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UAE Ballerinas Shine at Ukraine Art Festival

ABU DHABI - Katherine Al Neyadi, Emirati, ballerina felt proud while introducing her country in front of thousands of participants at Artek in Crimea, Ukraine, one of the world's largest international art festivals for children.

“UAE is a small country with a big heart, whose doors are open to all,” she said to a wide applause. Along with five other ballerinas from the Fantasia ballet group of Abu Dhabi, Katherine was representing her country for the first time at the century-old Artek.

“The camp is for children between 11 and 16, and a child can participate only once,” explained Svetlana Al Neyadi, ballet master and founder of the Fantasia ballet group.

The UAE ballerinas joined young artists from 47 different countries at the festival this year. Revived seven years ago, Artek had initially started just a summer camp in 1925, when a few tents were pitched at Medved Gora (Bear Mountains), near Yalta, the main city of Crimea in Ukraine. Now, the festival has purpose-built premises and a crowd of participants from all across the world.

“UAE girls had a great time. They really impressed everybody with their great dancing skills,” said Al Neyadi, the proud ballet master.

Over the two-week festival — it was held from July 15 to August 8 — the UAE ballerinas delighted their audience with Arabian, Ukrainian and Russian numbers that mixed classical ballet moves with traditional dances.

Part of the festival’s activities was setting up a tent, where participants from other countries would come to exchange information about each other country’s art scene.

“Our tent was a lot more popular than I expected. Boys and girls from all over the world were filling the tent constantly and the UAE girls made a lot of friends,” said Al Neyadi.

“We also offered everyone souvenirs such as UAE flags and brochures,” she added.

One of Artek’s highlights was the ‘Day of Peace’, for which each delegation prepared a special programme, while a letter of appeal to peace was written and signed by a representative of each of the 47 participant teams.

The letter was sent to the United Nations headquarters. As a result of their success, the Fantasia ballet group received several diplomas and certificates, as well as invitations to participate in other European festivals, including Artek 2009. “Our participation at Artek could not have come at a better time, as Fantasia celebrated its 10th anniversary this year,” Al Neyadi told Khaleej Times.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com

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