Hakawy festival: Storytelling boosts children’s feeling of safety

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Sun, 11 Mar 2018 - 02:23 GMT

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Sun, 11 Mar 2018 - 02:23 GMT

Hakawy International Arts Festival for Children-Official Facebook Page

Hakawy International Arts Festival for Children-Official Facebook Page

CAIRO – 11 March 2018: With many excited children playing with red balloons and eager to attend the shows, the opening of Hakawy International Arts Festival for Children was held on March 8, highlighting the importance of storytelling to make children feel safe and secure.

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A story is told during the opening evening of Hakawy International Arts Festival for Children to highlight the importance of storytelling to make children feel safe - Egypt Today

Scheduled to take place between March 8-13 at the Hanager Arts Center, the festival brings high quality international performances including music, object theater, puppet theater and modern dance.

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The Dutch show at the opening evening of Hakawy International Arts Festival for Children to make children interact with the first day of the festival - Egypt Today

The opening evening was marked with a Dutch show used to make children interact with the first day of the festival and calm them before starting the festival’s program.

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The Dutch show at the opening evening of Hakawy International Arts Festival for Children to make children interact with the first day of the festival - Egypt Today

The show was followed by a speech made by Founder and Artistic Director of Hakawy International Arts Mohamed el-ghawy, which was mingled with a story told by five storytellers.

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A story is told during the opening evening of Hakawy International Arts Festival for Children to highlight the importance of storytelling to make children feel safe - Egypt Today

He started his speech with a story that highlighted the importance of storytelling for children. The story was about a child who has fallen asleep while el-ghawy was telling a story at a school, which troubled him. However, el-ghawy was told later by his teacher that this child has not slept for days because he did not feel safe, but listening to a story helped him fall asleep safely.

He called on parents at the end of the speech to tell their children stories to help them feel safe.

The opening also saw a performance by a French team, entitled "H2ommes", which was presented 300 times in a row in France and many other countries.

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The French show H2ommes – Official Facebook Page

Performed by only two actors using very simple objects, a bottle of syrup becomes a talking-drum and a tin can a guiro to put some music and sound on; the intergenerational show could dazzle children and parents. It took them on an imaginary experience with an animated character formed by a lighting effect.

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The French show H2ommes – Official Facebook Page

An original singer-songwriter and a king of sound effects, JereM, looped the sounds and stacked them to create Afro-Caribbean rhythms using these simple instruments with metallic-plastic sounds.

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An original singer-songwriter and a king of sound effects, JereM, looped the sounds during French show H2ommes – Official Facebook Page

The performance was followed by the Dutch show “Kite Without String” and the British show “The Secret Life of Suitcases”.

This year’s festival sheds light on the professional storytellers in Egypt through two mobile libraries and six storytelling sessions and workshops.
For the first time, the program includes an international film, talks for parents and a seminar for university students in Egypt.

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The Dutch show “Kite Without String”-Official Facebook Page

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