HAVANA.- Hundreds of spectators attended the opening of the Festival Artes de Cuba, held at the Eisenhower Theater at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., dancing to Cuban rhythms.

Although the rhythmic sonorities made their feet move more than once, the general invitation to dance came with El manisero, one of the most famous songs in Cuban music.

The work of Moisés Simons, a popular Cuban symbol, was the ideal closing act for a vibrant show that featured performances by renowned figures and orchestras from Cuba.

The first sounds of the island that impacted the audience were those of Afro-Cuban music, through Yosvany Terry's Quintet and his work Laroko, according to the Prensa Latina agency, from the U.S. capital.

This piece, dedicated to the Eleguá deity from the Arará tradition, conquered with its exclusive combination of songs and applause, and left the way open for the stellar interpretations of the evening.

After this group, the outstanding pianists Aldo López-Gavilán and Jorge Luis Pacheco ratified the virtuosity that has earned them international fame with a mixture of creations such as Ernesto Lecuona's La Comparsa and the emblematic Guantanamera.

The Miguel Faílde orchestra filled the interior of the Eisenhower theatre with energy with the pieces Almendra and Ran Kan Kan Kan, which lifted the audience from their seats, according to the same source.

Great emotion was aroused by the arrival on the stage of Diva del Buena Vista Social Club, Omara Portuondo, in whose voice two great songs of all time vibrated: Veinte años and Quizás.

In this way, the doors of a festival were opened in which, in addition to music, dance, theatre, cinema and plastic arts, among other manifestations, will be on hand.