Janana Mobile Spring Festival

Program of the Mobile Spring Tour

Musicians (local & international team), Theatre performance (local team), Clowns (international team), Acrobats (international team), Singer and chorus (local team), street parade (local & international team). A day before the Carnival was scheduled to start all those involved (artists, volunteers, ARCPA/AL-JANA team) sat together and were handed out copies of the schedule and program. Some minor changes were made to the program. Each morning the team gathered at the ARCPA office and were bussed down to the various locations. In some locations where the performances were held outside a stage was set up. The theatre team assembled their set, the sound technicians set up their equipment, the performers got into their costumes and made themselves up. A special treat for the children was the face painting carried out by a group of volunteer artists at the beginning of each performance.

The program began with the local musicians playing popular children's songs, that had the audience which was often a mix of children, youth and adults clapping along. This was followed by the play “Taa' Tfarraj ya Haram” which was a theatre performance involving a combination of actors and puppets dealt with the issue of children watching too much TV.
		Two friends spend a lot of their time watching TV. Their mothers (puppets) try to get them away from it but to no avail. The remote control acts as the joker involving the children (the audience) in all that is going on. The friends are magically sucked into the TV screen and what follows are the two in various TV scenarios and advertisements. They long to return. The remote control confronts the two friends and makes them promise that they will spend some of their spare time reading and writing instead of spending so much time watching TV. They promise to do so but first the remote control must ask the audience if they agree that the friends be allowed to return. All ends well with the two friends being thrown out of the screen back into their living room.
The performance of Bartolomeo & Cioppina the clowns came on next. There was much applause and laughter through out this performance as Bartolomeo the master and Cioppina his assistant go through their routine. Bartolomeo tries to get Cioppina to initiate the various acts but Cioppina is afraid of performing as she rattles her teeth and her knees shiver cringing from the idea that she will fail.
	She tries leaving the stage but this does not work! She then does everything to distract the crowd and so get away from what she has been told to do! Bartolomeo is dexterous as he juggles, rides a mono bicycle and is the star! Cioppina takes on the role of the funny but wicked one and tries various tricks to distract him. In one act three children and an adult are brought up on stage to help Bartolomeo and Cioppina through their act. A hilarious performance that everyone enjoyed.
Clowns from Sweden consisted of a team of acrobats, juggler and a fiddler, followed. The theme of the performance centers around the spoilt princess who always wants to be the center of attention. The director introduces the show and calls upon the princess only to be confronted by his mother a wicked witch (a hand puppet) who turns the juggler into a dog! The clown and juggler try to become friends with the princess but she always wants to be the star and sulks if she is not.
	While the young women balance and contort their bodies, the juggler juggles and the fiddler plays along! The children were much in awe of the two women acrobats as one balanced on the others shoulders, twisted their bodies into various shapes and did cartwheels.
The Oudh player and singer and his band of musicians and chorus girls enthralled the children with their music. He interacted with them through his songs and had them clapping and singing along. His performance generally ended with a popular Palestinian song. In between each performance the performers from Italy entertained the crowd as they donned creative animal masks.
	The day ended with a parade that was lead by the sun woman on stilts as she brought light, warmth and good feelings through the streets. Following behind her were children from the AL- JANA art club along with their puppets, performers in costume wearing masks, jugglers, acrobats, musicians and volunteers from AL-JANA in various costumes. This parade brought men, women and children out of their homes as the performers interacted with them.