VITEBSK, 15 November (BelTA) - The 30th installment of the International Festival of Modern Choreography (IFMC) will open with a performance by Sergei Smirnov's Eccentric Ballet on 15 November. The festival will run in Vitebsk through 19 November, BelTA learned from the Vitebsk cultural center.
Eccentric Ballet, a four-time winner of Russia's national theater award The Golden Mask, will stage a dance show Songs of the Last Grass (music by modern authors, arranged by Sergei Meshcheryakov).
The anniversary edition of the festival will bring together artists from Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, the UK, Germany, Israel, Spain, Italy, Canada, Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Romania, Slovenia, the USA, Ukraine, France, Croatia, Czechia, and Japan.
The opening concert will introduce the participants of the Belarusian contest of modern choreography. Belarus' National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater will congratulate the Vitebsk-based dance forum on its 30th anniversary. This year, a domestic choreographer or dancer will be awarded a special prize for remarkable contribution to modern choreography and devotion to the art. People's Artist of Russia Sergei Bezrukov will present the award. The big-name artist will also present Anna Matison's movie After You're Gone, where he played a choreographer. The premiere and a meeting with the filmmakers will take place ahead of the evening concert in the Vitebsk movie theater.
Contemporary dance lovers will have an opportunity to attend the Museum-Archive exhibition dedicated to the IMFC's 30th anniversary, Anna Moyseyuk's photography project Calligraphy of Dance, and Alexander Salivonchik's art exhibition (Belarus-Germany). The following days will also feature numerous master classes, memorable meetings, and other events.
The festival was established by the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee, the Culture Ministry, the Vitebsk City Hall, Belarus' National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater. The organizer is the Vitebsk cultural center.
