To the sound and spectacle of 11 girls dancing to Brazilian samba drums, the President, Mrs McAleese, arrived yesterday to open this year's RDS Youth Science and Arts Week.
Combining Latin-American samba music with percussion from Brazilian drums, along with modern dance from the Backstreet Boys, the MaSamba Samba School of Dublin and the DTwo4 Youth Dance put on this performance for the President.
It opened the week of activities for 14 to 17-year-olds, designed to let them explore different areas of science and the arts, through talks, trips and workshops. Where formerly they had been separated, nowadays there has been a "fusion of arts and sciences" which allows them both to be "integrated in the person", the President said.
The 130 students, including one Italian, 10 Finns and students from North and South, will be able to participate in workshops in samba/drumming, art, dance or creative writing, as well as visiting, among other places, science departments in Trinity College and DIT, UCD's Veterinary College in Ballsbridge, the Guinness Brewery and the Gate Theatre. There will also be lectures from artists and scientists, including a conservationist, a physicist, a poet and a forensic scientist. RTE will give a workshop on digital technology. All the events and lectures should help the students tune into what the President called "the explosion of understanding through science".
The DTwo4 Youth Dance Company's set was choreographed by Mr Eddie McGuinness, while the MaSamba Samba School performance was co-ordinated by its muscial directors, Mr Simeon Smith and Ms Sarah Walker.
"With the dance and percussion we put together a whole performance," said Mr Smith. They will be working to put on a show at the week's finale.