ABSTRACT
Only in a literal, perhaps even slightly trivial sense could this compilation be regarded as the very first of a series of compilations of core performance-related concepts of a few selected non-European performance traditions of the world. By accident or design, the group that worked to produce this compilation of key Yorùbá concepts of theatre and performance was the first to get to work and the first to submit its compilation to the sponsoring body, the International Research Center “Interweaving Performance Cultures” at Freie Universität Berlin. For starters and to launch the project, a workshop was convened in the summer of 2015, at which necessary brainstorming on perspectives, scope and methods was thoroughly undertaken. Thereafter, potential contributors were contacted and given assigned topics. At this stage, though quite obviously some progress had been made, it was still far from certain that we had a “winning” project in our hands. It was not until the entries started to trickle in that we began to have a feeling, first, that we would see the project to a successful completion and, secondly, that it would indeed be a satisfactory and perhaps even seminal compilation. However, we have to be always careful when we designate anything as a “first.” This is the idea with which I wish to start the discussion in presenting this Companion’s Yorùbá section as the very first among the other language sections expected to follow in its wake.
