We are finally here
I must apologize for only posting now, it is a huge struggle with wifi. The line keeps disconnecting, so I will post every now and then. Please be patient.
Varna is such a beautiful City. You can see the ocean right from our hotel balcony and hear the sounds of the seagulls. Its the perfect place to kick back and relax for a wonderful European holiday. Well unfortunately, we are not here for holiday, we are here to take part in the World famous, Varna International Ballet Competition (IBC), which is considered the DANCE OLYMPICS!!!
Myself and James cannot believe that we are here!!
What makes this competition so famous, besides it being the Dance Olympics, is that the competition takes place in a beautiful, out door Open Air Theatre! The only competition in the world to do this. Almost all of the most brilliant ballet stars of the world during the last 5 decades are laureates of Varna IBC. Some famous names are: Vladimir Vassiliev, Natalia Makarova, Mikhail Barishnokov, Patrick Dupond, Vladimir Malakhov and Sylvie Guilem!!!
We are so lucky to take part this year as it is the 50th anniversary of this competitions existence and only now, James and I are making History by being the first South Africans to EVER to part!!!
Over the years there have been from over 200 countries! This year the International Jury is: Prof. Vladimir Vasiliev CHAIRMAN (Russia), Aurora Bosch (Cuba), Assoc Prof. Biser Deyanov (Bulgaria), Eldar Aliev (USA), Yoko Morishita (Japan), Johann Hans Vogl (Germany), Constantin Dutu (Romania), Acad. Krassimira Koldamova (Bulgaria), Luca Masala ( Monaco), Maximila Guerra (Argentina), Prof. Petar Loukanov (Bulgaria), Sara-Nora Krysteva (Bulgaria), Cyrille Atanassoff (France), Prof. Sun-Hee Kim (Korea), Dr Seon-Hee Jang (Korea), Prof Suhua Xiao (China), Tursynbek Nurkaliyev (Kazakhstan)
On the 14th of July, it was the number draw, where your name is called out and you pick a number randomly out of a bag. My number is 124 and James is 128. Round 1 takes place over 5 days and guess what, due to our high numbers, we will only perform on 18/19 July, the last days... We will perform Flower Festival in Genzano, my favourite ;).
Last night was the Opening ceremony of the competition. They introduced the Judges and there were many speeches. Vladimir Vassiliev is the chairman on the Jury and is very famous in this competition due to the fact that he is the only person in the world to hold the title of the Grand Prix Award! This award is above the Gold Medal! After all the speeches,the famous torch was light and then the show began...
I am trying to find enough wifi to upload pictures of the world famous stage. Stay tuned for pictures and more information :)
When we arrived in Varna, we wanted to walk around and stretch our legs from the long plane trip. What better way to do that by taking a walk along the beach :). I had to be careful not to burn or get any tan lines because I really don't want to have funny marks showing when I wear my beautiful costumes. A funny story, Guilherme was taking pictures of the beach and when we were looking through the pictures, it is so beautiful that he had not even noticed that he had taken a picture of a topless woman!!!!
