NATIONAL Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) preparations for the annual primary schools Jikinya Dance Festival are at an advanced stage.
BY SHARON SIBINDI
The festival is set for November 24 at Amphitheatre in Bulawayo.
The council’s spokesperson Catherine Mthombeni yesterday said the festival was aimed at encouraging primary schoolchildren to appreciate and performing Zimbabwean traditional dances to promote and safeguard the country’s cultural heritage.
Running under the theme Celebrating Zimbabwe Through Dance to encourage communities to participate in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage values and norms through traditional dance, the festival will have the Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture minister Makhosini Hlongwane as guest of honour.
Mthombeni said NACZ would also host officials from National Arts Council of Zambia, who would attend the festival and exchange notes with their local counterparts.
“This visit is in the spirit of the Memorandum of Understanding that the two arts councils are going to finalise soon,” she said.
Mthombeni said NACZ had rolled out the process to equip adjudicators with the requisite standard adjudication knowledge following the introduction of compulsory (common) dances as an integral component of the dance fiesta.
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“The first adjudicators’ workshop was held in Masvingo at Charles Austin Hall on October 20, in Bulawayo on October 30 at MacKetarn Primary School and in Harare, it was held at Education Services Centre on November 1 and lastly, in Mutare on November 2 at Courtauld Theatre,” she said.
Mthombeni said the training workshops enhanced uniformity in the adjudication process, ensuring that the authenticity and originality of both the common and own choice dances are safeguarded in line with the overall goal of the festival.
“At this year’s festival, schools will showcase a dance of their choice as well as the Muchongoyo dance. Jikinya Dance Festival is a partnership programme between NACZ and National Association of Primary Heads and is proudly sponsored by Delta Corporation,” she said.
