Talented Students take to the stage
Day Two of the Golden Showcase of the National Festival of Arts was staged today at the Institute of Creative Arts. Taking the spotlight were the best performers from the northern, central and western districts. It took dedication and time to prepare for the event, but in the end it’s all worth it…and today teachers, parents and of course the talented performers were all smiles..Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Day two of the golden showcase of the 2014 National Festival of Arts occurred today at the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts. Primary school students and youth groups from the Orange Walk, Belmopan and Belize District took center stage in the auditorium. Featured were over fifty items, the best of the best from the respective municipalities, in dance, drama, poetry and song, as well as, in musical instruments. And no doubt, the activities are showing creativity and dedication when it comes to teaching the creative arts within the classrooms. For Compassion School from Orange Walk, it has allowed them to make it to the golden showcase for six consecutive years.
Diane Ical, Teacher, Compassion School, Orange Walk
Diane Ical
“We did a presentation under the dance category, creative modern dance entitled Jesus, Our Super Hero. And indeed it has been months of preparation. We attended two sets of workshops with Mister Leroy Green where we got an idea of more or less what the dance category entails, the different criteria required for it. It was indeed quite some time that the girls in the group had to prepare in order for them to be able to present. We are a multi-grade school in the Orange Walk District and our girls are so excited about partaking in the festival of arts so what they do is go into the community and raise funds in order to prepare their costumes and we sit down and design it and decide what we want to see and colors. And it’s a combination of everything; we also had other props to make our dance even more presentable and creative; it is quite a task. So you have to have everybody involved.”
For the children it was taking their talent and putting it on stage. Nervousness and confidence all jumbled up in one, the young performs faced the audience along with their peers and participants from other showcasing schools.
Shermaine Zuniga
Shermaine Zuniga, St. Mary’s Primary School, Belize City
“It was…the dance was good and I loved the dance.”
Duane Moody
“It mi hard?”
Shermaine Zuniga
“It was easy.”
Duane Moody
“What song did you guys dance and how long did it take unu to learn?”
Shermaine Zuniga
“Like ten, two weeks.”
Victoria August, Belize Christian Academy, Belmopan
Victoria August
“I have started since BCA’s Christmas Program. We showcased different and different things that we learned and I’ve been practicing with my music teacher for a very long time. It was very much of a hard thing to do, to work through it and get to this point because thinking that you know let’s try even harder to make it here because this where people find out about your talents; where they see that in Belize, we have a lot of things to uncover.”
Jayra Young
Jayra Young, St. John Vianney Primary School, Belize City
“We had to do a lot of work to handle the recorder but we got it good.”
Duane Moody
“How hard is it to play along with all your other classmates to bring across one good song?”
Jayra Young
“It is not that hard because all of us here play really well.”
Duane Moody
“How long were you guys working on it?”
Jayra Young
“Since last month I think.”
Providing that outlet for talented Belizean youths demands the support of the ministry of education, the Institute of Creative Arts as well as support in the home. For Sharret Young, it makes her proud to see the product of her children’s hard work.
Sharret Young, Parent of Participant
Sharret Young
“I feel so proud of my daughter for being on stage and doing so great and representing her school.”
Duane Moody
“Would you support her doing it again and your other kids to come out and do it?”
Sharret Young
“I always support my children in every school activity. Dah something weh yo supposed to support at all times…especially if you see that your children are interested in doing it, then support them a hundred percent.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
