Masquerade performance of the Idoma of central Nigeria is a functional aspect of the people’s living systems. This aspect of performing arts is deeply rooted in their traditions and presents as the cradle of the people’s civilization. This paper discusses representation in art from the perspective of Idoma performing tradition. It used the masquerade art as the case study. The paper interprets the masquerade theatre of the Idoma in Nigeria as an artistic representation of the people’s worldviews, culture and tradition. The paper explores the distinctive aspects of the masquerade traditions as they apply to Idoma worldviews, history and philosophies that bind the people together, and which present a common identity for them. In this form of masquerade art, the dialectics of representation play through drama, costume, music, dance, mime, language, sculpture, symbols and aesthetics. In carrying out this research, the study employed qualitative approach to methodology. We used participation observation, oral interviews and case studies techniques to be able to get desired data. In doing the case study we concentrated in examining one specific masquerade performance per time. This paper reports our study of Akpmobe masquerade. This masquerade is the people’s representation of migration history and the associated myth in time and place. Through the methodology we noted that the Idoma masquerade script is anchored on the relationship between the natural and the supernatural, the spiritual and the secular, the mundane and the metaphysical. Thus “ancestorism” is crucial cannon of this art. The belief that the past, present and future are fused in commonality presents the background upon which the masquerade tradition revolves. The paper concludes that it is impossible to divorce representation from Idoma masquerade performance, which is essentially an art in the figurative and depictive dimensions. To this extent, the dynamics of Idoma performance is spurred by peculiarities of artistic processes and functional aesthetics, which tend to condition artistic devices. In this way, the structuring habitude of art and myth present a congenial relationship between behavior, culture and creativity.

Keywords: Representation, Masquerade, Theatre, Myth, Culture.