site.btaEssen-Based Rodina Dance Group to Perform at Expats Join Hands in Worldwide Dance Festival in Munich

The Rodina dance group based in Essen will take part in the 11th Expats Join Hands in Worldwide Dance travelling festival that will be held in Munich from May 15 to 17.

Rodina will take part in the festival for a second year in a row. As last year, both the group’s young dancers and its adults will appear on stage, but this time with two separate dances, Rodina leader Severina Petkova told the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). She added that both performances featured choreography created by her.

The dances bring to life the story of a meeting between a young man and a young woman—how they find each other, fall in love and, together with everyone else, celebrate love. It is precisely love that is the theme of the festival in Munich. Love is not only present in the choreographies—it can be felt in every movement, every step, and it is written on the face of every dancer, from the youngest to the most experienced, aged 6 to 50, Petkova said. ”It is love for Bulgarian dance and music—alive, shared and inspiring. A love that unites us as a group. A love that, for another year, brings together more than 100 ensembles from around the world and turns the festival into a true celebration of the Bulgarian spirit,” Petkova said.

She added that, to prepare for the festival, the group often holds extra rehearsals, and many of the dancers keep working to improve even in their free time.

“Children find it especially exciting - they carry the dance with them wherever they go. Even during the holidays, they dance at home, in the mountains, or wherever they are spending their break, driven by a genuine desire to be part of this celebration,” she said.

Earlier, in an interview with BTA, Petkova said Rodina is a folklore group for children and adults founded in 2021 in Essen. The idea came up in a spontaneous conversation among several parents of pupils at the Ivan Vazov Bulgarian Sunday School at the Rodina association, while they were waiting for their children during lessons.

“And so they began meeting every week in the school building, dancing Bulgarian folk chain dances to the rhythm of Bulgarian folk music. Seeing this, the children showed strong interest in folk music and dance and joined the rehearsals during breaks between classes. Then something even nicer and more meaningful happened: a children’s dance group took shape,” Petkova added.

She said learning Bulgarian folk dances is included as an optional subject in the school curriculum, which helps build and strengthen children’s connection to Bulgarian folk dances, music, traditions and culture.

Over time, the number of dancers grew and the group began taking part in various local events in Essen, Aachen, Munster, Dusseldorf and other cities, she added.

Petkova, a long-time dancer who also leads a children’s group at the Zdravets dance ensemble in Sofia, now runs both Rodina folklore dance groups. The assistant leader of Rodina’s children’s dance group is Veselina Chakarova, who also has many years of dance experience.

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.