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Festival brings out
the creative blood in
the young talents

DUBAI - Heavy with drums and rhythm, the flute and vocals set the stage for Arthi Venkat who spun around in her elaborate green and gold fabric with her costume flowing.

Sometimes she tapped out the rhythm with her bare feet, alternating between the heel and ball, making the bells on her costume jingle. Her arms and hands took on elaborate poses while her eyes acted out the emotions of her characters: fear, wonderment, happiness and love.

Arthi was among hundreds of students who were participating in the annual Creative Festival hosted by Dubai Modern High School (DMHS). The prestigious festival hosted a variety of inter-school competitions which include fashion design, robotics, video making competition and a maths olympiad to name a few.

“Creativity is a form of expression and everyone has a bit of creativity within them. It’s just about having the right platform to showcase it,” said Arthi.

According to Daryl Bloud, principal of the school, creativity in schools is changing, with greater emphasis being placed on creative skills to give students the time to relax.

“Creativity is not about being able to do many different things. It’s about doing things differently,” added Bloud as he pointed to a group of students who were making crafts at a nearby stall.

Students from the school presented a violin symphony at the festival’s inaugural to set the right mood and strike a chord with the audience.

“Some of the students are really gifted and talented. In a couple of years, these students could go on to perform in an orchestra,” said an elated Pemba Tamang, who teaches music at the school.

Encouraging student creativity at schools, most of the parents shared their joy in helping kids find their creative potential.

“Schools have to be very sophisticated in the way they introduce elements of creativity. It should come naturally and not be forced,” said Sanjay Verma, Consul General of India to the UAE while speaking on the sidelines of the festival’s inaugural.

Advising students to build on their creative talents, the Consul General said: “Creativity exercises the brain into thinking differently and being able to tackle problems with out of the box solutions.” —muaz@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE