For the first time in the history of the national ballet, a Moldovan ballerina was given the Grand Prix at an international contest. The ballet soloist of the Lyrical Theatre of Moldova, Cristina Terentiev has recently won the Grand Prix of the VI International Ballet Contest in Vienna, Info-Prim Neo reports. Cristina Terentiva told a news conference on April 12 that she worked a lot, together with her teacher Olga Gurievschi, to develop the expressivity of each gesture, each move, so that they show exactly the idea of the dance. In the first stage of the contest that brought together 300 ballet artists from such countries as Austria, Russia, China, Slovenia, Japan, Germany, Slovakia, she performed variations from Don Quixote Ballet, and in the second stage she danced a tango. The ballerina says that the rest of the participants showed exceptional skills, that is why the decision of the jury surprised her. Terentieva says that the greatest problem she encountered on her way to the contest were the visas. This fact made a group of students from the Choreographic Lyceum to give up the contest. The teacher of the ballerina, Olga Gurievschi, former ballet soloist, says that it is very difficult to show everything one can in a variation lasting 1 minute and 20 seconds. In her words, her young student obtained for the first time in the history of the Opera and Ballet Theatre a Grand Prix at an international contest, offering the best gift to the Theatre at its 50 year anniversary. Minister of Culture Artur Cozma, attending the news conference to offer a diploma to Cristina Terentiev promised he will ask the leadership of Moldova to confer on the gifted ballerina the title “Master of Arts”. At only 24, Cristina Terentiev has remarkable professional achievements. She was the first soloist at the Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada having the leading part in the new version of “Figaro” ballet. Together with her husband Alexei, they were the first soloists at Albert Hall in London, where they danced the “Nutcracker”. She won diplomas at the international contests in Varna, St. Petersburg and others.