"MADRIGOT"

  During the first week of January participants of children's creative carnival "Madrigot" were preparing to the concert. And finally the day came! Children inspired with Breishit book tried not simply to retell the "Days of Creation", but to present to the guests the new world, the world of fantasy.

   "Madrigot" is a result of collaboration of several generations. With the help of a teacher the children were divided into groups headed by members of the youth club within "Rimon" JCC. Larissa Poltavskaya (teacher of the Torah) helped each group to choose and analyze one of the Days of Creation. With the help of Natalya Lebedeva the children learnt the basic Jewish words that characterized their day, Galina Usatova and Galina Korobkina told them about the bases of versification. And then children took the reins of government.

   Light and darkness, water and earth, animals and insects created by 8-13 years old PEOPLE struck with their unusualness.

"And I was the Sky!" - 10 years old Vanya Usatov told with delight. "Can you imagine, I wrote my words myself, and nobody helped. I worried so much. But everybody clapped…"

   Before coming to Almaty young participants of the carnival from Ust-Kamenogorsk, Karaganda, Petropavlovsk, Shymkent, and Pavlodar had to pass an exam at home. They showed their dancing, singing, acting, and playing skills. Organizers of "Madrigot" carnival try to show the whole world the creative potential of young generation of Kazakhstani community.

   Simultaneously with building the "community of future" JCC with the help of the carnival continued to create new training programs. New technologies used in the process of work with children are very effective. Besides for constant help in organizing celebrations (computer presentations, slide-films, greeting cards etc) children are keen on creating "video-chronicles" of community life. Maybe the cassettes shot by the "Video Art" group from "Rimon" JCC will preserve the life of Kazakhstani Jews through the ages.

  Participants of "Madrigot" carnival went through six creative stages: fine arts and crafts, staging and acting, Jewish dance, percussion band, and video shooting. Elena Udaltsova (Shymkent), Sofia Boguslavskaya (Almaty), Raisa Daitch (Karaganda), Oksana Babina (Almaty), and Gennady Roytman (Almaty) helped the children.

   Be ready, young talents, this carnival was the first one, but there will be more. We look forward to seeing your new works. We wish you luck, you and the organizers of the carnival, because without you there would be no happy eyes longing to create.

  

Galina Goldberg