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Stanislavsky Ballet’s "Swan Lake" opens music & dance festival in Bangkok

BANGKOK, September 8 /TASS/. A "Swan Lake" staged by the Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet opened the 18th Bangkok International Music and Dance Festival, one of the most significant events in the Thai cultural calendar.

The first international music and dance festival, which took place in Bangkok 18 years ago, was modest. Its program included six performances, in which 200 artists took part. More than a thousand artists from all over the world will appear in 20 various productions on the Thai stage in the next few weeks, one of the festival’s organizers said.

Bangkok ballet lovers will have a chance to enjoy the "Swan Lake" to the music of Pyotr Tchaikovsky for two nights running. After that, the Stanislavsky Ballet will present another two-act ballet "Giselle" to the music of Adolph Aden to the Thai audience. Moscow’s Helicon Opera will continue Bangkok’s Russian Seasons with modern interpretations of "Carmen" by Georges Bizet and Giuseppe Verdi’s Masquerade Ball.

The Thais are giving Russian artists, the ballet dancers in particular, a very warm welcome, Russian Ambassador to Thailand Kirill Barsky told TASS.

"The art of dancing has traditionally been loved in Asia, including Thailand. It arouses genuine interest and live response of the local audiences. The Russian classical ballet school is known and admired in China, Japan, Korea and the Southeast Asian nations where people look forward to every new meeting with Russian ballet dancers," Barsky said.

The ambassador also said that Russia’s relations with many Asian countries have seen an uplift in recent years. "This is the atmosphere in which the Russian culture continues wining the hearts of new art lovers," the Russian diplomat stressed.

The Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre showed its version of Tchaikovsky’s "Swan Lake" at the Bangkok festival last year.

The first International Music and Dance Festival was held in Bangkok in 1999 in honor of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Now, the festival is under the patronage of the monarch elder’s daughter - Her Royal Highness Princess Sirindhorn, who personally selects artists for the show and visits many concerts and performances. Artists from Russia, Belgium, India, Israel, China, Turkey, Spain, the United States and Switzerland will participate in the festival, which closes on September 19.