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Harare’S ZRP Tomlinson School emerged the champions at the recent Jikinya Dance Festival that saw 10 schools from the country’s provinces taking part last weekend at Belvedere Teachers’ College.
For their efforts, the school was awarded a trophy and US $1 500.
Dombodzvuku School of Mashonaland East came second, receiving a trophy and US$1 000, Mlelezi School of Masvingo ended up in third place and walked away with a trophy and US$750 while Chipindura School from Mashonaland Central came fourth place and received a trophy and US$500.
The festival was running under the theme “Celebrating Cultural Diversity and Social Cohesion through Dance” and showcased an assortment of traditional dances.
The guest of honour was UNESCO director Professor Luc Rukingama while other guests from the National Association of Primary Heads President Mrs Cynthia Khumalo, Delta marketing executive Mr Stanley Muchenje and Culture Fund director Mr Farai Mupfunya also graced the occasion.
Children who took part in the festival said that they are proud of being custodians of our traditional cultural heritage at such a young age.
There are many traditional Zimbabwean dances from all indigenous ethnic groups to be found all over the country. Most schools have traditional dance as an extra-curriculum ac- tivity.
ZRP Tomlison School is now set to represent Zimbabwe at international competitions and we hope that they will do very well.
The director of UNESCO was pleased with the showcase, applauding the participants for making “Jerusarema” and “Mbende”part of their act.
“We proclaimed Mbende/Jerusarema Dance a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity with Murewa Culture Centre acting at the reference place for safeguarding purposes.
“The dance is performed by the community of Murewa and Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe in the north-eastern districts of Zimbabwe. Mbende being performed here as a common piece is a safeguarding measure of the dance for posterity,” he said.
He, however, expressed hope that the festival would also be extended to other sectors in order for the local culture to be preserved.
“My dream is to see this festival growing and more of these dances being practised in secondary schools as well as tertiary institutions. In addition, I urge corporate to hire traditional dance groups to perform during their corporate events. Now that Christmas is just by the corner may we consider the value that our varied traditional dances can add flair to our events,” he said.
Jikinya Dance Festival is an annual festival hosted by the the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe.
It aims to encourage children to appreciate and perform Zimbabwean traditional dances thus promoting and preserving Zimbabwe’s cultural intangible heritage.
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