He was utterly exhausted. His movements were visibly cautious as he labored on. Yet, despite his noticeable fatigue, his crisp choreography, so expertly executed, demonstrated the confidence of a veteran and master performer at work. This was the last time Qua Mgbe Chief Emmanuel Edim (Coda1), one of my closest teachers, masqueraded before officially retiring. His retirement permits me to publish his name as I do in this context. Chief Edim performed the raffia Mgbe masquerade during the end-of-the-year festival period in December of 2009. He was nearly sixty years old at the time of this performance—something very few would even dare. Most who perform Ekpe/Mgbe raffia masquerades in the city are in their late teens, twenties, and thirties. Few continue to perform Ekpe/Mgbe raffia masks after the age of forty. The strength and endurance required for a couple of hours of masking, let alone an entire day, does not favor an elderly body. This is what makes Chief Edim's performance remarkable: he was able to perform, albeit in a slower, more refined manner, for the duration of the entire morning.

During a short break, a normal procedure that permits maskers to hydrate and rest out of view, he called me over. He said, “I want you sabi [to know] I dey enter [mask] today. I dey try-o!” As he spoke those words, beads of sweat seeped from his brow as he gasped for air; it seemed his exhaustion overtook him. Yet, when his break came to a close, he slipped the raffia mask back over his head and continued on like the seasoned performer he was. In reading this anecdote, one may ask why an elder chief of Mgbe would subject himself to the physical and demanding hardships of masking at such an age? Was the risk of serious injury and embarrassment if he fell worth it? I marveled at my elder teacher as I watched him do what normally men more than half his age attempt. I knew from lessons he taught me months before that this was indeed worth the risk for him.

The potential dangers Chief Edim chose to face that day reminds us to consider an overlooked aspect of research on African expressive culture: the importance of individual motivation.