Youths shine at a heritage festival
ALEXANDRA – Young and upcoming artists promote and preserve their heritage through a variety of art genres.
The performing arts came alive in Alexandra recently, giving the community a taste of the raw, but graceful, talent of young and upcoming artists who, with support, would soon give established names a run for their money.
This was at a packed Thusong Youth Centre during the Artists Preserving Heritage Festival. Residents savoured the talent, the messages in the plays and rhythmic dance and foot-stomping routines of energetic youth groups and brand names that came from as far afield as Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and parts of Gauteng.
The raw talent in the genres of traditional dance, music, theatre, poetry and comedy needs nurturing to make it a viable profession for the hugely talented to use to exit poverty in a country struggling with high unemployment. Established names such as the theatre doyen, Mbongeni Ngema, said he marvelled at the skills which could propel Alex to greater heights as a tourist destination for the arts, comparable to the best the world over.
Simon Letswela led a kids’ group, and Afro Beat offered up a repertoire of Khoisan dances and elegant foot stomping to rhythmic drum beats that left the audience in awe. Other groups staged plays that resonated with the social and economic challenges of society. This, hopefully, helped to expose and sustain society’s resolve to solve them in order for the country to achieve its vision of equality, respect for life and liberty.
Letswela said the event was a preparatory opportunity for the group ahead of the Heritage Day celebrations in September. “Our dances are to affirm our being, develop an identity from a young age which, hopefully, the children will keep and promote as they age,” he explained.
One of the organisers, Pretty Ngcobo said the event was sponsored by the Gauteng Department of Arts and Culture to promote the various art genres and was also a chance for the audience to enjoy traditional food. “We intend to have it annually as part of cultural nurturing and preservation,” Ngcobo added.
“Culture is a compass to life and a foundation for resilience against any adversity. You can never be an affirmed person without self-knowledge, or have a clear life journey without the knowledge of your past.”
Details: Simon Letswela 071 636 6936; Pretty Ngcobo 061 366 1726.
