ÌJÚBÀ or ÌBÀ (noun); JÚBÀ (verb) The initial gestures rendered to acknowledge authority figures, sacral or secular, to which a performance production owes its textual and institutional provenance constitute the ìjúbà (ìbà). The conventional words and motions thus presented demarcate the commencement of an iteration, pay homage to sources of influence and inspiration, praise past patronages, solicit audience support and understanding, wish failure for opposing will and interests, and outline the production’s goals. HISTORY Two paths stand out in the historical understanding of ìjúbà: one follows the older, text based line in translation manuals and dictionaries, and the other issues from scholarly studies of performance traditions. Although they are more recent and offer longer overviews that extend far back into mythical times, scholarly studies of ìjúbà lean heavily on old traditions recounted in explanations of contemporary enactments, mainly of egúngún and gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ m