The NCAA Festival

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The selection of Dumaguete City as venue of the First National Commission on Culture and the Arts Dance Festival is an honor for the provincial government and its Culture and Arts Council officials.

This is a chance to gain international exposure for both Dumaguete City and Negros Oriental.

The global bridging of various dance forms will enrich the awareness and preservation of the cultural heritage of the world. It will also expose our own artists to the talents and showmanship of the participating groups from other provinces and cities as well as from other countries.

The festival will be joined by more than 10 foreign dance companies in the world and a counterpart number of Philippine dance companies with a wide range of dance forms, including ballet and flamenco. It will also feature an artists’ forum that will give a chance to local participants to interact with international dance artists.

The organizers have chosen the province because it has a good track record as shown when it hosted the National Dance Congress in 2003 and the 2nd International Rondalla Festival in 2007.

We are aware that people in Negros Oriental understand and appreciate culture and the arts, which it can perpetuate in terms of good facilities and venues for holding such cultural events.

It may not be far-fetched for us to hope that the province will be known in the not-so-distant future as one of the cultural destinations of the country, if not of other places in the region.

That is why our people should support it and cooperate to make the coming event a success. The benefits to be gained from it as far as art, culture and tourism are concerned, are immeasurable.*