The Sunday Mail
Takudzwa Chihambakwe
SACRIFICE, blood and sweat. That is the story of Jibilika Dance Trust projects director Plot Mhako. Forget that dance is supposed to be about having fun; for Mhako it is a way of life, a tough one for that matter as he prepares to host the ninth edition of the Jibilika Dance Festival in Mutare on August 26 and 27.
“The biggest sacrifice was leaving my wife and son in Germany to come back to work and ensure this year’s festival was a success. After touring Germany in March I took all my earnings towards the festival.
“The worst part is that during preliminaries we never had money for accommodation so I would drive with the team, host the event and drive back home. Sometimes we would sleep in the car until the next morning and head back to plan the next one.
“We even lost the vehicle a month ago in an accident whilst coming from dropping one of the artistes we work with at the airport, making our situation even more desperate,” he says.
As is the case with most in the arts, donor funding is key. When donors tighten purse strings, the going gets tough. This is something Jibilika Dance Trust can attest to. However, passion and a desire to see the Jibilika dream through has kept Mhako on the plot.
“This year has been the most difficult year since we started the festival back in 2008. The difficult financial situation challenged our resilience and creativity as we had to look around for what we have and push for the festival to be a success.
“Unlike the previous years, we did not get the Zimbabwe Culture Fund grant but that did not deter us as our drive to deliver the festival lies within the hearts and dreams of youth energy. I am glad that our determination is slowly paying as we got a shot in the arm from the US Embassy and the Zimbabwe Germany Society, who will support the grand finale.
“We also managed to collaborate with local community arts organisations in all the 10 provinces to host preliminaries, which were successful as we attracted amazing dancing talent and enthusiastic local audiences whose support worked as fuel for the festival.
“Working with a team that buys into a vision and works to see it live was key to the success. We remained inspired by a common goal and the amazing talent we saw from one province to the other gave the team enough faith and reason to keep going. At one time there was general consensus that if we gave up we would have given up on the future.”
Though the festival cannot be compared to bigger platforms like Chibuku Neshamwari Traditional Dance Festival that have been running for over 50 years, backed by robust and consistent funding from Delta Beverages, three areas that Jibilika stands out are youth engagement, training and continuity after the finals.
“Over the years the festival has exposed and churned out various dancers, groups and urban artistes who have gone on to win awards at Nama, Zim Hip-Hop Awards and Zim dancehall Awards,” says Mhako.
Some groups have become household names, some touring globally as well.
Groups such as Magesh, who won the festival in 2007/2008/2015, Rolx dance crew, Flip Floppers, Flying Angels, ProBeatz and Rockiey Ranaka, who is now studying Dance in Switzerland, are some of Jibilika’s best products. Mhako says, “We seek to stimulate dance and related art-forms as a means to give the youth a voice, engage, empower communities, build capacity and develop talent whilst entertaining.
“The project promotes various dance cultures with the thrust of enhancing cultural appreciation, growth, employment creation, youth engagement, incorporating mentorship on various youth-related issues, training and development workshops in various communities, exhibitions and performances.
“However, one thing we have really wanted to achieve in the past nine years and have failed at has been establishing a dance academy. But, I am happy to say that we have this year managed to informally start the process by offering free weekly community dance lessons in several communities.”
On why they chose Mutare to host the finals this year switching from last year’s hosts, Bulawayo Mhako said, “Mutare has been consistently supporting the festival since 2007 and bringing out world class talent that has not had much exposure. The people of Mutare are hungry for the arts given that there are not so many festivals taking place despite the abundance of raw talent.
“Of all the provincial preliminaries we held, Mutare was the most memorable. The level of creativity shown by the dancers and the huge audience turnout reaffirmed our decision to take the finale to the city.
“The dancers went all out to show innovation and creativity with some getting on stage in a car and some coming with a live traditional marimba band whilst dancing hip-hop moves. We failed to pick one group and ended up taking two.”
This year’s festival is themed “Empowered”, and has a number of new elements that make it yet another unique event from the previous eight.
Mhako reveals, “Our theme this years is derived from the ultimate goal of the festival since inception that is to empower young people with essential creative skills, information and empowering their voice.
“We aim to empower dancers, transform their art into a business and source of livelihood. The festival will empower their voices through positive social creative engagement to speak and also empower the audience.
“This year’s festival is totally transformed – from the quality of groups selected, workshops set and execution. We will host a creative business workshop, offer free training to beginners and master classes for advanced dancers. We want to empower and live a lasting impression in Mutare.
“We have 15 groups and 34 solo dancers adding up to 140 dancers coming from all the ten provinces. We have a line-up of beat boxers, a powerful line-up of female artistes and we have introduced a dance theatre night where we will showcase two of our own productions.
“In terms of prizes, we are hoping to maintain last year’s total of $3000 cash prizes, despite difficulties in securing funds.”
