Students from the Department of Performing Arts and Film pose for a group photo after the production.
KAMPALA – Students of the School of Performing Arts and Film at Makerere University wowed their lecturers, peers, and spectators with a non-stop, 90-minute production, blending traditional and modern performance. The show presented work from across different disciplines, and the school says it shows how resourcefulness can be taught as a skill.
The production brought together six student groups in one show: stage managers, makeup artists, traditional dancers, modern dancers, musicians and costumiers. Students from different programmes took part, including diploma and degree candidates , and were assessed according to their programme requirements.. The show covered dance, storytelling, poetry, music and ensembles. It ran without a break, and the audience was invited to cheer along as it went.
Chants, songs and the melodious sound of instruments from all corners of Uganda filled the air as performers made the ground shake with their energetic dancing. Their lecturers watched closely, beaming with pride and admiration, their enthusiastic cheers encouraging the students. The rest of the audience watched completely spellbound, with many capturing the moments on their smartphones and staying rooted in place for fear of missing a single beat.
The main theme, the move from traditional to modern life, was executed brilliantly as students moved almost seamlessly through scenes, quick costume changes and last minute rehearsals without breaking the flow of the production. The story, which follows its characters from ancestral cultures to contemporary city life, was brought to life by a skilled team of multifaceted artists, who floated from one role to another with lightning speed. Traditional dance and ethnic music sat comfortably beside live popular music and contemporary dance, a testament to the department’s holistic education.
Dr. Alfadaniels Mabingo, the acting head of the department of Performing Arts and Film, said the students create their work under constrained conditions. “Necessity is the mother of innovation,” he said. “Regardless of what we have, we’ll create.” He noted that the compound has produced much of Uganda’s jazz and many well-known artists, such as renowned actor Abbey Mukibi and award winning musician Mariam Ndagire and that almost the entire Fun Factory band passed through it in its early years.
He added that the school trains students to build something from an idea, which means thinking critically about the subjects they write, compose and choreograph. Students also learn to work with whatever resources they have. “When they go out there, they don’t really find ideal facilities. We are preparing them so that even when they find themselves in places with first-class facilities, they just fly,” he said.
He described the School of Performing Arts and Film as a model for the country’s push toward competence-based education. “Our products speak for themselves out there,” he said. “They take up jobs and create an impact.”
The cast and crew spent weeks developing the show. The students developed it themselves from an initial idea, repeatedly building, breaking and refining it. The students also pooled money to finance the production. For third-year Bachelor of Arts in Music student, Nabukenya Maureen Lubega, who wowed the crowd with her extraordinary display of talent across dance, drama and an angelic voice, the course has opened new directions. She came in thinking singing was her main strength, then found she was just as strong at dance. She plays both African and Western instruments, including the keyboard, and hopes to pursue a master’s in dance. “I want to be a professor, a complete artist,” she said. “I know how to dance and how to sing. I know how to play instruments, and I can teach.”
