The ballet of the D.O.Z.S.K.I theater was recognized as the best performance by Belarusian dancers at the Vitebsk Modern Festival.

November 21, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The International Festival of Modern Choreography (IFMC) announced its laureates today at the closing gala concert, a BELTA correspondent reports. At the current, 22nd festival, competitive works were presented by 9 Belarusian ensembles from Vitebsk, Grodno, and Minsk. In the "Best Production" nomination, the Minsk dance theater D.O.Z.S.K.I was recognized as the winner for the one-act ballets "Stone, Scissors, Paper" and "Homo Sapiens" staged by Olga Skvortsova-Kovalskaya and Dmitry Zalessky. The performance "Stone, Scissors, Paper" was also awarded another diploma "For Integrity and Harmony." The choreographic mastery of the ensemble of the Department of Choreography of the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts in the triptych "Three 'V'" was noted with a prize in the "Performance Excellence" nomination. The artistry of Olga Labovkina, choreographer and performer of the Karakuli dance theater, did not go unnoticed. She was presented with a diploma in the "Artistry" nomination. The diploma "Best Choreographic Miniature" was awarded to the modern choreography group "Tad" from Grodno. As the chairman of the competition jury, People's Artist of the USSR and Belarus, choreographer, professor of the Belarusian Academy of Music Valentin Elizaryev, noted at the final press conference, modern Belarusian dance exists. "We can say that Belarus has modern ballet with its own developing school. There are individuals who can be interesting at international competitions," said the maestro. At the same time, his colleague, jury member, three-time winner of the Russian National Theatre Award "Golden Mask," artistic director of "Excentrique-Ballet" Sergey Smirnov, noted with regret that modern dance sometimes suffers from "illustrative, pop-style performances, it is felt that a commercial spirit is in the air, and directors sometimes resort to clip-making thinking, which does not correspond to the concept of modern dance theater." By the unanimous opinion of modern dance experts, the International Festival of Modern Choreography in Vitebsk is one of the most prestigious dance forums in the CIS. This time, the festival offered spectators encounters with one of the brightest stars of the ballet of the Latvian National Opera, Ulvi Azizov, the Perm State Theater "Ballet of Evgeny Panfilov," Sergey Smirnov's "Excentrique-Ballet," as well as ensembles and dancers from Poland, Ukraine, and Estonia. The capital of modern choreography, into which Vitebsk transformed during the festival days, was not bypassed by the internationally popular project Cocoondance. The forum's program also included master classes and film screenings. The International Festival of Modern Choreography in Vitebsk has been held since 1987. The founders of the forum are the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, the Vitebsk City Executive Committee, the Ministry of Culture, and the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater. The organizer is the "Vitebsk" Cultural Center. -0-