About 150 laaities put their vocal cords to the test to embrace diversity at the “Next Generation Musical Showcase”.
The competition was held at the Liberty Promenade Mall on Saturday where 15 Mitchells Plain schools were represented.
Now in its seventh year, the competition took a different approach to the usual Generation Green Children’s Fashion Show theme and swopped it for song and dance items.
The event was held in the food court where the teachers, pupils and families stieked uit.
The top six schools each won R10 000, which can
be used for upgrades of school facilities.
The winning team and their accompanying teachers also received gift cards of R350 for learners and R1000 for the onnies.
Pupils of Tafelsig, Cornflower, Imperial, Eastville, Montagu, Woodville, Yellowwood, Eisleben, and Meadowridge primary schools; Lentegeur School for LSEN; as well as Beaconhill, Spine Road, Oval North, Cedar and Lentegeur high schools performed Bob Marley’s timeless One Love, and Where is the Love? by the Black Eyed Peas.
In the end it was Cedar and Lentegeur high schools; Lentegeur School for LSEN; and Eastville, Imperial and Yellowwood primary schools which impressed the judges the most.
Lentegeur High laaities performed diverse dance styles with the message that people shouldn’t judge your culture or tradition by the clothes you wear. Pupils dressed up as a Muslim woman, Christian church sister and in traditional African clothes to portray their message.
Lentegeur School for LSEN performed their item in sign language to the accompaniment of instruments.
Cedar High music teacher Zenta van Heerden says the competition had her students in a frenzy.
“They didn’t have much time to practise and would squeeze in rehearsals between classes,” she says,
“Our performance spoke about the students who travel by taxi and what they go through at school or home.
“We are going to buy more sound equipment for the school.”
Ulrich van der Merwe, Imperial Primary’s Creative Arts teacher, was ecstatic at the win.
“This particular group of learners expressed how the theme challenged their thinking and made them revisit their own behaviour with regard to being intolerant to others who are different to them,” he says.
Palie Colin Baron says they recently embarked on a make-over, starting with a total overhaul of the school’s entrance, and their prize money would go towards this.
Promenade marketing manager, Najeeba Small-Ebrahim, says: “It’s easy for adults and children alike to label and judge others. The messages from the schools were synonymous - to be kind, non-judgmental, respectful and tolerant.”