Dancing on My Own Terms

Dancing was a major form of exercise for me during the state-imposed coronavirus shutdown. My favorite genre is Nigerian hip hop. The Afrobeat incorporated into Nigerian hip hop works for my purpose of exercise. I am also influenced by the shared cultural and literary knowledge in the lyrics as an insider, and as I reminisce on the importance and significance of these cultural elements and innuendos, it heightens the sense of belonging in me as a student from Nigeria in a foreign land. Dancing, I move my joints, my waist, and feel my body bounce. The trending Afro hip hop dance tutorials in circulation on the internet also help with the process. Though alone in my room, dancing with and for myself, I am conscious of the gaze of the society on my body. I struggle to push the negative connotations about the dancing female body in the hip hop genre to the back of my mind but needless to say, I am constantly reminded of the place the female body occupies in the spectrum of power relations, generally in the society, and narrowly in hip hop.