About 340 participants from 9 countries will take the stage at the summer theater in Veliko Tarnovo, where tonight opens the 26th edition of the International Folklore Festival.
For one week, Veliko Tarnovo once again becomes a song and dance scene of the world's folklore heritage. The International Folklore Festival is a significant event in the cultural calendar of our historical and spiritual capital, stressed the Deputy Mayor for Culture Neiko Genchev:
"Let people from different cultures with their unique traditions and customs come together here in Veliko Tarnovo. In this way, we show that all boundaries are conditional when people speak the language of art and culture".
The International Folklore Festival is organized by the National Section for Bulgaria of CIOFF - International Council of the Organizers of Festivals for Folklore and Traditional Arts, and the Municipality of Veliko Tarnovo for the 26th year, BNR clarifies. For the past quarter of a century, 283 ensembles from 119 countries on 5 continents and 242 Bulgarian compositions have appeared on its stages. More than 660 concerts were performed in front of more than 640,000 spectators, said Emil Pavlov from the organizers and explained about the participants this year:
"Dance ensembles from Cyprus, Comoros, China, Mexico, East Timor, Uruguay, Georgia".
For the first time on the Veliko Tarnovo stage, participants from Uruguay, East Timor and Comoros will present their art. Bulgaria will be represented by the dance ensemble "Yantra" from Budapest, from the hosts from the children's youth dance ensemble "Tarnovche", from the ensemble "Balkan" at the community center "Tsar Boris the Third" in Sofia and from the ensemble "Bistrica" from the village of the same name.
This year's International Folklore Festival is under the motto "Will you be here?" It does not stop developing and provoking the increasingly demanding audience, commented the director of the festival, Styliana Yorgova:
"To present culture, folklore and traditions of countries – seen and unseen, heard and unheard. Out of 195 countries, we have presented folklore and traditions in 119, and this year we are adding three more, we are upgrading every year, because the audience of Tarnovo deserves it.
The festival is an experience, say the volunteers Ina Mateeva, Anastasia Boradzhieva and Daniela Ivanova, who work with the international groups.
Tonight at 5:30 p.m. the parade of the groups from the student chair to the municipality of Veliko Tarnovo, and the official opening of the 26th edition of the International Folklore Festival is at 8 p.m. on the stage of the summer theater in the city. Until July 27, there are free concerts of the groups every evening from 8 pm.