Don Cossacks State Academic Song and Dance Ensemble

EVENT DESCRIPTION

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department will present two brilliant performances by the Don Cossacks State Academic Song and Dance Ensemble in honour of Anatoly Kvasov in late May. Returning to Hong Kong after almost a decade, the ensemble will perform a series of songs and dances to offer audiences a taste of the characteristics of the Russian traditional culture in the Don region.

The ensemble’s performances at their last visit in 2013 to the World Cultures Festival 2013 – Lasting Legacies of Eastern Europe won critical acclaims. Returning this year, they will bring a programme that features an array of folk songs with various topics and dances that are created with reference to typical features of the choreographic culture of the Don region. The performers will also be dressed in dazzling traditional costumes, presenting to audiences a wealth of features of the arts and cultural values of the Don Cossacks.

Established in 1936, the Don Cossacks State Academic Song and Dance Ensemble was restructured in the 1970s by its late Artistic Director Anatoly Kvasov, who led the ensemble to win national honours. The powerful lyrics of the Cossacks songs, sometimes sparkling with joy, but sometimes heavy with sorrow, and the arresting dances, full of fire and gaiety, along with the distinctive quality of the traditional music, have been combined into unique creative works by the Don Cossacks Ensemble. The ensemble has also taken part in many international cultural events, where it has received ovation from audiences in Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa.