Albanian ballet finalists in Chicago

For the third year, Albanian ballerinas studying under the well known choreographer Arjan Sukniqi have won the right to compete in the dance festival, “Dance Chicago.” In this festival, six dancers from the Tirana Show Dance group will compete with the piece, “Vision Extra” a new composition of 11 minutes, combining modern and traditional Albanian ballet. This year 32 ballet companies are competing from all over the world, selected from 97 participants in the initial phase. The “Dance Chicago” Festival, which opened at the beginning of November, includes 9 different categories of dance. “Tirana Shoe Dance,” will put on three concerts on 30 November and 1 and 2 December with traditional Albanian dances. On 3 December, in the finale, the Albanian dancers will be presenting a special piece.
Turkey, Ireland, the Ukraine, The Netherlands are some of the finalists. Altin Kaftira a well known Albanian dancer also competes here for The Netherlands. This is not the first time the Albanians have competed here.
Dance Chicago was founded by John Schmitz and Fred Solari in 1995. It includes different kinds of dance and age groups. In this edition, 250 performances will be put on stage by 2500 dancers. This is the biggest festival of its kind and famous schools of dance compete such as the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and Hubbard Street Dance. The festival is held at the Athenaeum Theatre in Chicago.