The second international dance and song competition Art Premier has come to an end in Kyiv. The strict jury didn’t give the grand prize in the singing nomination to anyone, while the students of the choreography department of the Kyiv Children’s Art Academy received the first prize for choreography.

Children and youth from Ukraine, Russia, Abkhazia and even remote China danced and sang for three days. The singing contest was held in the Scientist’s House, while dancers competed in the Ukrainian Home. The singing and choreography contests had five categories (A, B, C, D and F). The oldest participants (F, adults aged 19-32) competed for two days in two rounds. Children and teenagers (A, B, C and D categories) vied in one round. On the first day the vocalists sang academic arias. On the second it was Ukrainian folk songs. The dancers performed classical, modern, pop and folk dances.

"The most important thing in the contest is that the children get involved in creative work," the singing jury head, Ukrainian National Music Academy Associate Professor, and Shevchenko Prize winner Valerii Buimister told The Day. "We should be thankful for such enthusiasts as Svitlana Sukhomlynova (head of the charity foundation "Vivat Art," which organized the "Art Premier" contest. – Author). This year about 100 vocalists participated in the contest. The oldest group (F) had 17 participants. We decided to allow all of them to sing in the second round in order to have the possibility to attentively listen to them once again, as some of them were very nervous during the first round and couldn’t prove themselves. We were pleased to listen to the participants from St. Petersburg, Moscow and a girl from China, Tsui Tsui, who studies at our Kyiv Music Academy. However, nobody was good enough to get the grand prize…"

Both academic and pop-singers competed in the singing category. The pop-singers were assessed by a jury headed by the Chancellor of the Kyiv Municipal Academy of the Vaudeville and Circus Arts, Professor Oleksandr Chukhinin:

"The pop-singers competition has revealed several bright individuals, but the jury didn’t give the grand prize to any of them. The singers from the Kyiv Leontovych School took the first place — they were the best. At present, we have a big problem with the pop-singing teachers. There are two or three of them in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa and Kherson. The repertoire is also a problem, especially for children. They mostly sing adult songs that are irrelevant for them. Today those who have their repertoire are in the saddle. Pop singing requires quite a lot of money. Parents have to invest a lot into audio records and costumes. For example, Mika Newton has the right to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision-2011, but she will do it at her own expense. Now she has to find the money for clothes, traveling, hotel, security and advertisement… It’s show-business. Today artists aren’t artists but ‘products’… I’m proud of Mika Newton. Professor Ivan Popovych taught her. She’s honest and hard-working. There were a lot of descent Eurovision pretenders. For example, Vania Berezovsky is a very gifted singer; Jamala is very bright as well, as is Zlata Ohnevych. However, the audience made their choice by voting…"