A new stage now opens for the recent graduates, both those continuing their studies at the intermediate level and those moving on from secondary school at the same institution.
More than twenty students from the Music and Dance specialities received their graduation diplomas this Wednesday at the Ñola Sahig Saínz Elementary Art School in Ciego de Ávila, in a ceremony that closed the 2025-2026 school year on the stage of the Principal Theatre.
The ceremony opened with the National Anthem and a brief performance by student Brianna de la C. Tejeda Suráez, accompanied by teacher Yudelvis Reyes.
From there onwards, the programme combined the presentation of diplomas with pieces such as Rimsky-Korsakov’s Mazurka in Spotify, Kabalevsky’s Concerto in C major, Moisés Simons’ El manisero and José White’s La bella cubana, each performed by a different student alongside their teacher.
There was also a moment for individual recognition. The Best Graduate diplomas went to Valeria Sofía Gómez Darias, Yanicel García Rodríguez, Angeli Judith Soto Arias and Gabriela Contreras Sablón; the latter was also named the Most Integral Student of the cohort.
And in an unusual gesture within a gala conceived for music and dance, three young people graduated as Theatre instructors: Claudia Vanesa Cabrera Curbelo, Geidy Cristina Milián Castillo and Yuliet Saldívar Silva, now placed in cultural centres across the province.
Professor José Félix Rópeda, specialist in Artistic Education at the Provincial Culture Directorate, thanked the presence of families and institutions, and named teachers such as Ángela La O García, Gertrudis Hernández Terry and Kisly Pavón Gómez, as well as groups such as the Provincial Concert Band and companies like Caminos Teatro, D’Morón Teatro and Habana Dance.
He mentioned them as the support that has allowed training to continue, despite the energy limitations the country is going through.
The school’s director, Gilberto Báez Martínez, closed his speech by calling this generation «the heart» of the school.
The Ñola Sahig has received no small amount of praise in educational and cultural matters. It recently completed the level transition, although in a new «way of being» and adapted to the current times, the students will be able to continue their intermediate studies in the province and in others as deemed appropriate.
The gala ended with Miguel Matamoros’s Son de la Loma, played together by students of the centre, intermediate-level students and musicians from the Ciego de Ávila Concert Band, under the baton of Juan Carlos Corcho Vergara. And, as the programme itself announced, everything ended in a conga: the stage became a dance floor and the graduation, a celebration.
