The Dancer

An african fictional story. The Dancer is a novel set on a traditionally African village environment. It is the story of a talented dancer, Ogene, aged 28, who finds himself in an intimate friendly relationship with Obioma, a slender, handsome boy of 14. Obioma, who is the only child of a hunter - one of the fiercest men in the village - had watched the talented dancer perform at a festival and fallen in love with both the dancer and his art. Saddled with the challenge of carving an ace dancer out of his friend, Ogene soon finds himself sleeping with the boy on his bed and staying long periods of time with him in the jungle, away from the eyes of the villagers to whom they want their latest dance steps to come as a surprise. But unfortunately, the villagers have heard false rumours about this outlandish intimacy between a man of 28 and a boy of 14. The rumour soon filters into the ears of the ogre: the quick-tempered hunter who is the father of Obioma. A series of frenzied incidents then follow, engendering a saga that would change the village forever.