Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

The Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad has announced the launch of a public contest for creative groups willing to participate in the Cultural Program of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

Sochi is a 400,000 people population city situated on the Black Sea coast near the Georgia-Russia border in the third largest region in Russia.

Sochi was elected out of six cities to host the XXII Olympic Winter Games in 2014 on July 2007. These games will be the first time in the Russian Federation history to host the Winter Games, previously the Soviet Union hosted the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow.

This unique cultural public contest encourages the participation of talented teams from right across the world, with the artists performing a wide variety of genres - from modern stage singing and dancing to pantomime and acrobatics.

The competition winners and finalists will get the opportunity to demonstrate their skills on a global stage and become a high-profile part of the Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad, as they will perform in front of the numerous guests of the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi.

Entries from Russia and all of the participating countries in the 2014 Games in Sochi are invited and all musical genres are welcome to apply, including: pop songs (romance, ballad, folk songs), jazz, stage dancing (folk, ball dancing, ballet, modern), stage theater, spoken genre (a scene, sketch, story, monologue), pantomime, parody, acrobatics, gymnastics, balancing acts, clown show, juggling, athletics, magic tricks, costumes and others.

The selection process will consist of two stages. Firstly, the finalists will be chosen through an online voting system, and then an expert panel, consisting of well-known cultural figures, will announce the three winners who could be solo artists or groups.

To participate in the contest a video clip of participant's performance should be uploaded on a fully accessible video-hosting website by August 28th 2013 and send the link and information about yourself to [email protected]

The video, along with a completed registration form, can also be send by post to P.O. Box 154, Moscow 105005.

The audition tapes will be available online for voting from October 29, 2012 at the official website www.culture.sochi2014.com Finalists will be announced on September 10, 2013.

More details on the staging of the contest and the registration form is accessible on the official website.