Nnadiebube Journal of Religion, Culture and Society

This article explores the philosophical significance of the Akata dance, a traditional dance form from Northern Cross River, Nigeria with specification within the Bakors, Yalas and Mbubes. Drawing on the work of various scholars and perhaps the oral traditions of the people, it argues that the Akata dance can be understood as a symbol of human nature, connecting the individual to the community and the world around them. The article explores the ways in which the Akata dance embodies fundamental human qualities such as creativity, spirituality, and connection which is achieved through soul lifting traditional instruments such as the rattles, ram- tail, wooden gong, talking drum, the main drum, iron metal, whistle etc . Through the the fulcrum of hermeneu-analytical method, it discusses how the dance reflects the complexity of human experience and the relationship between the body, mind, and spirit with plausible suggestions and recommendations how it helps to develop the Africans and their human nature with a challenge of how women have been excluded over time since the dance owes its foundation to a woman

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