Staff Writer
Primary schools in five provinces are ready to battle it out in the first batch of Jikinya Dance Festival Provincial finals on Friday 11 November 2022.
National Association of Primary Heads (NAPH) President Mrs Cynthia Khumalo says schools are more than ready for the provincial finals in Bulawayo, Harare, Manicaland, Mashonaland East and Matabeleland South provinces.
“The dancers are ready and 5 provinces will compete on the 11th of November with the remainder finishing on the 18th of November.
“The competition began with preliminaries being hosted at the Zone and district levels which has produced the contenders for the provincial crowns” Mrs Khumalo said.
The NAPH President said she was happy with the preliminaries although some schools had opted not to participate for various reasons.
She added that participating schools were well prepared for the event although some reported challenges in procuring fuel for buses from the Provinces.
She said schools were finding it difficult to buy fuel in United States dollars while school fees were payable in Zimbabwean dollars.
“However, despite the non-participation by a few schools, there has been a renewed interest and excitement by many primary schools across the country.
“Provinces are working tirelessly to ensure that the annual festival is indeed well supported and subscribed,” she said.
Mrs Khumalo reiterated that schools will perform 2 dances as per the norm although marks for the competition will be awarded only for the common dance which is Amabhiza.
“Schools will dance Amabhiza as the common dance and another own-choice dance. The common dance is the one for the competition.
“The common dance will allow all the schools to perform the same dance for adjudication” she said.
The NAPH President said Amabhiza has returned as the common dance after the competition had in the past 12 years gone through the identified common dances in Zimbabwe and thus restarting the cycle again.
Mrs Khumalo called on parents and the corporate sector to support our Jikinya as the competition played an important role in safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Zimbabwe.
“Parents should understand that there is nothing evil bad about their children participating in the competition.
“We have had instances, where some parents prohibit their talented children from participating saying these dances are for evil spirits yet these are the dances of our forefathers and ancestors and we should preserve them,” she said.
The Jikinya Dance Festival is a partnership programme between the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) and NAPH which began in 2001 and has nurtured talent in traditional music and dance by showcasing a variety of Zimbabwean dances by Primary School pupils.
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