Every two years, Panama City becomes a huge theater. For a little longer than a week, the finest contemporary dancers and performing actors from around the world huddle in the nation’s capital

The International Festival of the Performing Arts (FA E is the Spanish acronym) can be construed as a genuine stage bash that comes around every two years armed with the latest theatrical trends and presentations of the times.

The festival is an independent artistic and cultural event, masterminded and implemented by Enrique Quina, and realized with the efforts of a bunch of producers, cultural activists and theater-related people. The festival’s first edition, back in 2004, used the Balboa and Anita Villalaz Theater as the main venue, coming to the National Theater a couple of years later, in 2006. However, two other major cultural institutions –“La Casa de las Brujas” (The Witches House) and the Cathedral Square- also hosted the event.

Last April, the latest edition of the International Festival of the Performing Arts put theatrical groups from Argentina, Cuba, Spain, Colombia, Costa Rica, Brazil, Mexico, the U.S., Uruguay and from the turf on the stage limelight. In addition to the possibility of enjoying exceptional presentations from those groups, this year’s event included chat sessions, master lessons on dancing and a number ofworkshops on vocal performance, movements and acting. Today, FA E is by far one of the most ambitious cultural projects Panama has to offer.

The event has quality, international level and potential to progressively become one of the most important offerings that could help put the country on the map as a soughtafter travel destination for both local and foreign tourists.

The 2010 edition of FA E has already been summoned for lovely Panama City, a place where the performing arts and dancing will once again enthrall the public with artistic presentations from near and faraway corners of the planet.