SPAN Sends Forth 29 Performing Artistes

SPAN Sends Forth 29 Performing Artistes

Mary Nnah

Twenty-nine promising and talented young people were last Sunday sent forth into the mainstream society to face life in the real sense of it and also impact on the society in their own little way.

This was after being impacted with various skills in dance and music at the Music and Dance Academy of the Society for Performing Arts of Nigeria (SPAN).

The event, which was the fourth graduation ceremony of the Dance and Music Academy, had family, friends and well-wisher who turned up in large number to witness the landmark event occasion held at the Grand Ballroom, Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Speaking at the event, founder of SPAN, Mrs. Sarah Boulos, said, “I am very excited and relieved, because they have finally finished and graduated after we have worked so hard.

“It was a two-year programme, they passed their exams and they are happy today. They are very good students and I hope that they grow and find their way out there and more so, some of them are already working with us, so we are very excited about this set. They are all 29 in number.”

Envisaging a better future for the graduating students she, said, “I see them teaching, travelling over the world, going abroad to further their studies and I see some of them already starting their own dance companies.”

Few of the graduating students were given special recognition and also awarded opportunity to travel abroad by SPAN.

Speaking on this, Boulos said, “Some of them worked extra hard and passed all their exams and their attendances were top-notch and they performed very well over the years, so they were awarded foreign trip to go and study overseas for few months and we are going to pay all their expenses.”

While giving some words of advice to the graduating students, Boulos said, “I believe that if the graduating students want to make more progress, they have to teach others and impact on their lives – we tag it, “Keep Moving, Pass It On”.

“When you pass it on, you have no fear if everything would turn out for good. So, I have no doubt that everything will turn out for good for them and that they would find their ways by helping others.”

Speaking further she said, “For us at SPAN, this is the kind of success we can look at after taking young adults through the process of training them to become professional dancers, knowing that they can take the knowledge that they have gotten and still move on and not just remain where they are. We believe that there are lots of opportunities for these artistes within and outside of the country.”

Present at the occasion was the General Overseer of Guiding Light Assembly, Pastor Wale Adefarasin. He said, “SPAN is doing a tremendous amount of work in helping people that would otherwise not have had help in being able to express themselves through the arts.”

Adefarasin said SPAN has been able to keep the youths occupied, give them something to do and to wake up for in the morning, adding, “SPAN is changing lives”.

He described the brain behind the initiative, Sarah Boulos, as creative person who is very passionate about what she does.

Olufunmi, a gospel artist who also was a special guest at the event, said, “The students were very impressive; I think it is inspirational to see the work that SPAN is doing; bringing up young people and helping them to hone their skills and talents; giving them direction, focus and preparing them for higher level. So, I am really impressed.”

She said further that skilled impacted on the students will be a source of encouragement for them, adding, “there are a lot of people who are very creative and artistic but are looking out for where they could be trained.

“Yes, we have our universities but we know it is not everyone that has the opportunity to go to the university but here we have an academy that is dedicated to the performing act.

“So, I think that it is something that is encouraging to the youths; it is something that they would aspire to be a part of, especially those who are gifted.”

Olufunmi who has been a part SPAN of for a while now, said, “I am also a performing artiste, a singer, actress, I dance as well but not professionally. So, there is this love for the arts in my heart and I am quite close to the Founder of SPAN, Sarah. So, it is a vision that I identify with.”

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