The national short dance contest took place at the Pyongyang Grand Theatre on November 6.
Presented to the contest, the focus being on national dances, were dance pieces produced by central art troupes, including the Phibada Opera Troupe and the National Folk Art Troupe, and other art troupes from North Hwanghae Province, Nampho and all other provinces and cities.
Kang Ok Ju, an official of the Ministry of Culture, said that the contest was aimed at further developing national music and dance, adding that all participating troupes should sustain the national character and also reflect unique and original ideas in the five to eight minutes’ dance pieces.
The jury included the secretary general of the Dancers Union of the Central Committee of the General Federation of the Unions of Art and Literature of Korea, officials in the relevant field and dance experts of prestigious central art troupes.
The art troupes put on stage dance pieces, though short but clear in their characteristics.
The South Hwanghae Provincial Art Troupe and other provincial art troupes depicted the delight in reaping the bumper harvest in their works and the Nampho Municipal Art Troupe showed in a quartet dance with light rhythms a happy house-moving scene unfolded in the era when local areas were changing.
The Kaesong Municipal Art Troupe depicted the famous Pagyon Falls in Kaesong with elegant dance rhythms, and the Kangwon Provincial Art Troupe put on stage a female group dance to the tune of merry folk tunes, representing the women of Jiktong Pass rendering active assistance to the fighting Korean People's Army soldiers during the Fatherland Liberation War.
In the contest dancers of the Phibada Opera Troupe and the National Folk Art Troupe displayed their features befitting those from prestigious art troupes.
The National Folk Art Troupe depicted in one dance the joy of gathering a bumper harvest with charming and graceful movements peculiar to the Korean dance to the tune of interesting Song of Rich Harvest. And Fan Dance, a representative Korean folk dance, performed to the tune of the famous folk song Yangsando, added to the artistic quality of the work.
Artistes of the Phibada Opera Troupe staged a lively and light drum dance in the form of a mixed group dance.
The jury highly appreciated the Phibada Opera Troupe and the Kangwon Provincial Art Troupe in the categories of central art troupes and local art troupes respectively, and the ballet A girl picking apples of the Phibada Opera Troupe in the category of ballet.
