Nigerians love to dance, for sure! From time, we’ve always come up with amazing moves to go with catchy tunes, but I’m going to tell you about some of the most popular ones from say, the last twenty years, and the artists that made them so popular.
Makossa
If you’re Nigerian, you’ve definitely bust this move before. No need to talk too much. This move that Awilo Logomba popularised over Nigeria and other parts of Africa like a virus! You’ll definitely still see a few people do this dance.
Galala
Hoo mai gosh, Daddy Showkey was a beast with the galala! He had everyone and their uncle trying to do it, even though we all knew it was for the more flexible of us. Still, this is another move that still creeps into modern Nigerian dance.
Suo
Suo came in and booted galala out of the game. Popularised by Marvellous Benjy, this move curiously resembles the movement you make when pulling a generator. Anyhow, the song and dance became extremely popular, and live to this day.
Yahoozee
Olu Maintain came with the Yahoozee song and the accompanying dance, and Nigerians went crazy! Although it’s not so popular these days, the dance spread like wildfire.
Alanta
Loool this is actually a dance of madness, and Artquake made sure that Nigerians caught the bug. Moving like you’re putting a fire on your clothes out, this is still done today!
Etighi
Even though Etighi is a traditional dance from the Calabar/Akwa Ibom region of Nigeria, a lot of people didn’t know this until Iyanya came and spread it across Nigeria with his song, Kukere. It burned really brightly but died just as quickly.
Skelewu
Kindly brought to us all by Davido, he taught us how to do this move which quickly caught on, especially because of his similarly titled, catchy song.
Shoki
Lil Kesh really made his mark with this one. This shoki dance and song spread like a viral infection. Still one of the most expressive and creative dances, shoki took over all other Nigerian dance steps.
Shaku Shaku
This one, we’re still in the middle of. Popularised by such songs as ‘Shepeteri’ and ‘Legbegbe’, all you need to be able to do this is a lot of coordination and a lot of creativity. Not much.
