North Island Festival of Performing Arts 2016

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Thursday, February 25th, 2016

After months of hard work, over 1,000 dedicated students from all over Vancouver Island are converging on the Comox Valley to strut their stuff. The 40th Annual North Island Festival of Performing Arts (NIFPA) is a non-profit society dedicated to providing a festival for students to perform before audiences and adjudicators. The performing arts disciplines represented include musical theatre, strings, speech arts, fiddle, piano, vocal, ballet, modern dance, stage dance, and hip-hop dance.

Musical Theatre and Dance performances will be held at the Sid Williams Theatre and run from February 18th to 27th. The public are invited to watch the festival, which occurs in sessions throughout the day and evening. Potential audience members should keep in mind that these are adjudicated performances with pauses between performances. For a complete calendar of session dates and programs, please go to www.nifpa.org.

This local festival is a member of Performing Arts BC (Provincials). Each year, students are sent to Provincials where those chosen get to perform in a similar process, on a more advanced scale. Last year’s Provincials were held in Powell River and will be held in Fort St. John in 2016.

There are 3 shows scheduled to wrap up festival. Our newest addition is Provincial Rep Showcase on Saturday, March 5th at 1:00 pm. The participants chosen by the adjudicators to represent our local festival at Provincials will be presented and their talents showcased. Admission is by donation. Last year’s inaugural debut of this show was a great success – be sure to see it this year.

The Festival Variety Showcase and Dance Gala are familiar favorites. Friday night showcases a variety of all disciples chosen by the adjudicators for their achievement and entertainment value. The Dance Gala is specific to dance with performances selected by adjudicators also, creating a spectacular show for the public to observe. More information for the Festival Variety Showcase here and the Dance Gala here.

The fine arts flourish at the festival and NIFPA feels it is important to value and further develop these talented youth and to encourage them to have personal growth and development in their discipline. The performances gather the various V.I. communities together in celebration of a common cause and allow the public to embrace the amazing talent we have on our island.

For the festival schedule, visit:
http://sidwilliamstheatre.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Calendar-for-Sid-2016.pdf