ON STAGE TOGETHER 2019
HIGHLIGHTS!
"Antoniya was a fantastic teacher with great patience and eagerness to help me perform. She provided me with a beautiful costume for the performance that I loved taking pictures in. She and Veselin were the most gracious hosts who ate meals with me and chatted with me during down time."
"The ensemble members were so welcoming and excited to talk to me. They taught me about Bulgarian foods, customs, and tried to teach me basic phrases to use when shopping. They also loved teaching me dances that I didn't know."
"I highly recommend traveling to Dimitrovgrad for this workshop and festival. Veselin and Antoniya are lovely hosts and Zvezditza is a wonderful dance ensemble!
-- comments about the workshop
"The ensemble members were so welcoming and excited to talk to me. They taught me about Bulgarian foods, customs, and tried to teach me basic phrases to use when shopping. They also loved teaching me dances that I didn't know."
"I highly recommend traveling to Dimitrovgrad for this workshop and festival. Veselin and Antoniya are lovely hosts and Zvezditza is a wonderful dance ensemble!
-- comments about the workshop
Writing this is tricky as summing up so much joy, color, enthusiasm and love in a few highlights is a hard task. This year's workshop was embedded into not only the The International Folk Festival: With the Dances of Our Ancestors, the Praznik na Horoto - a town-wide celebration of the Bulgarian horo with Zvezditza & friends (local horo clubs), but also, and really most brightly, into the 25th anniversary of Ensemble Zvezditza. Our workshop participants celebrated along with the hundreds of Zvezditza's current and former dancers who rehearsed tirelessly to mark this very special occasion! What a feast of rhythm, cheer, and dance artistry the anniversary concert was!
The final spectacular performance was only the culmination of several days of music and dance joy! When not rehearsing with Zvezditza, workshoppers were immersed in Bulgarian culture, getting a taste and feel of local hospitality. In the evening we watched the festival concerts and joined post-concert parties. And oh the Celebration of the Horo (Praznik na Horoto)! The horo heaven descended onto the enormous main square of Dimitrovgrad and the dozens of horo groups unleashed their dance energy at once, combining their spirit into a captivating storm of joyful hearts!
Zvezditza's anniversary concert and the final performance -- the night we got to dance together on stage!
With the Dances of Our Ancestors festival offered a beautiful array of folk groups from all over Bulgaria and Europe. Their performances were a great cap of each day! There you go On Stage Together 2019 in a nutshell :))