Nigerian dancers Felix and Augustine Omeden with their apprentices

Fieldwork

African Americans

Arts, Nigerian

Nigerian Americans

Dance

Body movement

Costume

Drums

Children

Arts, African

Fire eating

Religious rites

Religious symbolism

Apprentices

Dancers

Drummers (Musicians)

33 color slides, plus one proof sheet with 23 black and white images (plus negatives), and one black and white print. Images the Omeben brothers teaching prentices Campbell and Baki traditional Nigerian dances, which included fire and glass eating. Apprentices Campbell and Baki were funded to learn Nigerain dances (asolo and igbabolelekhen) as well as glass and fire eating, creating the costumes, and the dance's cultural background. At the time, the Omebens had lived in Miami for ten years. The dances they taught date back over a thousand years, were performed only by males who created their own costumes, and served as a religious declaration and rite of passage. For more information on Omdedens, Baki, and Campbell, see S 1644, box 11, folder 33. The Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program began in 1983 with a NEA grant of $22,000. The program provided an opportunity for master folk artists to share technical skills and cultural knowledge with apprentices in order to keep the tradition alive. Apprentices must have had some experience in the tradition and agreed to train for at least six months. The first project director was Blanton Owen, later replaced by folklorist Peter Roller. The program was continued each year through 2004.

State Archives of Florida, Series S1640

1994

Florida Folklife Program

photographs

Still Image

S1640

16

4

Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program

Stone, Robert, 1944-

Omeben, Felix, 1959-

Omeben, Augustine, 1954-

Campbell, Moses, 1944-

Baki, Akila, 1981-

African American

Nigerian Americans

7035

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