Dancing Europe in Sofia
Penka Momchilova, BTA
13 May, 2017
A wide variety of traditional dances of European nations were performed by professional and amateur ensembles at the Dancing Europe concert, which took place under the Largo’s domes in Sofia. The event dedicated to Europe Day, celebrated on 9 May, was part of the European Music Festival. Czech polka, Austrian waltz, Italian tarantella, Polish mazurka, Romanian, Greek, Spanish and Norwegian dances were presented at the music and dance project. The Bulgarian folk tradition was also appropriately featured in the show, which saw 15 dancers from the National Art company; dance couples from Asti Dance, which is specialised in European national dances, as well as the Zdravets youth folk ensemble, headed by Georgi Stoyanov. The hosts of the concert, National Musical Theatre soloists Katerina Tuparova and Alexander Mutafchiyski, offered their audience a hefty dose of fun, good humour and surprises. The dances were performed to live music provided by the Sofia Brass Band with conductor Yuli Damyanov. The concert was initially supposed to take place in the open space at Independence Square but the bad weather conditions forced organisers to move it to the Serdica Ancient Cultural and Communications Complex. Dancing Europe is organised in association with the Polish Institute and the Hungarian Cultural institute in Sofia. The European Music Festival’s programme in May also features concerts by Vesko Panteleev – Eschkenazy with music by Vivaldi and Piazzolla on 20 May and by the Bucknell University Choir from the US on 31 May. Organised by the Cantus Firmus Music Agency in association with the Ministry of Culture, the European Music Festival is on Sofia Municipality’s Calendar of Cultural Events.
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