PANAMA CITY.- The Panama Ballet Festival (Panama Ballet Fest 2026), organized in honor of the legendary British dancer Margot Fonteyn (1919-1991), closes this Sunday a week dedicated to international dance, which featured outstanding figures from more than a dozen countries, including companies, teachers and dancers.
Fonteyn, considered one of the most important dancers in history and who lived her last years in Panama, until her death in 1991, served as inspiration for the creation of the festival, which in its first edition was organized by the Ministry of Culture at the Aurea B. Torrijos Theater, in the City of Arts in the Panamanian capital.
In addition, he paid tribute to a group of “legends” and promises who have stood out in this art, dance figures, “who have dedicated their lives to development, teaching and management,” said a statement from the Ministry of Culture.
According to the statement, the Margot Fonteyn Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Ballet, which is the festival’s highest distinction, was awarded to teachers Raisa Gutiérrez, Brenda Arias, Josefina Nicoletti and Alberto González, for their “extraordinary careers and their invaluable contribution to classical ballet.”
The Panamanian Minister of Culture, María Eugenia Herrera, praised the honorees, highlighting the “value of their perseverance and the sense of community that unites the union,” while urging them “to continue inspiring new generations.”
The evening featured the premiere of a piece by choreographer Eduardo Blanco and the presence of international figures such as Viengsay Valdés, general director of the National Ballet of Cuba.
The festival’s programming during the week included classical, neoclassical and contemporary repertoire, performed by renowned international companies and artists from Colombia, Cuba, Uruguay, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Ukraine, Venezuela, El Salvador and Panama, among others.
Among the guests, representatives of the Medellín Metropolitan Ballet, the Colombian Institute of Classical Ballet, artists from the Great Kyiv Ballet of Ukraine and members of the National Ballet of Sodre of Uruguay, or the Panamanian dancer Manuelita Navarro, who develops a successful international career, stand out.
According to the organizers, this festival aspires to become “an experience to celebrate the beauty, technique and emotion of dance, bringing the public closer to great exponents of world ballet and consolidating Panama as a cultural reference in the region.”
