Sofia is particularly colorful over the last days of July due to another cultural event – the Vitosha International Folklore Festival 2017, held in the period July 21 – 25th.

“The dancing groups at this year’s 21st edition come from all continents,” says Mr. Nestor Nestorov, director of the festival. “We have invited representatives of Latvia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Slovakia – Europe. The state ensemble of Georgia is also here. Formations from Ecuador, India and Argentine represent two more continents – South America and Asia. For a first time this year we have guests from Singapore. A total of 16 formations with over 500 participants are attending the event. Each year we try to provoke the interest of the audience, so this time during the defile along the central Vitosha Blvd. in Sofia we married a couple. They got married into the Sveta Nedelya Church with traditional Bulgarian rituals.”

Kancho Kanchev, chief inspector of the Vitosha Area in Sofia adds:

“This year we also have representatives of Chile, of the Guam Island, of Brazil, Indonesia, China etc. All these people come to Sofia for a first time, as Mr. Nestorov hasn’t invited a single formation twice for 21 years.”

The competition for the festival’s cup was severe as usual, since all the ensembles have national and global awards on their record. The international jury recognized the Mtsvervali Ensemble from Georgia as the best performance – the latter was magnificent, presenting rich and colorful traditional costumes.

The 21st Vitosha Festival is organized under the auspices of the FIDAF Federation of International Dance Festivals and the Sofia 6 Ensemble, established by Nestor Nestorov in 1976 hosts the event. Mr. Nestorov is the art director of the award-winning formation. Some of the most prestigious prizes include Sofia’s Big Dancing Award 2008, 2009, Palma-2009 at Palma de Majorca, Golden Shad 2010 in Bursa, Turkey and the Grand Prix of the big Asian folklore dances contest in Korea, 2010.

After the major contest nights the formations are to face less festival tasks and more time for fun, travels and contacts with new and interesting friends.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev