AS the Georgetown leg of the Children’s Mashramani Competition entered Day Two yesterday at the National Cultural Centre (NCC),the venue was brought to life with Dance and Masquerade performances by the Nursery and Primary schools. Coupled with the various themes for the entries, such as Legends and Traditions; Religious Beliefs and Fantasy, which covered several topical issues, the performances encapsulated this year’s theme, “One People, One Culture, One Celebration”.

Colour and more colour, along with spritely movements, popular tunes and the general excitement explained the performance done by St Angela’s Primary School.
Innovation was taken to another level when St Gabriel’s Primary enlisted the help of one of their own teachers to sing the popular folk song, “School days is still on meh mind”, which she did to the accompaniment of an African drum.
The Guyana Chronicle spoke to a few teachers, and they explained that preparing the little ones, especially the nursery- age children, for these competitions is quite a challenge.
“The children always moving, and it’s hard to have them coordinate with each other. But it’s a lot of fun to try,” one teacher noted.
Children from some of the ‘Play Schools’ were also seen enjoying themselves as the NCC disc jockey (DJ) played for them the “ABC Song”. During the competition, however, it was also observed that not many private schools participated in this leg of the competition.
According to Coordinator of the Children’s Mashramani Competition, Ms Sharon King-Harris, there are more entries from the private schools in the senior categories.
The Dance 2 and masquerade competitions for secondary school students will continue today at the NCC.