NIFCA Juniors, Dance & Theatre Nights Sold Out

NIFCA JUNIORS AND DANCE NIGHTS SOLD OUT

Days ahead of the start, three nights of the 2014 NIFCA Performing Arts Finals are already sold out and tickets for the other night are going quickly. The Scotiabank NIFCA Dance Final tickets were the first to go, followed closely by the Sagicor NIFCA Juniors Final & The Digicel Theatre Arts Final. Last year these three shows were also a hot commodity.

Indeed it was the Juniors’ growing following and the audience attendance that necessitated a need for a dedicated night for the young performers. This is the second consecutive year that the NCF will be staging a Finals night to showcase the talent of the Juniors in the Performing Arts. This mixed-discipline night is expected to include performances by 5 dance groups and 10 schools.

Coming on the heels of the success of the sold out semi-finals at the Combermere School Auditorium and the popularity of the pieces presented across the disciplines, it is no surprise at the response to the Finals.

At the beginning of the season, each desk of the NCF’s Cultural Development Department announced a number of shifts in trends for their respective disciplines. The Scotiabank NIFCA Dance competition saw an increase in the number of male entrants in the Urban/Street category along with a growing number of collaborations and fusions between urban and contemporary styles. This growth was mainly due to the influence of street dance in competitions like the Community DanceFest, the NCF’s synergies between various dance academies, as well as programmes at BCC and EBCCI, along with a general shift in the perception of the discipline as an art form and creative expression. Another reason for this was the fact that many University graduates stepped into the field not only as performers but also as choreographers, raising the bar.

Digicel Theatre Arts saw an increase in the number of Spoken Word entries due to the popularity of advocates like Adrian Green. While Music, also sponsored by Digicel, recorded the largest number of entries in the Performing Arts category with its 143 submissions and an increase in the number of original pieces. This year, 56 original pieces composed and arranged by local musicians were adjudged in the NIFCA 2014 competition.

The NIFCA Performing Arts Finals will begin this Friday October 31st with the Sagicor Junior Finals and will continue from Sunday November 2nd to Tuesday November 4th. The Finals are set to take place at the Frank Collymore Hall from 7:00 p.m. nightly. The doors will be opened at 6:00 p.m. with the Balcony Book Fairs, where local and Caribbean selections and the most recent Winning Words Anthology will be on sale.