The Best Colombian National Ballet in Doha
I had bought tickets to "The Best Colombian National Ballet in Doha" a long time ago and I was very much looking forward to the performance. Unfortunately, from start to finish, the evening could not have been more disappointing. Almost an hour late, a host who did not even introduce himself, blabbered along for way too long. When the dancers finally took the stage, they opened with a totally out of place and unsuitable 'New York, New York' Cabaret number. It was a school performance of immature local dancers at best, expressionless and definitely not by the "The Best Colombian National Ballet in Doha". The organizers seem to belief that Doha is a cultural wasteland for which a tourist resort show may do. However, Doha has proven very culturally educated and sophisticated with its world class National Symphony Orchestra, the Doha Players and the Doha Community Orchestra. The program was an insult, the acoustics dreadful, and the lighting irritating. The performance had very little to do with Colombia and even less with ballet. The charge of QR280 per ticket for this very misleading event was inappropriate and unjustified. The Colombia Embassy and anybody who helped organize it should be ashamed.
First of all, I would like to let you know that your feedback and comments are taken with the upmost respect and concern. We believe that you deserve an explication and apology for the way you felt after the show. Second, we would like to clarify that the organizers of the event have made no financial gain from this event, although you might consider that difficult to believe based on the cost of the ticket you paid.
As you were able to see during the event, we did not have any financial sponsors. KLM was kind enough to give us two tickets to raffle, but the dancers’ flights were paid by us. You may have also noticed the logo of the Movenpick Hotel in some of our advertisement but they only served us as a point of sale, but the accommodations had to be covered by us as well.
Additionally, the Ritz Carlton Hotel is an expensive venue which we used thinking in offering you and everyone at the event the best possible location. Also, the stage had to be rented as well as the light and sound. If you sum up just this factors we are already taking about an event that cost over 150,000 QR. Now if you add up the cost of the group, advertisement and all the logistics necessary to make this event happen you will be able to see that our main intention was no other than trying to create a cultural link with the Middle East and Latin America.
We turned to BNF (The dancers) just as anyone would have done based on their excellent reputation www.elfiruletebnf.com
; this was the case as well with the lights and sound which were highly recommended from companies they had worked for. BNF has ten years of experience with renowned choreographers and dancers.
Unfortunately, these dancers that came to Qatar had a horrendous trip to Doha, where they had to struggle with the discrimination we Colombians unfortunately have to deal with around the world, this resulted in a flight delayed of almost eight hours, changing the whole sequence we had planned beforehand. As a result we had several mishaps that we knew were going to affect the outcome but we had a responsibility in Doha and we had to go on with the show.
We would like you to know that we have no association whatsoever with the Colombian government and the idea stemmed from a group of Colombians who felt the need to bring some Latin American culture to this area. We take full responsibility for the show based on the facts that we firmly believe that we had the best ingredients to cook a successful evening. Everyone involved in the project worked diligently in the months before to try to make the event a night to remember. We are extremely saddened by your comments and that is why we are replying to your e-mail, so you can get a better picture of what really went on . We are convinced in our hearts that we took a calculated risk in order to try to bring something different and unique to the region.
We have learned a lot from this experience and we firmly believe that we have made no harm by being proud of our culture and by wanting to show the rest of the world some of our customs. We are convinced that we are doing something good while around the world there are so many people just doing bad.
Finally, we would like to thank you for taking the time to speak your mind and hope that you find in this honest and straight forward reply the explanation you were hoping for. Any additional questions can be refer to us and we will be glad to answer them for you.
I have also been waiting for this event for some time and disspointed is an understatement. I love Colombia and colombians, however, this just makes latin americans look like a bunch of amateurs. It was an embarrasment for all of us latins let alone colombians.
How can you charge 75 US dollars for that? Offer snaks that never arrived. You may blame the Ritz for that but there was not enough snaks for the amount of people.
The seating arrangements was a joke, the Movenpik did not even have a seating plan when they were selling the tickets as a sponsor. People were promissed good seats and some of it was just silly.
Started an hour late with some cheap cabaret New York dance that was a real joke and from there it went downhill. It was a point were I just wanted to walk away, just like one of those horrible movies. Only this time you paid 280 Riyals.
Did the organizers even went to Dubai to see these dancers?
I feel cheated and the organizers should not pay that ballet.
For those of you latins:
Dios, que pena senores y senoras esta fue una muy mala representacion de nostros los latinos.
Saludos