Latest update December 23rd, 2024 3:40 AM
Children’s Road parade offers colourful, topical spectacle
(By Mondale Smith)
Sparkling, colourful, topical, relevant and cute were among the words used to describe the Children’s Road March, yesterday, when the nation’s tots, teens and young adults from the eleven education districts took to the streets of Georgetown.
The conclusion of the Ministry of Education’s Unit of Allied Arts Children’s Mashramani competition was a showcase of pageantry and fun filled gyrations and prancing. The children addressed issues of climate change, the Low Carbon Development Strategy from the youth perspective, and preserving marine life.
But above all, the youth parade would not have been completed without Mythical characters, legends and folklores as well as fantasy and fairy tales galore and there was an abundance of those too while others were serious about rain forest preservation and education.
Some of the National School of Dance revellers who showcased well choreographed moves on the road yesterday
From about 9:00hrs, thousands lined the parade route to get a glimpse of the many contingents of youths on parade in mostly full costumes. Some cheered on their favourites while others zeroed in on those who were brazen and bold in their gyrations. Among those watching the jollification from the roadside were some youngsters who were not going to be left out of the spotlight.
Some as young as three literally ran into the many groups of frenzied revellers and showed 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 one to beat.
For the most part the young people were very much in tune with the music.
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.
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 on out doing each other with co-ordinated dance steps and gyrations.
Theirs was an array of glitter. All the entries in this category were commendable but some openly opined that Cummings Lodge and Dolphin Secondary were the ones to beat 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 offered much scope for conversation on topical issues. These included Region Two’s Embracing our Heritage through Preservation of our Natural Resources.’
And the message from West Demerara/ Essequibo Islands was clear, that it is ‘Celebration Time’.
Region Four aimed to ‘Preserve our Heritage and Save the Earth’. Region Seven offered the message of ‘Celebrating our Diversity through education’.
There were more than 40 contingents who also had their sections and there were also several Non governmental children’s organisations.
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.
There were also some independent costumes that were created by designers, among them Jermaine Broomes.
The results of the group costume competitions will announced shortly.
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