I had the pleasure of attending two events on Saturday that that really should have been good fun for children. The first venue was Alfred Beit Primary School in Mabelreign. There the Alfred Beit CHIPAWO Centre held a mini arts festival where CHIPAWO children performed to a an audience predominantly composed of, well, CHIPAWO children. Schools and CHIPAWO centres from in and around Harare (Norton, Chitungwiza and Bindura) were represented.

Set in the school hall, there wasn't much in the way of décor, simplicity being the buzz word. The second venue was the 7 Arts Theatre in the posh shopping centre of Avondale. The show was Jikinya, the annual traditional dance contest for primary schools. All ten provinces of Zimbabwe were represented by the winning schools after district and provincial competitions and in addition there was a visiting troupe from Botswana.

Pomp and fanfare were the order of the day. Considerable effort was put into decorating the stage and some fancy, at times disturbing, lighting effects were used liberally. The only thing the two events had in common were the brilliant costumes.  Two altogether great days for children?

Let us look a bit closer.

What is fun? Wiktionary defines fun first as +amusement, enjoyment or pleasure- and secondly as +playful and often noisy activity-.

There was certainly a lot of playful and noisy activity at Afred Beit. The loudest of the bunch being the Mount Pleasant-based CHIPAWO Supasenta. They beat their tunes out of a set of steel drums - you can imagine the decibels - and while they were at it showcased a Tswana dance to said tunes into the bargain.

Waterland Layiti (infant) Centre, based at a preschool in Chitungwiza looked quite playful as they gave a gumboot jive performance but looks are deceiving. They stomped and clapped their way through a surprisingly well-kept rhythm. Surprising, that is, if you don`t know CHIPAWO. The oldest dancer of this group was barely four years old but they gave what was for me the most memorable piece for the day. They just looked carefree despite their obvious skill. The same can be said of just about every other performance.

And the part about 'amusement, enjoyment and pleasure'? You just needed to be there to feel it - the anticipation as they marched to the wardrobe room for their costume changes, the look in their eyes as they watched their contemporaries on stage and their shrieks of laughter as they almost raced off-stage to watch the following centres do their thing. The fun was an almost tangible factor at Alfred Beit.

Having left this, I found myself seated in the darkened auditorium at 7Arts. The dancers were also children and they too were well drilled and practised in their craft. The activity there was certainly noisy as most traditional dances are accompanied by some very enthusiastic drumming and vibrant song. For me the 'playful' part was struck off the list when I saw the desperation in a boy's face as he struggled to fasten his costume leg-piece that was coming undone in the middle of a Chinyambera (Shona hunting dance) performance. Backstage the picture was one of a near palpable anxiety as competing schools waited to take to the stage. Onstage a few of the more experienced singers and dancers did seem to have fun as they proudly showed off their talents.

Amusement, enjoyment and pleasure were plentiful in the audience especially among the distinguished guests (all adult) in the front row. It would be unfair to say that the children in the audience didn't have their fare share but some said they were quite worried about their position in the contest, given how much 'better' the other schools seemed to do.

At the end of the day there could only be one winner and of course the winning dance teacher was on hand to showcase some noise and playfulness as he danced up to the stage with great amusement, enjoyment and pleasure to see his wards accept the top honours and cash prize. Our own 'Nde'pi Gen'a' crew was there - this is the CHIPAWO Saturday morning children's television series - and they got some interviews of the runners-up. One boy said: "Izvi zvirikubohwa tanga tichifanira kuhwina" (this is annoying - we should have won). His teacher shared the same sentiments in not so many words.

So what is there to learn from the two occasions? Firstly, children being children with other children equals fun. Secondly children performing for adults equals work, potentially heartbreaking work. And last but not least. green, blue and red flashing lights and a backdrop sequined with shards of glass do not work for traditional Shona dances or those from Botswana either.