07/04/2013 00:00
TW
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PALMA will host the World Folk Dance Festival during the second week of April.
This Festival will bring a total of 1'600 people to the Balearic capital, among them musicians and dancers, from 55 different groups from more than 30 countries, transforming the city with a range of cultures via the musica and dance of five continents.

The Mayor of Palma, Catalina Cirer, was at the presentation of the event, together with the deputy mayor of Tourism, Francisca Bennassar, the director general of the Balearic Institute for Tourism (Ibatur), Raimundo Alabern, and the head of the Festival, Bartomeu Bosch.

Cirer commented that one of the novelties this year is the participation of groups from the Phillipines, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone and Senegal. “All these groups will perform in the Plaza de España, Plaza del Olivar, Plaza de Cort and Paseo del Born. In addition to this they will visit and perform in 13 towns on the island”, she said.

As well as the exhibitions of traditional dancing there will be a competition in which a panel of judges, made up of experts in dance and folklore, will decide which group should receive the first prize, which was won last year by the National Ballet of Rwanda, and which Balearic groups have won twice, explained the Mayor.

Also the inaugural procession will take place on April 10, when the festival starts, which will go through the main streets of Palma. In addition to this there will be a closing ceremony in the Parc de Sa Riera on April 14.

The Folk Dance Festival is sponsored by Palma council together with the Council of Majorca and the Balearic Minister for Tourism through Ibatur.
The Festival will celebrate its twentieth anniversary this year. Since its start, this competition has had the participation of musicians and dancers from more than 70 countries throughout the world. The Festival has been celebrated in the Balearic capital since 1987 with the aim of bringing together different cultures through the universal languages of music and dance. During these two decades, two Balearic groups, The Majorcan School of Music and Dance and the Ibizan Folklore Group have won the first prize in this festival. Another of the novelties this year is the creation of a poster for this edition by the Majorcan painter Pep Guerrero, added Cirer.