site.btaRitmika Folk Lab Heads to Munich Gathering With New Rhodope Dance

Ritmika Folk Lab from Milan will perform a Rhodope dance at the 11th Na Megdana na Drugata Bulgaria travelling gathering in Munich from May 15 to 17, head of the group Ana Sotirova told BTA on Wednesday.

The ensemble will present a Rhodope dance. “We chose this folklore region for our dance because the Rhodope bagpipes, with their distinctive sound, touch the heart of every Bulgarian wherever they are, but also because in our 10-year repertoire of choreographed productions we did not have a dance from this area,” Sotirova said.

“For the dance, we used emblematic Rhodope folk songs and music, and the choreography libretto was based on an idea by Ritmika Folk Lab in cooperation with Aleksandar Kastelov,” Sotirova added.

Sotirova said the dance is filled with the beauty of Rhodope women’s movements and the strength of the men in the Rhodope Mountains.

“Our group is excited by the challenge of performing a dance that is new to us in style and character, as well as by the chance to present our own approach to making costumes and preparing a dance entirely through our own efforts, which makes this choreography even more special for us,” Sotirova said.

Ritmika has participants aged 19 to 60. The choir of the Bulgarian Association for Cultural Exchange in Milan is made up almost entirely of Italians.

The Bulgarian Association for Cultural Exchange in Milan, which includes Ritmika Folk Lab, Bela Ruzha Choir and Az, Buki, Vedi Online School, was registered on November 23, 2016.

Since then, the folk workshop and the choir have organized and taken part in numerous events across Italy and abroad.

“Ritmika has a rich repertoire and costume collection, which are the result of the tireless and steady work of all members over the 10 years of our organisation’s life. Our aim is both to preserve, spread and pass Bulgarian folklore on to future generations, and to create an environment in which our members always find their own little Bulgaria and family, even far from home,” Sotirova said.

“We cannot wait to meet again all our friends from the other Bulgarian folklore groups abroad at the gathering in Munich,” Sotirova added.

The travelling festival Expats Join Hands in Worldwide Dance is organized by and for amateur folklore ensembles performing outside Bulgaria. The initiative was launched by the Ot Izvora group in Lyon, France, which hosted both the first edition in 2015 and the tenth edition in 2025. More than 100 dance ensembles and over 4,000 guests are expected at the 11th edition in Munich in May. The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) is the official media partner of the event and will present all participants.