After a day of sparkly, colourful, topical, relevant and cute displays at the nations 2010 Children’s road parade that featured tots, teens and young adults from the eleven education districts the results are in.
Region one through its theme of ‘Embracing our Diversity, Celebrating our Heritage ruled the competition beating region three into the second spot with ‘Celebration time’ and region settled for third as they depicted ‘Preserve our Heritage and Save the Earth’.
In the nursery category the Happy Hearts Nursery’s depiction of ‘Miss Republic – 40 Years of Achievements’ copped the top spot while Sherman’s Nursery placed second with ‘legend of gold’ and Turkeyen Nursery with ‘celebrating our Culture through Music’ settled for third.
Rama Krishna Primary’s presentation of ‘Learning in Unity through Culture’ got the judges nod for first place while Winfer Gardens Primary placed second with ‘The Beautiful Angels fulfilling an Academic Dream for a Brighter tomorrow’ and Community Academy Primary with ‘A Tribute to our First People’.
The Alien Red Dragon as depicted in the fantasy theme won Dolphin Secondary the winners spot in the secondary school bands category while Ascension Secondary’s display of ‘Celebrating with our Folk Legends’ placed second. Cummings Lodge Secondary through the bands showcase of ‘Moulding our Nation’s Children to support our Diverse Heritage’ placed third.
The other children’s organisation category was ruled by the Hinterland Scholarship students who gleefully displayed ‘Reducing Emission and Proudly Sustaining our Livelihood.’
Their runners up were West End Youth Cultural Centre and the national School of dance who placed second and third respectively for their displays such as ‘Golden Sparkles in a Beautiful Forest’ and ‘Dance – The Gateway to our Cultural Heritage’.
In the individual category Mwanza Glen copped the top spot with ‘the faceless void of culture’ while Jamel Brooms with his display of ‘A Royal Explosion – A Prince in his Glory’ placed second.
On Saturday the Ministry of Education’s Unit of Allied Arts Children’s Mashramani competition was a showcase of pageantry and fun filled gyrations, prancing and dancings as they addressed issues of climate change, the Low Carbon Development Strategy from the youth perspective and preserving marine life.
Being true to their youthful minds the tots and teens also paraded in Mythical characters, legends and folklores as well as fantasy and fairy tales galore. There was also an abundance of other serious issues regarding Guyana’s Rain forest preservation and education.
National children’s road parade 2010 in retrospect
From about 9:00hrs on Saturday thousands lined the parade route to get a glimpse of the many contingents of youths on parade in mostly full costumes. Some cheered their favourites on while others zeroed in on those who were a brazen and bold in their gyrations. Among those watching the jollification from the road side were some youngsters who were not going to be left out of the spot light. Some aged as young as three literally ran into the many groups of frenzied revellers and show them just how they should dance and do their thing.
In the nursery band from a line up of nine contingents the beauty of El Dorado was among the more attractive of showcases as was the legend of Gold but the energetic Miss Republic was also one to beat. For the most part the youths were very much in time with the music but few opted out as sleep seemed to have a greater pull on them.
In the primary band section more than eleven contingents were on the road and from the energy exuded it was obvious that the youths’ were out to have a grand time as reflected in their prancing and costumes. Ketley primary ‘s Back to basics was among the more energetic and colourful as was North Georgetown’s band that focused on living our Heritage in a diverse community. Commendation is also in order for Community Academy Primary for their ‘tribute to our first people.’
In the secondary school bands category the energy was at an all time high from the parade ground to the National Park as the more senior students seemed bent ton out doing each other with coordinated dance steps and gyrations. Theirs was a colourfull array of glitters that had a few at their energetic peek. But there were a few who simply walked the course unmindful of the many promptings. All the entries in this category were commendable but some openly opined that Cummings Lodge and Dolphin secondary were the ones to bet with their themes of “Moulding our nation’s children to support our diverse heritage” and the fantasy filled “the Alien Red dragon and the Dragon Fly” costumes.
The regional presentations were among the more colourful and topical as the costumes offered much room for conversation on topical issues. These included region 2 ’embracing our heritage through preservation of our natural resources.’ And West Demerara/ Essequibo Islands message was clear that it is ‘Celebration Time’ while region four aimed to ‘preserve our heritage and save the earth’ and region seven offered the message of ‘Celebrating our Diversity through education’.
Over all there were more than 40 contingents who also had their sections and there were also several Non-governmental children’s organizations.
But none could out perform the choreographed showcase of the National Dance School as that group showcased the various levels of dance offered splashed with much of the many cultures that make Guyana a unique cultural melting pot
By Mondale Smith