(c) SEUN AWOBAJO BATA: Does the SALSA Dance contravene Copyrights of the Yoruba people’s folk dance? The broad spectrum of cultural identities of places differs in more ways than one. This dichotomy in origins is brought about by environmental, sociological and historical factors encompassing the nature of a geographical location at a particular period of time. Over time, there has been a ménage of influences from place to place. The paradigm shifts were largely caused by externalities such as inquest and conquest missions by more sophisticated nations. By the end of the 11 th century, interactions between erstwhile settlements now known as continents and countries (as the case maybe) introduced religions and foreign civilizations through subtle means or by arms of war. The advent of slave trade and colonization in the 17 th , 18 th and 19 th century respectively across Europe and Asia spreading to Africa and the rest of world was the last straw. This brought about a bizarre trading of humans to gain economic power which changed completely the theory of humanity as well distorting the beliefs of the captured. Largely affected by slavery and colonization is the general artistic outlook of the African people. As it was with a number of things, the arts of the conquered territories were displaced, carted away or utterly destroyed by the colonizing group. This stance is synonymous with the prey- predators’ relationship. These arts are transformed and re-assigned as a different genre without recourse to the original owners of the sounds, histories, beats, and sculpture. This singular action then contravenes the remarkable means by which things of immense value are passed on from one generation to another. Losing the significance of the generational traits and the sacredness thereof. The imports of this haunting apparition of the African forms the basis of this piece. For a more concise readership, the focus will be on Bata Dance. Bata Dance is a traditional dance peculiar to the Yoruba people of the South-western part of the country. Historically, the dance believed to be attributed to ‘’Sango’’ - Yoruba mythological god of Thunder and Lightning. The Bata dance is an expressive art not just imbued with rhythm and movements but avowed spirituality. In olden times, the dance is said to be a form of communication between the god of Thunder (Sango) and the devout of the Sango religion as evidenced by the characteristic bodily movement (hands, feet and shoulders). The energy that drives the performer is attended by thunderous drumbeats blasting with the sounds of thunder which altogether pays homage to ‘’Sango’’, the fire connoisseur. Reminiscent of the precedence, Bata Dance still hold same sense of vigor as seen in the very creative waist twisting, bent knees, flat foot, tilting of trunk, acrobats and powerful performance of the dance. The Bata Dance is accompanied by Bata drums – the largest drum is ‘ ’Iya Ilu’’ which set tune for other drums in the set as the middle drum – ‘’ Itotele’’, and smallest drum ‘’Okonkolo’’. The contention of Bata dance as the origin of Salsa dance is connected with the trans-Atlantic slavery that necessitated the transportation of slaves from the South-western part (as well as other places) to the Americas. According to scholars of African arts, not a few number of these dances have been transported in the course of the slave trade era. The remnant of these displaced arts in areas of music and