First lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) met with celebrities from Spanish political, artistic and cultural circles in Barcelona on Thursday at a party held after a performance by Taiwan’s Cloud Gate Dance Theatre at the Grec Festival.
Chow attended the reception along with the troupe’s founder Lin Hwai-min (林懷民) and dancers in her capacity as honorary director of the dance company. The party was hosted by Taiwan’s representative office in Spain.
Francisco Hwang (黃瀧元), head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Spain, expressed his gratitude at the party to a number of Spanish parliamentarians, politicians and culture buffs who traveled from afar to see the Cloud Gate performance at Barcelona’s prestigious arts festival.
Among the Spanish guests were Francisco Vano Ferre, president of a Taiwan friendship group in the Spanish parliament, and Antonio Gutierrez Molina, secretary-general of the group, as well as officials from the Barcelona city government and representatives of major Spanish political parties.
Ricardo Szwarcer, chief executive of the Grec Festival, also led a group of renowned Spanish performing artists and cultural promoters to attend Cloud Gate’s first show at this year’s festival.
It was the second time the ensemble had been invited to perform at the annual international arts extravaganza that includes theater, dance, music and creative circus performances.
Chow, accompanied by her daughter Kelly Ma (馬元中), chatted with guests at the party.
Chow flew to Barcelona on Wednesday from Italy where she attended Cloud Gate’s performances of another of its signature pieces titled Songs of the Wanderers.
Last month, she also accompanied the dancers on a tour of Russia, where they performed Whisper of Flowers at the 2010 Chekhov International Theatre Festival.
Chow is scheduled to return home after Cloud Gate concludes its performances at the Grec Festival tomorrow.
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