The “Hayordats Tun” School of Moscow of the Armenian Diocese of Russia and Nor Nakhichevan of the Armenian Apostolic Church has a new ensemble. Margarita Grigoryan, who has been dancing for the past year and a half, assumed the honorable task of teaching children how to dance and perform on stage. Recently, by the blessing of Prelate of the Diocese, Father, Archbishop Yezras Nersisyan, the children had the chance to perform as the Vardavar Ensemble. After the performance, the ensemble gave a concert in Saint Petersburg sponsored by sponsor of the “Hayordats Tun” School, president of the board of trustees of the Diocese, benefactor Samvel Karapetyan on November 8.

Artistic director of Vardavar Dance Ensemble Margarita Grigoryan mentioned that the children were even able to perform brilliantly after the long road. “My 32 dancers (6-14 years old) had a hard time finding their spots on stage, but that didn’t stop them from giving a brilliant performance. This trip created a special connection between them. They established close ties and decided to help each other out. During the more than 2-hour concert, the local dance ensemble only performed three numbers so that our dancers could rest a little.”

The citizens of Saint Petersburg, who were waiting to witness performances of Armenian dances, greeted and bid farewell to Vardavar Dance Ensemble with excitement and rounds of applause. One of the people in the audience, Donara Mkrtchyan expressed her satisfaction with the concert, mentioning that she hadn’t seen such patriotic dances for a long time and had longed for such high-quality performances of Armenian dances.

When asked if there are students who wish to become professional dancers, Margarita Grigoryan said: “Yes, there are. For instance, Mane Terteryan says she wants to become a dancer. During the concert, she performed the solo dance called “Mane’s Dream”, and since she had to change her clothes, she had to miss the next dance and was very sad about that. This goes to show how dedicated she is and how unwavering she is in her struggle that will make her work day and night and perform better.”

Diana Kostanyan also returned from the concert with great impressions. When asked what she liked the most during the trip, the little dancer said: “We were received so well by the local Armenians that we thought we had gone to Armenia. It was very nice to hear their rounds of applause and beautiful words. Besides that, we were very impressed by the visits to the St. Katarine, St. Isahak and St. Harutyun Churches and the walks in Saint Petersburg.

Among those attending Vardavar Dance Ensemble’s concert were Consul General of the Republic of Armenia in Saint Petersburg Hrair Karapetyan; spiritual pastor of the St. Katarine Armenian Church, Father, Priest Sargis Chopuryan; spiritual pastor of the St. Mary Armenian Church of Vsevolozhsk city, Father, Priest Arshak Nazaryan; Principal of Armenian Ethnic School N 259 Astghik Kocharyan, as well as the students and teachers of the Lazaryans Armenian Training Center.

Armine Kareyan

Moscow