A BULAWAYO-BASED award-winning dance group has requested city authorities to give it permission to spruce up the space it uses for rehearsals.
This comes after the Khaya Arts dance group scooped two awards at the National Arts Merit Awards (Nama). The group won Best Choreography and Best Group gongs.
It has broken the record as a dance group by becoming the first in Bulawayo's history to bring home two Nama awards.
Khaya Arts director Future Dube said they had sponsors who were willing to give the place a facelift to make it user-friendly for rehearsals.
“We have got a lot of friends who are willing to help us spruce up the place because it’s an open space, so we want the place to be covered, to have a roof so that it can be used perennially. It’s open and seasonal, meaning when it’s raining we can’t use it, when it’s too hot, we can’t use the place as well,” Dube said.
He said following the awards, the group received a lot of visitors for interviews, adding that their environment was unappealing to first-time viewers.
“We are having a lot of people coming to see who Khaya Arts is; having a lot of people who are coming to interview us, so if they come and find the dilapidated place, it won't give a good image to Bulawayo as well,” Dube said.
He said the place they were using was dilapidated and it had been abandoned.
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“We went there and tried by all means to revamp the place because that’s where we have our juniors, about 20 of them and our seniors, about 20 of them as well; so it’s really an active place and we’ve also opened the place for the residents, residents associations and the
Tshabalala Old School to hold their meetings there,” Dube said.
Ward 21 councillor, Tinevimbo Maposa, applauded the impact the group is making on the Tshabalala community saying it has employed and nurtured young talent not only in arts, but in sports as well.
“Apart from such, they have also employed young people and nurtured young talent not only in arts but in sports as well. They have a netball team which is doing well, such activities have gone a long way in dealing with drug abuse which is rampant in our community and country as a whole,” Maposa said.
“Every weekend many young people participate in arts training and sporting activities through Khaya Arts initiatives, however, the facility they are using, Tshabalala Youth Arena, needs serious revamping, we are appealing to council and other stakeholders to look into it so that it is upgraded.”
Maposa rode on the sentiments and vision of the dance group saying their initiative will go a long way in preserving our culture for the next generations.
