “ballets”, which tell diverse stories that contain value-laden messages for the audience. Sometimes these dance dramas were based upon Liberian folk legends, folktales, origin stories or morality tales. At other times, the dramas were more overtly political in nature. Almost always these dance dramas upheld the Liberian cultural heritage as something to be emulated and learned from. Sometimes morality plays would weigh in on the national debate over the clash of cultures itself. If a “culture clash” between indigenous African folkways and imported Western culture appeared in the dramas, the resolution dramatized would always favor the local at the expense of the foreign. This was a matter of national pride.

There were no printed programs handed out at these events, for, depending on the venue, many in the audience may have been illiterate. The point of the dance drama was to communicate not through the printed word, but through song, drama, music, and body language. Typical of the messages conveyed were appeals for unity amongst the sixteen major ethnic groups (still called “tribes” in Liberia) before the civil war erupted in 1989.

The “Moonlight Dance” drama, the “Harvest Dance” drama, origin stories, and shared rituals resonated across Liberian ethnic divides and pointed towards a shared national cultural patrimony. Dance dramas such as “The King’s Only Daughter” and “The Orphan Boy” were morality tales about the need for love and respect for the youth by the older generation. They were about the disadvantaged in society finally being acknowledged and justly rewarded for their accomplishments. Throughout these tales, the Poro and Sande traditional institutions of learning and initiation into adulthood are lauded as the bedrock of Liberian traditional education (also called “bush schools” and/or “secret societies”). Here follow some of the dance dramas (”ballets”) performed by the National Cultural Troupe.

“The Kings Only Daughter” tells the tale of a princess who falls in love with a boy against the wishes of her royal family, who have arranged a marriage for her. This is a tale of arranged marriages versus romantic love. It is also a tale of intergenerational conflicts that have contemporary implications. In the drama, the boyfriend is badly beaten and imprisoned for his impudence. When the princess petitions her father the king, he hits her in a jealous rage, and knocks her unconscious. In deep despair, the king then announces that anyone who can awaken his daughter will be able to take her hand in marriage. The father of the imprisoned boyfriend is a traditional healer, a medicine man. He eventually brings her “back to life” but declines to take her as another wife, instead giving her over to his son for marriage.

“The Moonlight Dance” depicts the dances of various ethnic groups as they celebrate a successful harvest season. The point of the dance drama is that many of these dances are very similar, and therefore, once again, the message is that Liberians share a common cultural heritage and should treat each other like “brothers and sisters”. This theme is furthered in the “National Unity Ballet” in which dances from the sixteen major ethnic groups are demonstrated. The message, at times explicitly called out to the audience by the dancers was “I am Kpelle, but I am also Liberian!” or “I am Mandingo, but I am also Liberian!” etc. These pronouncements were made in both the local language, (for example Kpelle or Mandingo) and in English.

The “Harvest Dance” illustrates (and glorifies) through dance and song the various stages of the rural agricultural cycle. Typically, the first scene depicts men clearing the field, uprooting the large trees, and burning the brush. Women then plow the soil and plant the seeds (usually rice, but also cassava or other root crops). The following stages depicted were weeding, chasing away birds and rodents, and then harvesting. Once the harvest was finished, the real celebrations could begin. This drama was used to promote the state policy of “self-reliance” under the Tolbert administration. President Doe also promoted a similar theme under the banner of the “green revolution”. The goal was the same: Liberia needed to stop importing rice and gain self-sufficiency when it came to food production. The message was clear; the profession of the farmer was a noble one, and urban migration to Monrovia was overtaxing the city’s capacity.

“The Rescue of the Sacrificial Victim” was a very popular dance drama. In this drama, there is a horrible Janus-faced (two-faced) monster that is terrorizing a local village in the Liberian hinterland. This monster demands an annual tribute of a sacrificial victim. Usually the chief would designate a war captive to be given to the monster (to be eaten); however, one year, the monster demands not a captive, but the chief’s own beautiful daughter. At this point, the head warrior who is also courting the princess takes offense and vows to kill the horrible monster. His group of warriors try all kinds of tactics and tricks, until they finally pounce on the monster while he is sleeping and cut off his testicles. While not immediately obvious (and slightly ambiguous), this drama seems to represent a symbolic end to human sacrifice and arbitrary, unchecked power wielded by secretive authorities alongside the familiar theme of inter-generational conflict.

“The Leopard Ballet” dramatizes the tale of a leopard that is terrorizing a rural community. To properly appreciate the symbolism, it must be understood that the leopard is frequently used as a metaphor for a chief that is greedy, cruel, dictatorial and murderous. In other words, the leopard is a metaphor for a ruler who is not willing to listen to or follow the will of the people. In this drama, several young hunter-warriors hunt the leopard and after it is killed, each one of them cuts off a piece of the leopard’s tail to prove that he killed the beast.

The king of the region wants to reward the warrior who vanquished the leopard by giving away his daughter in marriage, but he cannot tell which one of the warriors actually did it. So a talent show is staged, and each hunter-warrior displays expertise in a certain activity such as drumming, archery, fire-eating, etc. Finally, a traditional Liberian way of truth-finding is employed. They bring in an “ordeal man” to administer the “Sassywood” ceremony. This ordeal entails that those on trial drink a cup of poisonous sasswood bark brew. Those who die from the poison are guilty of lying, and the one who survives is telling the truth. In the end only one of the hunters survives the ordeal. What is the moral of the story? Well, certainly one underlying theme is that Liberians traditionally have been able to rule themselves using their own methods for seeking truth and justice. The Sassywood ordeal has proved so popular, that all legislative efforts to stamp it out have met with failure. This is because so many Liberians believe in its efficacy.

Finally, there was a popular dance drama that even appeared on television (ELTV) entitled “The Village of So-So Women”. In Liberian English “so-so” means “only” or “exclusively”, so the title refers to a village that contained only women. This is an origin tale, a story of how the first women met the first men, and they started living together and having children. This is a local myth that is a counterpart to the Christian “Adam and Eve” myth in the Bible. In this drama, the women are living together in a village close to a river where they make a living fishing with nets. One day they encounter a man in a tree on the river’s edge. They try to stamp out his “shadow” (reflection in the water) but he won’t go away. They are frightened of this ugly creature and run away. Eventually, the Queen mother of the village goes to the river secretly and begins to have an affair with the man. In time she invites the man back to the village, and he brings his male hunter cohorts. The hunters all choose wives in the village and begin living together and having children.

Apparently this is a widely shared origin story amongst the oral traditions of many of Liberia’s ethnic groups, and therefore would be a familiar story to the audience, that they could easily follow without much dialogue being used. Remember that the National Cultural Troupe toured extensively throughout the counties of Liberia, and also internationally, where, in both instances, the audiences would not necessarily share the same language with the troupe members. Liberian English is a common denominator within the country, however there would be many audience members in places like Grand Gedeh County, Nimba County, Lofa County, etc. who would not be English speakers. Therefore, song, and body language had to be employed to greater effect.

Other dance dramas employed by the troupe such as “Rally Time in Liberia” and “The Road to African Freedom” were more explicitly political. In these cases, the troupe was used to further programs or popularize slogans of the government. For example, the call for Liberians to work together or “Rally Time” was instituted by the Tolbert government in the mid-1970s. The most prominent example of this trend was the dance drama, “The Redemption of the Liberian People”, that was put on to explain the reasons for the fateful April 12, 1980 coup, led by Master Sergeant Samuel Doe and the rest of the military-led PRC, to the general public. This dance drama deserves its own article for a fuller detailed explanation.

In conclusion, these dance dramas were both entertaining, educational, and some were didactic in purpose. They were designed to engage with both Liberian and foreign audiences at different levels. They thrilled the audience with gymnastic feats and fast-paced footwork. The dance dramas were intended to move audiences emotionally; to make them both laugh and cry, leaving them with a message to take home and ponder.

 

KENDEJA Cultural Center (”Kendeja”) & National Cultural Troupe (”NCT”) Timeline 

1964 Dedication of Kendeja site by President Tubman and Bai T. Moore. 

1964 Roger Dorsinville, a Haitian in exile appointed first artistic director of the Liberian National Cultural Troupe (NCT) based at Kendeja. 

1966 NCT participates in First World Negro Arts Festival in Dakar, Senegal. 

1969 NCT wins Bronze medal in the First Pan-African Cultural Festival, Algiers, Algeria

1971 Kona Khasu replaces Roger Dorsinville as artistic director 

1972 NCT participates in OAU Anniversary festivities, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 

1975 work continues on construction of concrete stage and amphitheatre at Kendeja 

1976 NCT wins Gold Medal in the All-African Trade & Cultural Fair, Algeria 

1976 NCT participates in US Bicentennial celebrations in Washington DC, tours US 

1976 (later in year) NCT promotes Liberian tourism in London 

1977 NCT participates in FESTAC ‘77, Lagos, Nigeria 

1980 President Doe’s coup takes place. Funding dries up for NCT & Kendeja. Troupe members no longer fed three meals per day. Kendeja campus declines. 

1981 NCT wins Bronze medal at El-Mogar African Festival of Performing Artists in Morocco 

1984 NCT represents Liberia- the only African country to participate in the Louisiana World Exposition, commonly referred to as the “New Orleans World’s Fair”, New Orleans, Louisiana, US 

1984 (later in year) NCT goes to Seoul Folklore Festival, Seoul, Korea 

1990 Kendeja overrun by Taylor’s rebels, troupe members shot 

1999 and 2003, a smaller contingent of NCT goes to Pan-African festivals in Libya 

2007 Kendeja National Cultural Center sold and bulldozed

 

 

Copyright © 2008 Timothy Nevin