Students perform during the youth festival at DAV, Gandhinagar. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, Sept. 23: The stage was set on fire when DAV students sang and danced during the inaugural session of the youth fest.

The two-day show began here at the recreation hall of DAV, Gandhinagar, today. The show was organised by the DAV Public schools of Cluster-II.

Chief Guest on the occasion was Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) CMD R.K. Saha. He also inaugurated N.D. Grover block, the junior wing of the host school.

On the first day of the festival, the students of class VII, VIII and IX chanted vedic mantra and staged folk dances, devotional songs and performed solo classical kathak dance.

Tomorrow, the students would participate in solo ghazal recital, solo classical dance, patriotic song, group folk dance and devotional song contests. The students would also participate in rangoli and on the spot painting competition.

The first, second and third winner selected here would participate in regional fest scheduled on September 28 and 29 at DAV Public School, Bariatu.

Likewise, the first, second and third winners of zonal level competition would showcase their talent in the inter-region meet to be held at Faridabad from October 13 to 15.

“I like this fest because it provides a stage for extra-curricular activities. It gives us a chance to interact with students of other schools and realise where I stand in terms of performance. Preparations for the fest continue throughout the year,” said Sonal Sinha, a class VII student of DAV Public school, Bariatu. Sonal would participate in the classical dance contest on Wednesday.

For Payal Kumari and Somya Mishra, both class nine students of DAV Public school, Gumla, the fest was just an occasion to have fun and make friends. “We are loving the gathering and learning new things from our friends here,” they said.

The inaugural session of the two-day festival witnessed performance of students from 16 different DAV schools from across the state.

Meanwhile, a student of class nine of DAV Public school, Khunti Niharika Singh who participated in the patriotic song contest, said: “This festival gives us a glimpse of our country and teaches us to live together in harmony”.

Earlier, during the inauguration of the junior wing of the host school, principal M.K Sinha said that the new wing, which consists of 12 classrooms, would provide all basic infrastructure required to groom the kids during their formative years.

“Earlier the classes were held in four rented quarters but the students would now join the campus of the school shortly,” added Sinha.