First European Graduation parade in Macedonia

The high-school graduates broke a Guinness record with a dance

For the first time this year, Skopje, Ohrid, Bitola and several other towns were the hosts the Graduation Parade, an all-European simultaneous dance of high-school graduate couples from ten European countries. More than 6,000 students were only some of the 24,416 peers from 40 towns throughout Europe who broke the Guinness record for simultaneous dancing. The young people danced at the squares of their towns to the Straus opera “The Bat”. The transmission of the event from the Slovenian radio “Slo val 202” was done by the Macedonian radio, and the recordings from the cameras that were to register the precise number of dancers for breaking the record were sent to London. The high-school graduates’ dance started at noon sharp in all 40 towns in Macedonia, Slovenia, Hungary, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia to the sounds of the “Quadrille” dance. The high-school graduates, all dressed in either red or black T-shirts and carrying white umbrellas, danced through the four pictures of the dance “Pantaloon”, “Ete”, “Pastorel” and “Finale”. All the people who came to watch them, as well as the dancers themselves, were greeted by the Euro-Commissioner Erwan Fuere, who made a wish that the young people’s life is as gay and joyful as the dance they perform. “In the time when we celebrate the 50th anniversary of signing the Vienna Agreement, we are hoping to register Macedonia in the European map of countries that have already been organizing the graduation parade”, said Fuere. The patron of the graduation parade was the City of Skopje, and the event was organized by the Culture and Arts Office and “Ritam Plus”, the Agency for Young and Sports, the European Commission Office, The Faculty of Tourism and the New York University from Skopje.

 

S.N.