Students from four countries compete in dance mastery in Vitebsk

Students from four countries are competing in dance mastery in Vitebsk, as reported to BELTA by the Vitebsk Regional Committee of the BRSM.

The III International Inter-university Festival of Modern Dance "Take a Step Forward!" has opened in the city on the Dvina. The three-day dance forum brought together the best dancers from 16 universities in Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova at the Vitebsk State Academy of Veterinary Medicine. Belarus is represented at the festival by BNTU, BRUIR, BGATU, BGSA, PSU, VSU named after P.M. Masherov, VGMU, VSTU, and other higher education institutions.

"The 2014 festival is rich in innovations. Firstly, there is a competition program, the first block of which will feature groups dancing in the styles of show-dance, krump, jazz-funk, and hip-hop. Participants of the second competition block will surprise the audience not only with dances in the styles of modern, jazz-modern, and contemporary, but also immerse the audience in the mysterious world of one-act ballets on the theme "Love. Friendship. Passion. Dance...". Secondly, for the first time within the framework of the forum, master classes and creative meetings will be held," the regional committee of the BRSM emphasized.

To learn all the secrets of dance, the participants will be assisted by Konstantin Mikhalenko, a lecturer at the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts, theater and film actor, leading actor of the Belarusian State Youth Theater, and head of his own theater studio in Minsk; Alexander Zenchenko, director, choreographer-director, ballet master of the Honored Collective of the Republic of Belarus, the contemporary dance theater Alexis; and Olga Labovkina, a Master of the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, a participant of AgripinaLab (St. Petersburg) - an association of professional dancers and performers, choreographer-director of the TV project "Everybody Dance. The Return of the Heroes," and an artist and rehearsal director in the musicals "The Prophet" and "Metro."

The first battles of the non-stop dance competition in Vitebsk will take place today. In the evening, at the Yanka Kupala National Academic Drama Theater, the dance extravaganza of the first competition block will be launched. For the competent jury and numerous spectators, over 150 participants will present a dance that most vividly reflects the character, technique, and skill of the dance group. The final winners of the festival will be determined on the second competition day, April 9. The ceremony of their solemn awarding and the gala concert are scheduled for April 10.

Olga Bogacheva