Multitalented kids perform at the National Festival of Arts
About one thousand students and other youths will be taking part in the 2013 National Festival of Arts which is underway at the Bliss Center for Performing Arts. The next two weeks will see a host of students on stage showcasing cultural and artistic skills. The annual event is organized by the Institute of Creative Arts and focuses, in part, on contemporary art. This year the festival has also been extended to be more inclusive to allow for youths who are not in school to also be able to display their creative skills. News Five’s Duane Moody reports from the Bliss.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Today and for the next two weeks, the auditorium for the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts will beam a spotlight on the vibrant talents coming out of our youth from educational institutions across the country. It is the 2013 National Festival of Arts where over a thousand students will showcase their golden performances following individual events within the districts. The best of the best took the stage in drama, dance, song, poetry and the like.
Kim Vasquez
Kim Vasquez, Youth Program Officer, Institute of Creative Arts
“They are all winners, they are all the best but these are the golden winners who are coming to the stage here. The festival began months ago with the district level festivals and the golden items have made their way now to the bliss stage. This showcase will run for three days—that’s the primary school one and that’s at ten o’clock. And on Thursday we will have the amateur and youth showcase and that also includes the golden entries from the high schools as well as youths from maybe independent golden schools, from dance groups, music ensembles; those will be on stage on Thursday. And then on Saturday night, we have a special high school edition of Be the Next Superstar live on Channel Five. We have representation from all districts and you are invited to come be a part of the audience. It is the same like the superstar, but it is a special high school edition.”
Paul Flowers
Taking the stage today, were primary school students from Orange Walk, Belmopan and Belize District…from cultural presentations, to modern acts and even several Latin performances.
Paul Flowers, Shepherd’s Academy, Belmopan City
“We thought an Indian dance because it is different. It is something that is really hard to think of. To put together the dance, it took us a week and a half because we had an original dance, but we changed it a bit; we added more steps, more moves.”
Alyssa Martin
Alyssa Martin, San Pedro RC School
“Some pieces were hard, some pieces were easy to remember. It took like five or six weeks to learn all those moves. The performance was about the Mestizos and these Mestizos are the mariachis and we just wanted to extend the mariachis dances and we want to make them dance more mariachis because they are people too.”
Alanie Spadillo
Alanie Spadillo, Caye Caulker RC School
“It was all about school, it was really fun to put together. Let’s say that I was a student that cooked for my teacher, but I put in all sort of stuff that you wouldn’t want to eat. Well my teacher wanted me to do something so she asked if I wanted to sing or do a poem. So I told her that I wanted to do a poem. We found this poem that was named, “I cook for my teacher.” So we got that poem and I just started to learn it. I’ve been right here the second time and I am representing my school and I am very proud.”
Janicel Jimenez, Guinea Grass Pentecostal School, Orange Walk
Janicel Jimenez
“The name is Barco de Papel and I chose it because I like how the artist sings it and I like the rock singing. My first language is Spanish and I know how to sing it. It is not hard for me to sing it.”
The creative arts event is incorporating talented youths that are not in schools…this is a new feature that has been added to the calendar, says Program Officer of the Institute of Creative Arts, Kim Vasquez.
Kim Vasquez
“We want the festival to always be vibrant and growing and changing and we believe that adding the competition element to it, gives them that added incentive to come out and shine and be their best.”
Duane Moody
“You mentioned on Thursday night that you guys are also going to have amateur night. Tell us about putting that together and the fact that it is actually…”
Kim Vasquez
“That showcase has its own magic because that for me as the youth development officer here is always a process of discovery because you would always find that there are talented youths that you don’t hear about. They are just maybe active in their own districts. They are doing fantastic things in the arts and then they would apply.”
Today’s event saw a poetic presentation entitled the place we live in by Catherine, a six year old from La Inmaculada Primary School, Orange Walk. Duane Moody for News Five.
