Let’s all be MAD together

The Music, Art and Dance (MAD) School is becoming a huge attraction in the city.

KARACHI:
The Music, Art and Dance (MAD) School is becoming a huge attraction in the city. A collaborative project between Nida Butt of the famed Made for Stage Productions and Hamza Jafri of The Guitar School has turned their MAD Camp summer program of four weeks into a permanent school at Zam-One at Zamzama.

Aside from Butt and Jafri who are the Program Directors, the teaching staff includes Momin Zafar as the acting instructor, Faisal Gill as the piano and violin instructor, Sehrish as the instructor for dance, Abdul Aziz Kazi as the percussion instructor and Adam  Zain Abro and Mustafa Rizvi as guitar instructors for beginners.

What is MAD all about?

MAD is about sharing our ideas and skills with like minded people, helping them express themselves in fun and interactive ways and developing a community of artists, which we hope will help develop and promote the arts in Pakistan.

When did the idea to have a full-time institute like this in Karachi spring up?

It happened two months ago, we (at The Guitar School) were looking to open a branch in Karachi, the Made For Stage productions were already holding dance classes at their studio in Zamzama, and so we had few meetings and decided to collaborate on a four week summer camp project which we named MAD Camp where we offered introductory courses in guitar, dance, acting and singing.

We were very fortunate to get a great team together, and towards the end or our camp we all felt that we must keep the project going and most of the students also wanted us to continue.


Are people in Karachi generally inclined towards the performing arts?

There are all kinds of people with all kinds of interests, and we think there should be opportunities in all fields.

How do you plan to promote this venture and will these young performers later on be performing in Made for Stage musical productions?

Our marketing campaign uses print and radio advertisement and FM89 is our official radio sponsor.

However a lot of admissions are coming through word of mouth.

Young performers anywhere can be part of Made for Stage Productions - but of course we will be sure to scoop up any serious talent we spot at the school.

With talent and hard work, there’s a good chance some of these students will one day be performing onstage.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23rd, 2010.
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