Dancing Altars: Carnivalesque Performance in a Festival in Togo

Yearly, in September, performers from Guin-Mina and Ewe-speaking communities along the coast of Togo perform in the popular festival called Epé Ekpé (Fig. 1).¹ Attended by tourists, government officials, visiting performers from neighboring nations, and local community members in the city of Aného, Epé Ekpé culminates in the revelation of a sacred stone, the color of which predicts the future of the small town of Glidji for the coming year (Fig. 2).² Recognizable by their lavish adornments, participants process onto the festival grounds through a broad archway. Dancers alternately perform to songs of adoration for water spirits and observe the celebrations of others while seated on ceremonial stools. With images advertising event sponsors as backdrops, initiated performers display immense wealth and intercultural linkages upon the spectacularized surfaces of their bodies (Fig. 3). Each performer exemplifies “dressing for success” and “too muchness” in...