Teodora Byalkova joined the Bulgarian Sunday school "Sts. Cyril and Methodius" in Athens in the 2022/23 school year. At that time, she also organized the dance formation "Ludi-Mladi" for current and graduated students. Since then, the group has participated in many festivals in the Greek capital and throughout the country. Everywhere in Greece, the group is welcomed with much applause, as the students perform with all their heart and soul on stage. The group includes both current students and former graduates of the school, which is led by Mimi Nicheva. The age of the dancers is from 13 to over 20 years.

Teodora has not graduated from a school of dance and choreography but her love for Bulgarian folklore dance rhythms emerged a long time ago. To this day, this interest does not subside and she continues to attend many seminars and trainings, through which she builds on her knowledge and passes it on to her students in the Bulgarian dance formation from Athens.

Each dance is learnt step by step, while parents and other teachers help the children in the process, despite the busy curriculum, the head of the "Ludi Mladi" formation says:

"Every free minute, mainly on Saturdays and Sundays when there are rehearsals, the children come to the school and learn dances for new performances. As a subject at school, Bulgarian folklore is studied 6 hours a week, but the children are very engaged throughout the week. Our dances are from every folklore region in Bulgaria and at the concerts we perform dances from different regions of our country. There are no children here who have taken the path of professional dance after school yet, but I hope that there will be those who would return and study in Bulgaria, as there are no such specialized choreography schools in Greece. My coming to Athens is not some kind of coincidence - my mother left Bulgaria and I followed her after that. I came to Athens, settled here and have been here for 13 years now. The activities with the folklore formation are not my main job. Each of us in the Sunday school has other professional activities, while the work with the Bulgarian children is something like an additional activity – we are missionaries in terms of education. That is why we sacrifice our weekends, but we all come to school with great desire to pass on our knowledge to the children."

Raya Chukanova is one of the participants in Teodora Byalkova’s folklore formation. She is an 11th-grade student and comes to the Sunday school "Sts. Cyril and Methodius" mostly to learn Bulgarian. She is aware that she speaks Greek very well but is lagging behind with her mother tongue. Bulgarian folklore and especially dances are her passion.

"We don't want to lose our Bulgarian traditions and that is why we created this group with students and teachers from this Bulgarian school in Athens. We go to many festivals and performances. I don't go back to Bulgaria often because of my school commitments,” 16-year-old Raya tells us. “Of course I don't like that because my relatives are there. The school helps me not to forget my roots. I really want to return to Bulgaria for a longer time someday, but first I want to finish my education here. No one knows what lies ahead for me."

Author: Gergana Mancheva

Publication in English: Al. Markov

Photos: Bulgarian Sunday School "Sts. Cyril and Methodius" in Athens, mfa.bg