Nine artistic groups from Chisinau municipality and nine from abroad are taking part in the twelfth edition of the International Folk Dance Festival for Children held on the occasion of the City Day. According to Valentina Cujba, deputy head of the General Division of Education, Youth and Sports, children’s groups from the creation centre “Sunflower” and the out-of-school activities centre “Rainbow” and artistic groups from several Chisinau high schools are participating in the festival, alongside dance groups from Kazakhstan, Belarus, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Romania. The festival opens on October 11 with a parade of the choreographic groups in the centre of Chisinau and laying of flowers to the monument of Stephan the Great. The opening ceremony and the festive concert will take place at the Culture and Arts Centre “Ginta Latină”. Valentina Cujba said that the festival is a dance holiday as well as an occasion for the choreographers to exchange experience. The choreographers will take part in show lessons, friendship soirées and concert programmes in Chisinau education institutions. The “Alley of Friendship” will be created in the park “At the Spring” as part of the festival. The festival participants will meet with the Mayor General of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca and with the Minister of Education and Youth Victor Tvircun. On October 13, the children’s groups will perform at the Central Army’s House and at the Trade Union’s Palace of Culture. On October 14, the International Folk Dance Festival will close with a final performance in the Great National Assembly Square