The Instituto Técnico Superior Comunitario (ITSC) presented the prizes to the winners of the VI Festival of Dance and Theater, in which 16 higher education institutions from the country participated, with first place receiving a cash prize of RD$70,000.
First place in the Dance category was won by the Universidad Católica Santo Domingo, with the participation of the UCSD-BAILA Group, with the theme “Through me”, followed by the ITSC Hip-Hop group “Clan H” with the song “The Television”, winner of second place, while third place went to the Salomé Ureña Higher Institute for Teacher Training, with the Folkdancecrew Isfodosu Group and the song “Congos”|, who received a cash prize of RD$70 thousand, RD$35 thousand and RD$25 thousand, respectively.
In the Theater category, the Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE) obtained first place, with the work “El tango de Dada”, the second went to the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM), with “Las danzas” and third place It was won by the Dominican American Cultural Institute (ICDA) with the work “Elvira”, by the Dominican Américo Lugo, who received the same amount of prizes as the previous category. All the winning categories also received a trophy and a certificate of participation.
The Dance and Theater Festival was held last March in the ITSC auditorium, with the folkloric ballet of the National University of Costa Rica as a special guest.
Franklin García Fermín, head of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (MESCyT), when speaking at the award ceremony that took place in the Hall of Fame of the Olympic Center, expressed that Dominican society is pleased that there are young dedicated in body and soul to the fine arts, within the canons of dignity, decorum, ethical principles and moral values.
“These young people who are reaping triumphs in the cultivation of art are showing that, in order to obtain these triumphs, it is not necessary to get stuck in the mire of immorality, that something good can be done with the creativity that each one has, without losing shame and honor,” he said.
On his side, Pedro Quezada, rector of the Community Higher Technical Institute, expressed that this festival helps to keep cultural groups in force in higher education institutions.
“I value the effort made by the ITSC collaborators and the support of the different institutions that participated in this sixth edition. This type of activities makes an extremely valuable contribution to the promotion of dance and theater, as effective tools for the integral development of our young people”, he affirmed.
The rector of the first and only community college in the country congratulated the universities that participated in the festival with extraordinary presentations. He especially thanked Minister Franklin García Fermín, the Costa Rican ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Edwin Arias Chinchilla, the Ministries of Youth and Culture; to the municipalities of Santo Domingo Este and the Municipal District of San Luis, to the Metropolitan Bus Services Office (OMSA), and to the senator of Santo Domingo province, Antonio Taveras, among others.
The festival jury was headed by Paula Disla, president and vice minister of International Relations of MESCYT; Víctor Vidal general coordinator of the National Theater Festival (FENATE) of the Ministry of Culture; Cruz María Capellán, MESCYT Curriculum Coordinator; Giseh Cuesta, in charge of the Institutional Development Department of MESCYT, and Samuel Manzueta, dancer from the National School of Dance (ENDANZA), from the Ministry of Culture and Guillermo Liriano, president of the International Festival of Living Statues.
Participating as special guests were Dr. Julia Drullard, governor of the Santo Domingo province; Porfirio Peralta, director of Promipyme; as well as the following MESCYT authorities: María López Polanco, Vice Minister of Extension; Evarista Matías, Vice Minister of Higher Education; Genaro Rodríguez, Vice Minister of Science and Technology; José Cancel, Administrative and Financial Vice Minister; Juan Medina, Director of the Cabinet; Eduardo Ortiz, director of Culture; Lorenzo Encarnación, Art coordinator, Ashley Matos, Culture technician and Patricia Chalas, in charge of the Foreign Languages department.
Other ITSC authorities were present at the event, including: Carlos Mendieta, Academic Vice Chancellor; Maritza Contreras, Administrative and Financial Vice Chancellor; Alfredo Herrera, vice-rector for Outreach and Extension; Kaking Choi, General Counsel; Iris Ramírez, Director of Human Resources, among others.