Vanadzor's Hovhannes Abelyan Dramatic Theatre was recently host to the third Children's Song and Dance Festival of the National Minorities of Armenia.

Ten of the eleven national minorities registered in Armenia took part in the festival. Only the Germans were missing.

The Horovel Ensemble of Vanadzor welcomed the performers. 

The Jews presented two dances and two songs. At the end of the second dance they formed the Star of David with ribbons.

 

The Georgians performed the dance samaya .

 

The Russians performed the kadril and national dances. Their young singer was especially warmly received by the audience.

 

The Assyrians danced and sang in Aramaic.

 

The Greeks presented the dances khasabiko, franko siriani, andsirtaki dances and Greek songs.

 

The Belorussians had only one performer-a singer and piano player.

 

The Kurdish minority was represented by the song and dance groups Zilan and Roj. They were the only ones to perform to live music. Ararat Shiar performed Kurdish songs.

 

The Ukrainians sang their national songs.

 

The Polish minority was represented by a girl's choir.

 

The Yezidis had three singers - two children and Hamik Tamoyan, the grandson of Aziz Tamoyan, the leader of the Yezidi community in Armenia.

The festival went on for four hours-two hours longer than planned. None of the performers were professional, but that did not prevent them from putting on an excellent show.

The two masters of ceremonies were no less colorful than the participants, especially the man, an actor at the Abelyan Theatre.

During the break in the Russians' performance he leapt on the stage and exclaimed in the same emotional tones he had employed throughout the festival, "I can't help remembering Eurovision! If you stayed up late last night to watch that heart-wrenching contest. I had no doubt the Russian singer Dima Bilan would get high points!" Then he reminded the audience that Russia had given high points to Armenia and that the Armenian singer Andre had done well overall, and most important, he had secured Armenia a place in next year's final.

Conveying this unexpected, even irrelevant, information took him some ten minutes. Then before leaving the stage he announced once again that for the end of this festival organized by the Ministry of Culture, the Republican Party had prepared a surprise for the each and every participant.

Throughout the festival, the MC interrupted the performers from time to time, shouting to the audience from behind the curtain, "Louder! I can't hear you clapping!"

He was not the only one worrying about maintaining a festive atmosphere in the audience. There was a woman walking up and down the aisle between the seats whose responsibility most likely was to see to the order in the hall. She kept looking straight into people's faces and clapping, inviting them to follow her example.

"I will make you enjoy it," was written on her steely face, with no sign of enjoyment.

The woman had a bit of a rest during the performances of the Greeks and the Poles. Their fans were so active that there was no need to set an example of applauding. During the performance of the Kurd Ararat Shiar, even she kept still and listened.

The audience, in any case, was united-all of the performers were great. And the Republican Party's surprise? The book For 0-100 Year-Old Children by Rouben Hakhverdyan.