Located in the medieval Paris, Panama's National Ballet attracted about 2,500 viewers to the National Theater with the first stage of "La Esmeralda," a story that brought the public to know this interesting masterpiece of dance and with the participation of guest dancer Artemyi Pyzhov, the main member at the Slovak National Theater in Bratislava.

There were 167 stage dancers from both the National Ballet and from different dance academies that have shown their talents under the choreographic direction of the well-known masters Vasily Medvedev and Stanislav Feco, who for six weeks have been rehearsed with the cast to offer a great show for four days with a total of five performances.

This ballet inspired by his novel "Our Lady of Paris," developed in three acts had the leading roles of Ana Lorena Boyd, Satoko Konishi and Melissa Gaona, who gave life to "Esmeralda," both Konishi and Gaona also personified Felur de Lys, who was performed by Juliet of the Castle.

He was met with his guest dancer Artemyi Pyzhov from FPhoebus, who was also performed in a performance by Yahir Castro. while his character, Claude Frollo, was performed by Juan Carlos Costoya.

For his part, Edgar Santamaria performed Gringoire as well as Yahyr Castro and Nazario Jhonston was quasimodo and Pilar Vega as Aloise, performances that were ovations and pampered by the public.

The audience that came to enjoy this work, that tells the story of a gypsy called "Esmeralda" and that awakes up the love of all those around her was organized by the Friends of the National Ballet and MiCultura, was able to admire the dressrooms that were mostly brought directly from Bratislava, designed by Elena Zanitseva and others held at the Ballet's sewing workshops.

With this successful presentation, the Ministry of Culture (MiCultura) and the National Ballet have been leading up to the 2024 season, and will include high-profile works at the world stage of dance.

In this respect, Gloria Barrios, executive director of the National Ballet of Panama emphasized that, the costumes and stage films will be donated to the Panamanian dance company, thanks to the management of the Association of Friends of Ballet.

"It's important to mention that, for this great staging, the stage films were work by Pavol Yesas, designer of curtain and stage films, and as I mentioned earlier they will be part of the valuable properties of the ballet."

Photographs by: Gustavo Barrios, Rodolfo Ferrerira and Javier Thomas.