After performances in New York, Toronto, Moscow, Cannes, and Bucharest, we have the privilege to have the international ballet gala “Stars of the 21st Century” right here in Panama.

Watch the magnificent style of José Martínez and Agnes Letestu, from Paris Opera Ballet. As a young girl, Letestu study with Rudolf Nureyev developing into a precise and majestic dancer. Martinez is an astounding dancer, choreographer, and he is the director of the Paris Opera Ballet School.

Another marvelous dancer visiting us is Desmond Richardson. He dances with Complexions Contemporary Ballet in Nueva York City. Richardson is also a veteran from Alvin Ailey Dance Company, Frankfurt Ballet, and American Ballet Theater.

Enjoy performances by Daniil Simkin and Natalia Domracheva with a repertoire from Don Quixote PDD & Les Bourgeois. He is from the American Ballet Theater and she is from Ukraine National Ballet.

And to complete this constellation of ballet stars we also have: Lucia Lacarra, Denis Matvienko, Anastasia Matvienko, Shoko Nakamura, Marion Dino, Alina Somova, Vladimir Shklyarov, and David Makhateli.

This phenomenal group of ballet dancers is under the direction of Nadia Veselova Tencer. And this event is possible thanks to the efforts of the INAC, Oleg and Larisa Barzinsky, Panama Media Group, and Solomon Tencer Production.

“Stars of the 21st Century” is January 4 at Atlapa. Tickets are already on sale at Blockbuster stores and prices starts at $20.

 Eleonora Dall´asta was born in Italy.  She was dancing ballet at the age of eight at the “Academy of Ballet Bertolla” in Parma, where she took her first ballet class.  Eleonora began her training in aerial silks in 2002 with Adriana Alvez.  Since then she has been learning and training her circus skills in different places such as: “La Taruma” Peru, “ESAC” Belgium, and “Escuela de Circo CARAMPA” Spain.  In 2005 she joined The Circus Space in London, where she specialized in tight wire.  Eleonora performed in many contemporary circus and dance shows in places like: England, Costa Rica, Denmark, Spain and Panama.

Today Eleonora lives in Panama City, Panama. Eleonora is co founder of the Panamanian circus company La Tribu Performance. La Tribu Performance is a group structured by different young artists that are professionals in different parts of art in general.  Their shows are characterized by the integration of physical theater, dances, movement, music and contemporary circus techniques.

Eleonora is about to start her own aerial dance workshop in the beautiful Panama City. The workshop is for beginners at aerial dance.  You will learn many of the basic teachings of aerial dance such as: how to go up, learn basic falls, different knots, classic dances postures with aerial silks, etc. 

Eleonora counts with a safe procedure to guaranty you won’t get hurt and a vast diversity of classic music for her teachings of aerial dance.

In this aerial dance workshop, you will learn how to warm up your body; you will gain flexibility and physical fitness.  The aerial dance workshop will be on Saturdays and Sundays, starting on May 23rth to May 31rst, from 14:00 until 17.00.  The cost will be of: $150.00 for the whole workshop (pay must be the first day of classes).

The aerial workshop will be taking place at La Casona which is located in Plaza Herrera, Casco Viejo. The space is limited!  Learn the basic techniques of aerial dance. You don´t need any previous experience on circus training or aerial dance.

Don´t miss the chance to have fun working out with Eleonora Da´ llasta in Panama City!

The Lion Dance emerges during the Dynasty Tang.  According to the legends, the Emperor had a nightmare in which a strange looking creature saves him.  The next morning, the Emperor realized the strange creature of his dream resembled a habitant of the west:  the lion.  Quickly, the lion became a symbol of good luck across all China.  It was believe the lion kept away bad spirits.  Today, the Lion Dance is an important part for opening ceremonies of businesses and important events in China.  The real meaning of this dance is that the lions are the ones in charge of opening the gates of heaven for all God’s blessing can reach all of those who watches this dance.

The lion’s dancers, who came from China to Panama, had an average age of 17 years old.  With a great display of agility and skills they dance around moving the lion’s head at the same time they executed the dance movements and Kung Fu steps at the rhythm of the drum.  The most skillful part of the dance was when the lions danced on top of posts.  Dancing on posts is a lion dance characteristic of the Chinese where the Chinese dancer put on display they great ability and hard work.

Recently, Atlapa Convention Center was the venue for the celebration of the Chinese New Year, with the participation of folkloric dance teams, Chinese dancers, ballet, karaoke, and a delegation from China who performed the Legion Dance and the Dragon Dance.  This group came from the city of Zhanjian, province of Guangdong, and they were part of the dance team performing on the opening of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008.

Panama has received visits from many celebrated people in its history and it has had several notable celebrities decide to remain here as residents.  One such notable was the prima ballerina assoluta Dame Margot Fonteyn of the Royal Ballet of Britain.  Dame Margot was born Margaret Hookham in Reigate, Surrey on May 18, 1919.  As a child, she studied at dancing schools in the London area until she made her way to school attached to the Vic-Wells Ballet the precursor of the Royal Ballet.  Dame Margot made her debut in 1934 with the Vic-Wells as a snowflake in “The Nutcracker.”  She initially borrowed her mother´s maiden name and danced as Margot Fontes, but soon modified her stage name to Fonteyn.  In 1935, Dame Margot received her first solo in “The Haunted Ballroom,” a ballet by Ninette de Valois, the founder of the Royal Ballet.

Dame Margot most memorable portrayal came at age 30 in the Sadler´s Wells Ballet production of “Sleeping Beauty” as Princess Aurora, which stunned the audience at the Metropolitan Opera House with her youthful performance.

In 1955, Dame Margot married Dr. Roberto Arias, a Panamanian diplomat to London and a philanderer.  Their marriage was tumultuous due to his frequent infidelities. In May of 1964, Dr. Roberto Arias was elected to the National Assembly, his first foray into active politics.  A year later tragedy struck the Arias family, as a rival Panamanian politician, Alberto Jimenez, shot Dr. Arias on a street corner in a suburb of Panama City.  Dr. Arias was treated for 18 months in British hospitals and spent the rest of his entire life as a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair.

Due to the enormous medical cost amassed by Dr. Arias´s medical care, Dame Margot continued to dance until 1979, her sixtieth year, despite from suffering from an arthritic foot.  She remained loyal to Dr. Roberto Arias until his death in 1989.  The artist that too many represented “Eternal Youth,” and whose blend of refinement and passion redefined 20th-century ballet passed away at age 71 on February 21, 1991 in Patilla Hospital in Panama City.

Ballet is a standard art form today, known and loved by audiences across the world. It is a formalized form of dance developed in the early 1600s as a concert dance form. It is an elite form of dancing that requires foot muscle movement, and suspension on the toes. This kind of dance requires strength, resilience, elegance and grace all at once, while making the different movements. In ballet, dance is performed purely to an orchestral accompaniment; there is no singing. Early forms used long skirt; today’s dances use both tutu skirts and tutu bodices. Learning ballet requires perseverance and hard work. Ballet technique is considered to be the basis of training for all types of dance like salsa, tango, cha cha cha between others.

Today exist the classical, neoclassical and contemporary ballet. The classical ballet is the most formal of the ballet styles; it adheres to traditional ballet technique, is generally structured on a narrative pretext they can be based on traditional stories. Neoclassical ballet describes the ballet style using a traditional ballet vocabulary and is usually more modern or complex than in classical ballet, because is more varied. The modern or contemporary ballet is influenced by both classical ballet and modern dance. The concepts of the contemporary ballet came from the ideas of today’s’ modern dance.

Here in Panama City, Panama academies were formed to pass on the fundamentals and traditions of this popular dance with a great quality of dance training. In the different academies that exist in Panama City, Panama you can learn the different ballet steps and the fundamental movements and positions you need to get started in this classical dance.