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Entertainment Reporter
BULAWAYO province has stepped up preparations for the national Jikinya Dance Festival to be held in the city next month. The event to be held on 29 November at the Large City Hall, will see provincial winners battling it out for the first prize. Bulawayo province will hold its provincial competitions on 22 November at the same venue.
Amakhosi Cultural Centre in partnership with the National Association of Primary School Heads (NAPH) and the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ), will hold capacity building workshops to impart skills to teachers ahead of the competition.
This year’s festival dance is the Jerusarema/Mbende dance, a common dance that was proclaimed a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by Unesco and its origin being Murewa and Uzumba, Maramba and Pfungwe districts of Mashonaland East Province.
Last year the competition dance was Amabhiza Ihoso.
In an interview, Director of Amakhosi Cultural Centre, Cont Mhlanga said trainers have already started travelling to different districts to impart knowledge and skills of the selected dance to teachers.
“Already 150 schools from Matabeleland have confirmed their participation at the competition,” said Mhlanga.
The Director NACZ, Elvas Mari officially launched the Jikinya Festivals Training Initiative last year at Amakhosi Cultural Centre and teachers drawn from the country’s 10 provinces attended the launch.
Jikinya Festival competition is the most successful and largest child festival in the country. It aims at encouraging children to appreciate traditional dances as part of measures to preserve the country’s cultural values.
Jikinya Dance Festival was inaugurated in 2002, and is co-ordinated by NACZ in partnership with Naph and is sponsored by Delta Beverages.
This year’s competition will see winners walk away with the Professor Hope Sadza Trophy. The trophy is named after the Vice-Chancellor of the Women’s University in Africa, Professor Hope Sadza.
Online Reporter