All is set for the annual Jerusarema Mbende Dance Festival set for September 18 to 19, 2015 at Murewa Culture Centre.
The festival will have an array of activities pertaining to Mbende. On Friday 18, a Jerusarema Mbende dance competition will be held with 20 schools clamouring for the top ten in order to participate on Saturday 19. Apart from the schools competition, on Friday there will be an interactive workshop for traditional dance teachers themed ‘Traditional Dance as Pivotal in Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)’.
“The thrust of the workshop will include discussions on the role of traditional dance in communities today, understanding ICH, link between traditional dance and ICH including ICH inventorying in communities among other issues,” read a statement by coordinators of the event, National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ).
“On Saturday traditional dance groups that will perform apart from schools include Angola Dance Troupe, Musapingura from Chipinge, Ngomadzepasi and Reshon Mbende Arts Laboratory. Registered visual associations will also exhibit traditional food as well as instruments and costumes such as drums, mbira and rattles among others especially for Jerusarema Dance,” further read the statement.
Mbende Jerusarema Dance was proclaimed a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity with Murewa Culture Centre acting as the reference place for safeguarding purposes. It is performed by the community of Murewa and Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe (UMP) in the North Eastern Districts of Zimbabwe. The ancient fertility dance was called dembe or mbende, a Shona word for ‘mole’, which signified fertility and hence the dance became very popular with the locals.
The Festival seeks to provide sustainable foundations for the transmission of skills to the younger generations and to promote awareness of the value of the dance as well as the importance of safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The partners for this year’s festival are Culture Fund and SIDA, DANIDA and United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
