adminSimbarashe Mutizwa Showbiz Reporter
Jikinya competitions for primary schools are becoming popular by each passing year and education authorities are encouraging schools to participate in these cultural enriching competitions.
Various dances are performed during the competitions and these include jerusarema, dinhe, nyau, umtshongoyo, isitshikitsha, hosanna, sitape, amabhiza, zana, chinyambera and mhande.
Communities have different dances and there are dances for particular events.
Dances like the dinhe, jerusarema and mhande are dances from parts of Mashonaland and the dances could be performed during celebrations, at funerals or during traditional ceremonies such as thanking the ancestors for a good harvest.
The mbende/jerusarema dance in particular, which is the theme dance for this year’s Jikinya competitions, is a popular dance in Murewa and Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe districts in eastern Zimbabwe.
According to Unesco the dance is characterised by sensual and acrobatic movements by women in unison with men, driven by a single polyrhythmic drummer accompanied by men playing woodblock clappers and by women handclapping, yodelling and blowing whistles.
Matabeleland also has its own types of dances that children are expected to learn. These dances include isitshikitsha, hosanna, isitape and amabhiza.
According to silakho.com isitshikitsha is a Ndebele traditional ceremonial dance, historically performed for the king’s pleasure. It is a dance routine that employs a unique brand of rhythm and style. It would be correct to claim isitshikitsha is in fact a composite of the rhythms, one always coming in to break the other before it becomes monotonous thereby creating a rare harmonious, continuous pattern as a result of these two rhythms. The isitshikitsha rhythm is created from the clapping that accompanies the isitshikitsha song.
Isitshikitsha is a dance as well as a song. A male dance as well as a female dance, but women do not lift their feet high to reveal the area above their knees, even then this is avoided skillfully in a dance, that is all powerful and display of energy.
However, people have now modernised the dance as they are now using drums in the dancing instead of singing and clapping as was done in the past.
Catherine Mthombeni National Arts Council of Zimbabwe marketing and communications officer said the main aim of the Jikinya competitions was to encourage children to appreciate Zimbabwe’s cultural diversity.
“Jikinya compettions have come a long way. We thrive to always encourage children to appreciate and perform Zimbabwe’s various dances.
“We encourage children to uphold and preserve our own cultural heritage.These children are expected to bequeath this heritage to future generation,” she said.
Mthombeni said Zimbabwe was rich culturally and it was important for children to learn cultures from all corners of the country.
Meanwhile, preparations for this year’s Jikinya Dance Festival national finals to be held at Belvedere Teachers’ College in Harare on November 28, are now at an advanced stage.
Ten provincial winners will battle it out for the first prize.
The festival is running under the theme “Celebrating Cultural Diversity and Social Cohesion through Dance”.
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derick.khumalo