Twelve MassKara Festival dancers from Bacolod City, who were finally granted visas, left for Milan, Italy, on Friday, June 28.
The dancers from Barangay Granada will perform at the Sandiwa Fiesta Europa, the culmination of the month-long commemoration by the Filipino community in Northern Italy of the 126th anniversary of Philippine independence, this weekend, June 29-30.
Bacolod Councilor Jason Villarosa, who accompanied the dancers, said it was “a dream, turned into reality.”
It will be the first time the MassKara dancers will be performing in Europe.
Earlier the MassKara dancers’ visa applications were denied by the Italian Embassy “due to a lack of required documentation or unclear personal situation”, Caesar Distrito, spokesman of Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, said.
Villarosa, chairperson of the SP Committee on Tourism and International Relations, sent an apology letter to the Italian Embassy “due to some misunderstanding and miscommunication” that caused the initial denial of the dancers’ visas, Distrito said.
Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, who is personally shouldering the expenses of the dancers and the delegation, thanked the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Italian Embassy for assisting in the application and approval of the visas, Distrito said.
The MassKara dancers were invited to perform in Milan by the Philippine Consulate Office there, he said.*