The 2010 Gauteng Pale Ya Rona carnival will be bigger, better, colourful and much louder. The annual parade which is in its sixth year, will this year take place three months earlier in June as part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup festivities.
And because of this, the event will for the first time be hosted over two days from 4 to 5 June, with the first day being the official opening at Mofolo Park and the second day being the actual six kilometres street parade around the streets of Mofolo, Orlando West and Dube in Soweto.
As the people of Soweto are renown for being passionate about sport and music, Soweto will be the perfect home for the carnival which expects to attract over 20 000 participants from across the Gauteng province and beyond.
Provinces including North West, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal will bring their troupes for the parade. The theme for this year's carnival is "2010 Here we Come".
As usual this year's carnival will also see international participation inclusive of the five African 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying countries being Algeria, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Ivory Coast.
"Since the beginning of the spectacle over the years, the Gauteng carnival has been able to attract international interest where previously we've had troupes from China and from Trinidad and Tobago among others.
As Gauteng will be home (base camp) to at least 19 of the 32 participating countries, we will use carnival to showcase our passion and excitement to welcome the World into our shores," says the Gauteng MEC for Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation Ms Nelisiwe Moerane.
Participants
As part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup festivities a troupe made up of giant puppets including 320 wheel chair basket ball players, 320 professional legends and local players, 320 diski dancers, 32 ball jugglers, 320 golden oldies and 32 stilt walkers. All these participants will be in the colours of the 32 world cup participating countries and the local soccer teams.
Production
Pale Ya Rona 2010 will focus on producing the national symbols in support of the call by the President of the Republic of South Africa to support and promote them. Each of the seven Gauteng regions will be assigned a national symbol design to incorporate into their costume design.
1. The Secretary bird: Tshwane
2. Mapungubwe rhino: Ekurhuleni
3. Boabab tree: Metsweding
4. Springbok: Westrand
5. Galjoen fish: Sedibeng
6. Order of Ikhamanga: Johannesburg
7. Republic of South African Parliament emblem: Merafong
The production team will consist of local designers and creators under the guidance of the internationally renowned African Renaissance Community Production. The team including seamstresses is scheduled to put in over 500 hours to produce costumes for the thousands of participants. This will result in temporary employment and those involved in costume production will also gain skills within the art industry.
"We are happy that through this year's carnival we've been able to train and transfer skills to over 47 young artists in the areas of costume and float design. We've also created a platform for budding and developing choreographers to work with different troupes in the regions thereby gaining valuable work experience," says MEC Nelisiwe
Moerane
Build up events including the DJ competition, workshops on choreography and costume creations have been going on at different venues across the province.
For more information please contact:
Nomazwe Ntlokwana
Cell: 083 507 8068
Issued by: Department of Sport, Arts Culture and Recreation, Gauteng Provincial Government
3 May 2010
