It is all systems go for the annual Thulamela Cultural Dance Festival, with no expenses being spared in the preparation for the event of the year.

The much-awaited event to be hosted by the Thulamela Municipality has become one of the most important events on the municipality´s calendar and comes to life on 31 May 2008 at the Thohoyandou Arts and Culture Centre and the Thohoyandou Show Grounds.

It has gone from strength to strength through the years with more prizes being added each and every year. Festival coordinator Mr Nndoweni Malala said in an interview with Mirror this week that everything was in place for the big event. Malala said the festival had contributed immensely towards the development of culture as many youths are involved and learn a lot from the old and experienced groups that also participate in the festival.

Malala said culture was fast waning away and, through the dances, people would realize the importance of culture. "This is our contribution as a municipality towards the revival, maintenance and preservation of culture in our area," he said. Malala said the festival will feature more than 200 large groups from around the Thulamela area who will be celebrating our heritage through Malende, Tshigombela, Tshifasi, Xibelane, Xighubu and Mchongolo. He said there will also be other creative performances in the form of poetry, stage drama and storytelling.

Visual artists will also add a sparkling element to the whole festival through the scheduled exhibitions at the Thohoyandou Arts and Culture Centre. "We are leaving nothing to chance as we will be roping in the best in our municipality. This is the festival no one will be likely to forget," he said. Thulamela Municipality has been renowned for its pivotal role in the development and preservation of our heritage, more specifically the Vatsonga and Vhavenda cultural arts. The festival has taken a giant step this year with the addition of a new choral category.

This has been inspired by the ever growing love for choral music in the region with the SAPS and the University of Venda as the pioneers in the development of the choral genre of music. "The festival aims to assert itself as the platform to showcase and celebrate our flourishing creative ability in the Thulamela Municipality," said Malala. He added that very big prizes were up for grabs as they were expecting a lot of sponsorships. All interested organizations and individual artists are invited to collect forms from Thulamela Municipality, office 108, 109 and 110.

Forms can only be collected from The Thohoyandou Arts and Culture Centre before April 30, 2008. All inquiries should be directed to the festival coordinator, Mr Nndoweni Malala, at 072 152 9890 or Mr Ronald Makhadi 083 400 9217.