Siyaya to host second summer school

Like last year, Ibumba International Arts Festival will host the Sabela Summer School, an educational initiative for young people between 15 and 24 years. The spokesman for Siyaya, the organisers of Ibumba, Nkululeko Nkala, said they were targeting O-Level candidates and A-Level pupils of varying dance capabilities, experience and styles and a select of young amateur artistes from different dance companies in Bulawayo. He said the Dansa madansani focuses explicitly on the art form of movement and expression "which we know and love as dance".
Dansa madansani is slang of the Ndebele language which loosely translates to "dance oh you dancer". 
"It is a training opportunity that will encourage artistes to express themselves using dance. This is the second instalment of the project that is a school for young serious minds who are keen on developing within the arts as edgy young men and women who will focus on specific aspects of the performing arts industry and excel to a world class standard through talent, skills, education, appropriate attitude and opportunities in the global performing market," he said. The general outline of the course is focused mainly on the final output which is the 30-minute performance. Nkala said the outline of the course is specified using the framework topics: perception, creative expression and performance, historical and cultural heritage and response and evaluation. The four main topics in the framework will be applied to the dance styles that will be present and covered during the course. Proposed dance styles and techniques are pantsula, contemporary, mbakumba and muchongoyo. Nkala said the participants would share their skills, passions and their talents with a group of professionals, amateurs and first timers. They will also gain significant knowledge of dance elements, principles, concepts, develop and apply an understanding of basic principles of choreography, and apply knowledge, skills, and techniques of dance in formal dance presentations.
He said the programme was also meant to make participants effectively communicate ideas, thoughts, and feelings through dance, build critical thinking skills by examining the reasons for dancers' actions, by analysing individual responses to lessons and performances, by interpreting the intent of choreographers and strengthen and refine creative thinking skills by creating original interpretations of dances, based on response to others' work, and by constructing scenery, props, lighting, and makeup. He added that participants were also urged to "learn to contextualise dance in culture and history by exploring how a dance relates to the time and place of its origins."
Nkala said they hope by the end of Ibumba, the educational initiative, which focuses on equipping young people with creative thinking skills, performing arts skills and business ethics would have achieved some of its aims.
The pilot Sabela Summer School that ran last year during the Ibumba International Festival and featured 18 young people covered drama, music, dance and arts business management short courses. "The vision of the Sabela Summer School is to set up an independent Bulawayo-based institute of performing arts that will bridge the gap between secondary education and arts tertiary education and the arts industry. "The institution aims to churn out a different artiste for Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and the world at large who is globally aware, business literate, creative, open minded, technological and original," Nkala said.