Jibilika Dance Festival announces dates and theme for the 2016 edition

Zimbabwe’s premier annual youth dance festival Jibilika has announced the preliminary dates as well as the theme for this year marking the 9^th edition.

This year the festival will run under the theme ‘Empowered’ which comes from the ultimate goal of JIBILIKA and the festival since inception which is to empower young people with essential information, a voice and artistic skills.

The Festival Director Plot Mhako explains:

“We seek to empower dancers, enrich their art into a business and source of livelihood.

“It (the festival) will bring value and meaning to their passion and talent, the festival will also empower their voices to speak and be heard.”

He added that Jibilika 2016 will witness empowerment manifesting in different ways, that is Youth voice, Youth creativity, Youth energy and youth initiative.

This year’s preliminaries start on the 2^nd of April in Masvingo and ends on the 23^rd of July in Hwange. A single group will be selected to represent each province in the national grand finale and several individuals for the solo competitions.

The grand finale will run from the 26^th to the 27^th of August in Mutare.

Here are the proposed dates for the 2016 Jibilika Dance Festival preliminaries.

Masvingo – 2 April

Gweru – 16 April

Mutare – 30 April

Harare – 7 May

Bindura – 14 May

Here is some background information about the festival

Established in 2007 the festival runs with a new theme each year which defines the spirit, format and thrust of that year’s fiesta.

The festival selects 11 groups from each of the country’s 10 provinces and another one from Chitungwiza to take part in the national finals. The thrust of the event is to stimulate dance as a means to empower, build capacity and develop talent while entertaining.

The festival celebrates both urban and cultural dances and runs in a competition format. It also encourages various dance cultures with the thrust of enhancing cultural appreciation, growth, employment creation and youth engagement.

The project incorporates mentorship on various youth-related issues, training and development workshops in various communities, exhibitions and performances. The event is credited for revealing and endorsing a lot of dancers and groups locally and beyond the borders.