By Jonathan Mbiiriyamveka
Delta Corporation operations director Moses Gambiza says over US$500 000 has been invested in Jikinya Traditional Dance Festival.
Speaking at the recently held Jikinya Traditional Dance Festival in Gweru, Gambiza said the event counts as one of the many activities to benefit from the company in the past 124 years of its existence.
The Jikinya Dance Festival showcases various traditional dances by primary school pupils from around the country.
“We, at Delta believe in a Brighter, Better, Thriving and Growing society and today something new has come to fulfil this aspiration in the Gweru community and we are proud of it – the Jikinya Traditional Dance Festival,” he said.
“Delta Corporation has been involved in assisting arts and culture as a means of enhancing the quality of lives – bringing about personal enjoyment, enriching perspectives, intellectual stimulation, and opportunities for public involvement in primary schools in Zimbabwe over the years.”
The festival aims at encouraging children to appreciate and perform Zimbabwean traditional dances thus preserving our rich intangible cultural heritage for posterity.
“It is against this background that there is need to promote and develop traditional dance forms through the education system,” Gambiza said.
Having been inaugurated in 2002, the dance festival is a partnership programme between the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) and the National Association of Primary Heads (NAPH) and is mainly supported by Delta Corporation Limited.
Jikinya is held at various levels covering cluster, zone, district, provincial and national. Schools compete on a selected common dance and a dance of their own choice.
The festival adopted this competition format in 2011 to encourage young pupils to appreciate the diversity of Zimbabwean traditional dances.
The objectives of the festival are;
- To promote and safeguard Zimbabwean culture through the performance of authentic traditional dances.
- To raise the profile and consumption of Zimbabwe’s traditional dances locally and internationally.
- To develop children physically, mentally, and socially so that they realize their full potential as they develop into adults.
- To promote social cohesion and interaction.
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