Johannesburg - In the build-up to Joburg's New Year's Eve Carnival, youngsters are strutting their stuff in mini-carnivals across the city, from Soweto and the inner city all the way to Midrand.
A troupe of youngsters took to the streets earlier this week, braving the scorching weather as they paraded through Alexandra behind a massive papier mache peacock showcasing their colourful outfits and accessories.
This parade marked the start of a series of mini-carnivals across Joburg which will help each group prepare for a massive one on New Year's Eve, reports Joburg.org.
Verrelli Triegaardt, the Carnival's coordinator and operations manager at the City's sports and recreation department, explained that these mini-carnivals display what the city has on offer. It gives kids something to look forward to over the festive season and deals with raising awareness within communities.
Each region has its own sub-theme which is then converted into drama, dance, music and poetry. The mini-carnivals help the kids prepare for the main Carnival on New Year's Eve, where they don special outfits that are kept a secret until the big day.
When asked what makes Joburg's Carnival special, Triegaardt said: "We don't have one focus area. It varies with each region and that is what makes it different to any other carnival.
"The Carnival is a vehicle that takes all arts and culture genres and combines them for one massive street performance."
There were parades in Alexandra, Sandton and Norwood under the theme "Siya Daar", which means "We are Going There".
On Wednesday, the parade moved to Soweto under the theme, "Going Green". The mini-carnival starts at 10am and ends at the Diepkloof Multipurpose Centre, 85 Eben Cuyler Drive, Soweto.
Then on Thursday, it was held in Midrand and Ivory Park, which had the theme, "Shuku Shuku Seed to City". The parade started at 10am at the Ebony Park pay point and was scheduled to end at the Lord Khanyile Community Hall.
The Westbury and Riverlea area will take to the streets on Friday, 23 December with the troupe's interpretation of "Jozi Chameleon 125". The parade starts and ends at the Westbury Recreation Centre on Roberts Avenue, Riverlea.
Roodeport and Bramfischerville have the theme "Going Green, Going Clean", and will take their mini-carnival public on Tuesday, 27 December. The parade starts at the cricket oval and ends at the Braamfischerville Multipurpose Centre.
On Wednesday, 28 December, Inner City Evolution shows off the theme "Revolution". The parade starts at the Hillbrow Recreation Centre on the corner of Pretoria and Clarendon streets at 10am and ends at the Yeoville Recreation Centre. At 2pm there will be a parade of the main floats from 10 Hospital Street in Malvern.
On Thursday, 29 December, Lenasia, Eldorado Park and Orange Farm celebrate with "Untold Stories", starting and ending at Protea South Recreation Centre, which is on the corner of Ndaba and Stanton roads. This parade also starts at 10am. The Millpark Skills Development will celebrate with indigenous games.
The main parade on New Year's Eve will start at noon in Kotze Street in downtown Jozi, and make its way to the Newtown precinct across the Nelson Mandela Bridge.
It will end in Newtown Park with troupes from different regions competing against each other. There will be prizes for the best large costume, best troupe costume, best overall interpretation of the sub-themes and best choreographed region.
