site.btaRUMENI Dance Group from Burgos, Spain to Present Vrichane Dance at Munich Festival

RUMENI dance group from Burgos, Spain, will take part in the 11th Expats Join Hands in Worldwide Dance travelling festival, which will be held from May 15 to May 17 at BMW Park in Munich.

At this year’s edition of Expats Join Hands in Worldwide Dance in Munich, they will present their original composition Vrichane (Vow) – a dance from the Shopluk ethnographic region, which carries deep personal meaning, said choreographer Tsvetina Blagoeva of the group for the Bulgarian News Agency’s BG World Directorate.

She explained that the idea for the dance was inspired by the festival motto Libe le, libe hubavo (My Love, My Beautiful Love), and is connected to a personal family story.

“The idea for the dance was born from this year’s motto – Libe le, libe hubavo. In these words I found inspiration to tell a true story – the love of my grandmother and grandfather. A quiet and deep love, like a root that holds life upright,” she added.

Blagoeva said that the choreography was created together with her husband Blagoy Blagoev and is based on characteristic movements and rhythms of the Shopluk region.

She clarified that the musical foundation of the composition includes the folk song Moma ima belo lice performed by the Shopi Folk Song and Dance Ensemble (Balkanton), Bera – a horo from the Shopluk ethnographic region performed by the Zornitsa Orchestra (2002, Balkanfolk), as well as a fragment of Shopi Horo by the Philip Koutev National Folk Ensemble, arranged by Mihail Yordanov, with an introduction using text by the author Isi.

Asked by the Bulgarian News Agency what the dance tells, she replied:

“Vrichane starts from the end. From that moment when one is left alone – with one wing less, but with an entire world of memories. A memory of a love that may seem small in the eyes of the world, but is enough to fill a human life with meaning. And then we go back – to the beginning. To the flirtation as it once was: pure and sincere, modest but longing. To the glances that say more than words. To those first steps in which a promise is born. And where there is love, there is playfulness, laughter and joy. The celebration comes naturally – like the pulse of youth and the joy of being with the other. That is also our finale – the dance as a celebration of love that is vowed not with words, but with life. Vrichane is our bow to love that does not fade. A love that remains.”

She noted that the dance group was created less than a year ago and brings together young people who grew up outside Bulgaria.

“The group includes 13 young people, born and raised outside Bulgaria, but carrying it deeply in their hearts,” Blagoeva added.

She said the preparation for the performance is not only a rehearsal process, but a full experience aimed at making the performance truly felt and conveyed to the audience.

“Our participation in Expats Join Hands in Worldwide Dance is part of our mission – to preserve the Bulgarian spirit and pass it on through dance, even far from the homeland,” she concluded.

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.