The jubilee XXV International Festival of Contemporary Choreography will be held in Belarus from November 19-29

October 31, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. The jubilee XXV International Festival of Modern Choreography (IFMC) will be held in Belarus from November 19 to 29. This was announced today at a press conference dedicated to the festival by Marina Romanovskaya, Deputy General Director for Special Projects of the Vitebsk Culture Center, as reported by a BELTA correspondent. According to Marina Romanovskaya, the consistently vibrant program and the festival's prestige have allowed IFMC to expand beyond Vitebsk this year. Evenings of modern choreography will be presented in Minsk (November 22 at the Minsk Concert Hall and November 28 at the National Academic Grand Opera and Ballet Theatre), Molodechno (November 22), Bobruisk (November 23), and Grodno (November 26). "We had concerns regarding the last three cities, but numerous calls and the public's interest in this event give us confidence that everything will go well," noted Marina Romanovskaya. In Vitebsk, the modern choreography festival program is scheduled for November 21-25. The venues for its events will be the Vitebsk Concert Hall and the Yanka Kupala National Academic Drama Theatre. The main event of the festival is the international competition of modern choreography. Traditionally, it is held in two nominations – "One-Act Ballet" and "Choreographic Miniature" – in two rounds, the final of which is public. This year, based on the results of the preliminary online video selection round, 45 works out of 92 submitted will be presented at the competition in Vitebsk. Collectives from Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Switzerland, Estonia, Japan, as well as a number of international projects have been invited to participate in the international competition. "The level of participants is very commendable, the competitive works selected are interesting and diverse. Moreover, unlike some previous competitions, the level of competition among participants is high this year," said the Deputy General Director of the Vitebsk Culture Center, characterizing the results of the preliminary video selection round. The performances of the participants will be judged by a representative jury chaired by People's Artist of the USSR, the renowned choreographer Vladimir Vasiliev, who specifically rescheduled the premiere of his production to participate in the festival, as its original date coincided with the opening of IFMC in Vitebsk. The jury also includes figures widely known in the world of contemporary dance: Susan Link (Germany), Alice Dor Cohen (Israel), Paul Johnson (Ireland), Wendy Perron (USA), Radu Poklitaru (Ukraine). Yuri Troyan, initially announced as the jury representative from Belarus, will not be able to represent the country due to touring in Spain. Who will replace him is currently being determined, Marina Romanovskaya added. The founders of the festival are the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, the Ministry of Culture of Belarus, the Vitebsk City Executive Committee, and the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus. The organizer is the Vitebsk Culture Center. The festival remains true to its main goal – integrating the creative potential of Belarus in the field of modern choreography into the global cultural space, while continuing to stimulate the development of international ties in the arts. Thousands of artists from over 40 countries have performed on the Vitebsk stage over the 25-year history of the festival, which throughout these years has contributed to strengthening Belarus's image as a modern state with highly artistic traditions and cultural values of the new century. -0-