All the World’s a Playground

With six venues,200 performances,15,000 participants and a flourishing journey of ten years,the 11th edition of the International Children’s Festival of Performing Arts (ICFPA) will kickstart at the Ambedkar Stadium on Thursday. This time around,with more nations participating,the festival promises variety and vigour compared to the last few years. From child ballet dancers of Romania to mime artistes from Pakistan and folk dancers from Russia — it is all about the creativity of children between seven to sixteen years.

“I want to convey through the theme how carefree childhood is. The stage is open for all the participants to utilise it to interact with those from other countries and share their experiences,” says Madam Grace Pinto,managing director of the festival,who has conceptualised the theme titled,“The World is my Playground”.

Other participating countries are Brazil,Italy and Switzerland apart from 800 students from various schools in India. “For children today,entertainment is synonymous with video games and television. We want to break away from this Bollywood-like concept and tell them that theatre and dance are also a form of entertainment,” says Utkarsh Marwah,director of the festival. The general public will be able to catch the festival from the fourth day onwards which is open only for school children initially.

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ICFPA will open with a parade from Ambedkar Stadium,Delhi Gate that will conclude at National Bal Bhavan. The venues for the different shows include Talkatora Indoor Stadium,National Bal Bhavan,Little Theatre Group,India Habitat Centre and Shri Ram Centre.

From December 8 to 13. For details log onto http://www.ryanicfpa.com