COMMUNICATION BY DANCE

Cooperation within the framework of an important project like International Dance Festival CID, which is organised annually under UNESCO, is a big deal, not only for its direct participants, but also for the countries they represent. This year Azerbaijan made its debut at the festival. And, as deputy rector of the Baku Music Academy Dr Gulnaz Abdullazada, who headed the dance section from our country, hopes this will become a tradition which may evolve into an independent festival. In her interview with R+, Gulnaz Abdullazada told us about the international event.

- You recently returned from one of the largest traditional dance festivals, held in Greece.  How did Azerbaijan come to take part?

- I learned about the festival, which is held annually in Athens, from my Turkish academic colleagues. They sparked my interest and I got in touch with the organizers and found out that the festival was being held under the flag of UNESCO for the 22nd time, although Azerbaijan has never taken part. First the organizers invited me to speak at the festival on the specifics of Azerbaijani folk dance. My report dealt with the history of our folk dancing, the types of dances - male, female, solo, twosome, wedding and dances for young people. We tried to cover everything, including character dances. The festival lasted for a week and the schedule was busy and very rich in content. From the morning until 4 o'clock in the afternoon, speakers delivered their reports on traditional dance. There were exhibitions of slides and videos of the national dancing traditions in the lobby. The Azerbaijani delegation demonstrated the Naxcivan yalli in DVD format. Every country could present its folk dance at a specified time in special rooms.

- Can the festival be described as a cultural event specializing in dance?

- It is more like a series of master-classes. Dancers taught the guests of the festival, who are specialists in the field. They explained the symbolism in their dances. It was very interesting. Dances usually started in the evening at the open Dora Strato arena, near the Acropolis. Each delegation was allocated a certain time and the dancing continued until late at night. Can you imagine the atmosphere? I was delighted and very interested to see at first hand the folk dances of Portugal, South America, China and Japan. And I was very sorry that there were no Azerbaijani dancers at the festival. The problem was that I failed to raise funds for the participation of our dancers in the festival. As a result, I was the first ever representative of our country at the International Dance Festival. It is interesting that the rules for participation require those who come up with the initiative to contact the organizers as a potential participant automatically become representatives of their countries and, for the next four years, are considered chairpersons of the UNESCO dancing section from their countries. As the official representative of my country, I must organize all the work - assemble section members and contact dancers to visit the festival with a proper programme next year. But preparing a programme by a group of dancers requires funds. I have contacted many government officials, but no one has expressed a willingness to support the project, although taking part in a large-scale international event is an excellent opportunity to present Azerbaijan and to promote its culture and history. The festival is a truly grand event: more than 700 people from 140 countries took part.

- What was the attitude toward our country?  How did the festival welcome Azerbaijan?

- Very warmly. The Azerbaijani embassy in Greece was very helpful. The Greek official followed with interest the efforts by the Azerbaijani delegation, headed by Ambassador Mirhamza Efendiyev, to familiarize participants with our country as much as possible. As for the organizers, they were greatly interested in Azerbaijan's participation in the festival and its projects.

UNESCO Dancing Board Chairman Alkis Raftis interviewed us about our country and complained that Europe is not familiar with our rich culture. Mr Raftis was hopeful that Azerbaijan will become a regular participant in all the events of the project.  And there are plenty of those events. Participants in the project stage similar events in their own countries, which is why festivals take place several times a year. Azerbaijan will begin receiving invitations. Furthermore, according to the rules of the Athens festival, if we manage to organize a 20-strong section, in the future we will be entitled to organize these types of events in Azerbaijan, with the participation of dancers from different countries. From the point of view of the development of tourism and cultural ties, this is important. And in my view, we simply must participate. However, we should organize our efforts to a very high level. For example, the Athens Dance Festival was organized with the co-participation of the Greek Foreign Ministry, Culture Ministry and Education Ministry, that is, three government departments. This means that Greece as a nation attaches great significance to the promotion of its national culture. Interestingly, this is a commercial project: three euros are earned for every euro spent on organizing the festival. I think that in the future, we will become full-fledged participants in the festival and will host it in Baku. You understand that UNESCO is the main vehicle for the promotion of our culture abroad. But we have a lot of work to do. And first and foremost, we have to look for like-minded people. I think that in the next year we will represent our country at the festival not only in words, but also in deed. This is only the beginning.