BY WINSTONE ANTONIO ZIMBABWE Association of Choral and Musical Arts (ZACMA) yesterday said the arts industry should be treated with respect as artists across genres played critical roles in educating, informing and entertaining masses even during natural disasters.
ZACMA representative Pheona Mutizwa-Ngwarati told NewsDay Life & Style that artists play a critical role in society.
“In this gloomy environment, artists have a critical role to play in such times of emergencies and disasters as music, theatre and drama have long been used as tools of communication and as means to spread awareness and heal distressed souls,” she said.
“In such difficult times, artists should step up and play their role of soothing depressed souls that is why we had to organise the inaugural dance festival under the theme Dance COVID-19 Away in partnership with National Dance Association of Zimbabwe (Ndaz) over the weekend.”
The inaugural dance festival brought together traditional and contemporary dancers on the same stage at Theatre in The Park in Harare.
Mutizwa-Ngwarati said the event came hard on the heels of the Festival of song (Fos) held in the capital recently, where ZACMA partnered Fos to sponsor prizes for the community choir category.
“This festival came at a very difficult time in our country where virtually not much has been happening in the creative cultural industries, hence the importance of hosting this event.
“As ZACMA our mandate is to support artists and groups from across the choral and musical arts industry who include individuals, choral groups, poets and dance groups among others,” she said.
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“As an organisation, we are fully appreciative of the concerns of artists and dance groups and we are also inclined towards the efforts of the government to ensure a safe and healthy environment for the people of Zimbabwe to live and operate in.
“Apart from the promotion of the arts sector, the festival also delivered on preservation of intangible heritage, vocational education (edutainment), COVID-19 awareness, cultural tourism and international engagement and content creation,” she said.
“Through our theme Dance Covid Away, we spoke to these notions where we want to ensure dance groups continue sharpening their trade while at the same time being abreast with the COVID-19 situation,” she said.
“As they dance, they communicate the COVID-19 key messages that is mask up, sanitise and practise social distancing to their followers. It is important to note the health benefits of dancing. As you dance you keep the body fit and in essence you are keeping the body strong to dance COVID-19 away.”
In the traditional dance category, Yellow Yellow dance group emerged the ultimate winner while Guruve Marimba and Zim Asset came second and third, respectively.
On the other hand, in the contemporary dance category Royal Squad Zimbabwe came first while Afro Fusion and Team Expandables settled for second and third spots, respectively.
The event was attended by representatives of government, National Arts Council of Zimbabwe and various arts associations, among other stakeholders.
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