CHINA: Rousing jigs and reels by the Donegal traditional group Altan and a spectacular display of Irish dancing by the Riverdance troupe marked the launch in Beijing yesterday of the Irish Festival of Arts and Culture.
The normally reserved Beijing audience clapped and even sang along at one point during Altan's set at the packed Poly Theatre.
The Minister for the Arts, Mr O'Donoghue, and China's Vice-Minister of Culture, Mr Zhao Weisui, opened the festival, which is part of a cultural exchange programme between Ireland and China and will run in China in May and June and in Ireland in the summer and autumn.
Riverdance and Altan agreed to perform at the opening ceremony at short notice following the cancellation of The Chieftains, due to the unexpected illness of Paddy Moloney.
Among the big names in China for the festival were poets Paul Muldoon and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and the pianist John O'Conor.
Musician Barry Douglas will also perform.
The Gate Theatre will stage its award-winning production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, while Irish choreographer Liz Roche will present a ground-breaking collaboration with the National Ballet of China.
Irish music will be represented by Belfast DJ David Holmes, The Frames, Donal Lunny and Mary Black, and Irish literature will be showcased in a special anthology of Irish writing to be published to coincide with the event.
The festival also includes an IMMA exhibition in the art museum of the Millennium Monument in Beijing, with work by internationally renowned sculptor John Behan and painter Louis le Brocquy.
