Though tribe and tongue may differ, the Cultural Parade segment of the Calabar Festival was an array of culture, costumes, styles, dances, instruments and colour differently displayed but depicting the heritage of the people.
The four kilometre parade from the Millennium Park, through Mary Slessor Avenue, Marian, IBB into the U. J. Esuene Stadium was not only a “made in Nigeria” affair as Mizorblew Cultural troupe from Volta region in Ghana was there in their national colour of red, yellow and green to present a war dance which their ancestors used in welcoming their war lords after conquest in battle.
This goes a long way to explain the scope which the festival is growing to attract troupes from beyond the shores of the country as previously participants were Nigeria.
Trappers Theatre Troupe from Gboko, Benue State, presented Swange dance, meant to instill peace and unity among the people, wearing their traditional zebra colour of black and white.
From Imo State came Alija Dance Group as Anambra State presented the popular acrobatic dance group known as Atilogu, which has attained international recognition while Kogi State Art Council Performing Troupe came with Sahada capped with Ogba known as a social dance presented at all functions.
Kwara State Arts and Cultural came with Ejiobe from the Yoruba speaking area of the State which is performed by twins and Kano State came with a mini Durbar and Alligator dance.? Imo, Abia, Nasarawa and Enugu were also there with their troupes.
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