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Children from
various schools in Lagos State came together to flex their muscles in
dance and to learn a thing or two about culture at the third edition of
the annual Nigerian Schools Cultural Festival (NISCUFEST).

The event,
organised by Onileagbon Theatre, took place at the the Grace Schools,
Lagos, on October 21. In attendance were seven schools that put their
cultural creativity to the test. These were: El-Bethel Nursery and
Primary School, Ifako-Gbagada; Christ Redeemer Nursery and Primary
School, Oworosoki; El-Shaddai Nursery and Primary School; Ibafo, Ogun
State; Lady Bird Nursery and Primary School; Labeo Nursery and Primary
School, Ifako-Gbagada; and Primrose Nursery and Primayry School,
Anthony.

Two secondary schools – Irvington College, Gbagada and Sunnyside College, Palmgrove Estate – also participated.

Preambles

After the
introduction of the guests and other preliminaries, NISCUFEST 2010 was
set rolling. This year’s edition was organised to mark Nigeria’s 50th
anniversary.

The event is an
avenue for schools to bring their students, who will be decked out in
cultural outfits, to stage 10-minute performances, either in Dance,
Dance Drama, or Mime, using live musical instruments or recordings of
traditional songs from Nigeria or other African countries.

Anchors for the
event were Calibird, a comedian; and Chijioke Ndukwe, who advised the
children that though being formally educated and speaking the English
language was good, young persons who neglect their local languages are
regarded as being uneducated.

A case for culture

Cultural activist,
Segun Adefila, gave the keynote address, titled ‘Creativity, Education
and Hope of Our Nation’. He summarised education as the acquisition of
knowledge.

He raised a
fundamental question when he said, “When you go to school, you learn
how to speak and write in English. That will make our forefathers
illiterates. But since education helps one to create, and our
forefathers had already created things like mortars, pestles and
grinding stones, then they were educated, though they could not read or
write English.”

Adefila said he
grew up wanting to be anything but Nigerian or Yoruba, until he met a
Japanese professor of Dance who visited Nigeria and the first thing he
said when addressing Nigerian dancers was, “English not good.”

He cited the
examples of Mozart, who was a child genius, and Isaac Newton, who made
discoveries without the kind of technology known to the world today.

“Why do we remain a
consuming nation instead of a producing nation? There is no space for
making anything in this country, yet we have people trained in so many
things. We would never grow up if we are not creative,” the dancer and
actor noted.

He reminded
students that they were the hope of Nigeria and if they were not
properly educated, then they would have failed the country.

“Creativity is the hope of our nation and the hope is you,” he concluded.

Staff, students,
and other invited guests at the event were entertained by Footprints of
David Art Academy, who were not part of the competition. They wowed the
crowd with their Zulu war dance, which involved a lot of high kicks and
screeching, jumping, and shouting.

Aduke and the SSV
then played a soulful tune, which had the trappings of Phil Collins’
‘Another Day In Paradise’ and whose underlying theme is ‘showing love.’

It’s a Dance Affair

The Ladybird
students were the first competitors for the primary school category,
and they performed the famous Atilogwu dance from the eastern part of
Nigeria.

Next was Christ the
Redeemer Primary School, which performed the Bata dance of the Yoruba.
Then it was back to Atilogwu with Labio Primary School, before Primrose
took a different turn and combined Dance and Drama in their own
presentation.

Irvington College,
Gbagada, did a choreography routine to Grammy award winner Shakira’s
2010 World Cup anthem, ‘Waka Waka’, combining African and contemporary
dance steps.

Sunnyside College, Palmgrove Estate, with an all-girl team, grooved to Kefee’s ‘Kokoroko’ and Brenda Fassie.

Lady Bird Primary
School were the overall winners for the Primary School category, while
El-Bethel Primary School, Ifako-Gbagada, emerged first runner-up.

Christ Redeemer
Primary School, Oworonsoki, were second runner-up, while El-Shaddai
Primary School, Ibafo, Ogun State, were 3rd runner-up.

In the Secondary
School category, Irvington College, Gbagada, emerged the overall
winners, while Sunnyside College, Palmgroove Estate, came in second.

The organiser and
brain behind the cultural project, Femi Onileagbon, said that the idea
is to give children the opportunity to exhibit their talents and also
to promote culture.

NICUFEST, which started in 2008, is used by Onileagbon Theatre, an
arm of Onileagbon Sight and Sound, to promote culture as a tool for
development.