Cultural dances at agric show

Brenda Phiri Entertainment Reporter
The Zimbabwe National Traditional Dancers Association is bracing for the upcoming Harare Agricultural Show as the Arts and Crafts Village at the fair makes a return after over a decade.

The agricultural show, that runs from August 24 to 29, reintroduced the cultural stand free of charge after years of engagement with traditionalists.

According to ZNTDA president Kennedy Kachuruka, cultural dance will be a major highlight at the Arts and Crafts Village.

He said almost 200 members are expected to participate.

“We have a lot of dance groups that have registered and some of them are from various schools. So,during the agricultural show, eight groups will perform per day. We want to highlight the masterpiece which is our intangible cultural heritage,” said Kachuruka.

He said they were preparing to steal the show with a display of dinhe, chinyambera, chimtali, amabhiza and gule wamkulu dances.

He said to boost the morale of the participants, prizes would be given to the outstanding male and female dancers, best costume and dance group of the week.

Kachuruka added that the association was inviting sponsors to support their activities during the event.

“It takes resources to have exciting activities at the village and we are appealing to sponsors that may help us to in giving transport, accommodation, food and participating fees for the traditional groups,” he said.

“We are a non-profit organisation and rely on donations. We are looking for funders so as to ease the administration costs in general. We are also hoping to create other offices in Bulawayo and Manicaland. Supporting culture is supporting our identity and tourism.”

Kachuruka challenged the corporate sector to do their best to support the participation of traditional dancers as traditional culture was an important aspect in agricultural shows.

He said many traditional dances had a lot to do with agriculture with the dinhe dance from Mashonaland Central being meant for celebrating bumper harvests.

“In line with the Zim-Asset agenda, traditional dancing is a platform for employment and sustainability. We need to encourage more people to participate and also for it to be promoted at all stages in schools,” he said.