Intwasa arts fest begins

Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent 

The Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo starts today in the City of Kings with an opening ceremony dubbed ‘African Rituals’ scheduled for the Bulawayo Theatre in the evening.

African Rituals is a collaborative production between Chibuku Neshamwari traditional dance festival 2018 Matabeleland South champions Bolamba Arts and the competition’s 2019 national champions Ezimnyama Dance Ensemble. 

Ezimnyama director Phibion Dube said African Rituals was a one-hour production showcasing dances that are performed during different stages of life. 

“This is a dance production showcasing African rituals from birth, marriage, puberty celebration until death. It shows all the dances from Zimbabwe such as Jerusarema, Isitshikitsha, iNtshomane, Setapa, Muchongoyo and Tsutsube,” said Dube. 

He said they were pleased to have collaborated with Bolamba. 

“We’ve been rehearsing with Bolamba for the past month. This is a great collaboration because there aren’t many who do such together, something that as artistes, we should do more often. We feed off each other and this helps make the productions good,” said Dube.

Before the official opening, in the morning, Intwasa will kick off with two events, a workshop on Arts Reporting Reviewing and a 100 Girls/Voices Poetry event where girls will showcase and compete against each other. 

Tomorrow there will be a workshop on Digital Marketing at the National Gallery from 10AM. A theatre production Sweet Opium will be showcased at Bulawayo Theatre from 2pm and will feature performances from school children. Music lovers on the other hand, will be treated to a One Country, One Home Music Concert in Cowdray Park which will feature various artistes. For poetry lovers, there will be an Amazwi, Imizwilili leSginci poetry show at the National Gallery which will feature Izwi Dewe and Sinkende among others from 6pm. To end the day, there will be a There is a Field play at the Bulawayo Theatre from 7pm. 

The festival will come to an end on Sunday. 

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