The International Gomel Festival "Sozhski Karagod"

"Sozhski Karagod" is the Festival of choreographic art, which was found in 1998. It is held once in two years and this Festival was the third one. The inauguration of the Third International Festival "Sozhski Karagod" was held on the 20th of September at the Ice Palace. The stage was colorfully decorated, 400 children performed mass children dance "Small Cranes", the performance of the State Dance Ensemble of Belarus brought joy to the atmosphere of the Festival.

The President of the Republic Belarus's salutatory words to the participants of the Festival were read out to the audience. During the Festival, since 18 till 22 of September, 2002 were held nearly 130 different performances at street stages and at concert halls which were visited by more than 150000 people. More than 100 art groups form different towns of Belarus, Russia, The Ukraine , Georgia, Moldavia, Latvia, Estonia and other foreign countries took part at the performances. There were lots of amusement programs, concerts and performances all over the town which were devoted to the Festival. Gomel citizens and guests of out town could see night show - programs, different art exhibitions, concerts of popular Belorussian and Russian singers which were held due to the Festival. Zemfira, the super-star singer from Russia, became the honorable guest of the Festival. Her concert was held on the 21st of September at the Ice Palace.

The crucial moment of the Festival was the Ball Dance and Sport Dance Competitions. It was held in two directions - Latin Dance Program and European Dance Program. At the latter the first and the third places winners were the pairs from Lithuania, silver medals were given to the pair from Italy.

At the former the winners were the pair from Luxembourg, silver medals were given to the pair from Italy, bronze medals were given to the pair from Lithuania.

The competitions were estimated by highly professional judges from Belarus, Russia, The Ukraine , Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, the USA and others.

Now it already became a good tradition to celebrate Gomel town's anniversaries during the time of the Festival as well as to held a carnival parade of the participants of the Festival at town main streets. The closing solemnity of the Festival was held on the 22nd of September at Lenin Square where the winners and the laureates awarding ceremony took place. Words of gratitude were said to the members of the jury, they were also given flowers. The Festival was crowned with colorful fireworks.