Opinions & Interviews

“This festival is one of the most remarkable events in the cultural calendar of our country,” the minister said. He compared this festival with another outstanding event – the Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk. These festivals are organized by the same people, including the high-ranking officials of the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee who decide to hold an event, those who conceive ideas and those who provide assistance, the minister said.

The minister mentioned the role of the Vitebsk audience. “Thanks to your tastes and artistic preferences, your attitude to the events happening in the northern cultural capital of Belarus, these festivals are a success. I am convinced that we will do our best to support such events,” Boris Svetlov stressed at the opening of the festival.

The festival will be held till 22 November. The forum will feature performances of the leading dance companies from Mexico, Switzerland, Belarus, Russia, Sweden, Poland, Italy, Spain, and the United States. The festival will have two venues in Vitebsk, namely the Concert Hall Vitebsk and the Yakub Kolas National Academic Drama Theater. A number of events will take place on the stage of the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater in Minsk.

The program of the festival includes master classes for dancers and choreographers, meetings with the jury, video lectures, press conferences. The main event of this year’s festival is the Belarusian contest of modern choreography.

The festival is organized by the Belarusian Culture Ministry, the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee, the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater, and the Vitebsk Culture Center.