site.btaLazarka Ensemble Head Petkov: Record 120 Performers and Groups to Join Munich Folk Festival

A record 120 groups and solo performers will take part in the 11th Expats Join Hands in Worldwide Dance festival in Munich from May 15 to 17, Lazarka Ensemble head Plamen Petkov told BTA on Tuesday. Lazarka is hosting this year’s edition.

The event will be held at BMW Park in the Bavarian capital, with preparations already in their final stages.

Petkov said the venue was chosen for its large capacity and landmark status in Munich.

“From the outset, we sought a venue with at least 3,000 seats, which was our initial attendance estimate for the festival, and interest is now even higher,” Petkov said.

He added that Munich has few venues with that capacity. The organizers considered other options, but BMW Park’s offer proved the most affordable, at least initially.

Petkov said the initial plan was to hold the festival in a concert hall, but the city’s main venue, recommended by local cultural institutions, is under renovation. The other large philharmonic hall is fully booked and could not host a three-day event.

“It was a major success for us to win the trust of BMW Park’s management and rent the hall. That is not easy, especially for an association like ours, which is non-profit and lacks large-scale funding,” Petkov said.

Petkov said teams had been set up to handle all areas of the organization and were now in the final stretch.

Preparations for the traditional Megdan bazaar are nearly complete, he said. The tents have been secured, participants have registered, and setup at BMW Park will begin in the early hours of Friday, May 15, ahead of the festival’s official opening.

Petkov said organizers had faced difficulties drawing up the programme and running order, particularly because of the World Dance Collective, which brings together 55 dancers from more than 25 Bulgarian ensembles from Europe and the US, and Mladost na Megdana, which includes 32 young people from 19 dance ensembles across Europe.

“There are people from many groups involved, and we had to coordinate their participation both in these joint formations and with their own ensembles. We also had to take into account when individual groups arrive and leave, as well as their preferences for programme slots,” Petkov said.

He added that the programme had now been finalized, while the music, video materials and multimedia for the event were being completed. Work is also under way on food and drinks, with catering to be handled by hosts Lazarka.

A dedicated organizing team is also working on The Big Horo, which will take place at Max-Joseph-Platz on May 17.

Petkov said one of the biggest challenges in organizing the festival was building a working team from the ensemble’s own dancers.

“We are an ensemble that brings people together to dance for pleasure. Now, however, the dancers have become the main drivers of the festival’s organization,” Petkov said.

Participants have been assigned to different teams and often carry out tasks unrelated to their professions, Petkov said. Programmers coordinate staff, while others who work in entirely different fields handle catering, and so on.

“Through this organization, we have begun to get to know one another in a different way and discover qualities we had not seen in each other before. Although everyone is under pressure at the moment, I believe we will be even more united after the festival,” Petkov said.

Petkov said another challenge was organizing such an event in Germany, given the many administrative and legal requirements.

He singled out the large number of participants as a third challenge, saying that was why the festival would be held over three days. Until its 10th edition, the forum had traditionally been held over two days, he said.

“If we had kept the two-day format, we would have had to turn groups down. We do not want to exclude anyone, so the programme has been spread over three days,” Petkov said, adding that he believed the festival would probably continue to grow.

An additional difficulty for the hosts is that the hall is in high demand and another event will be held there immediately before the travelling festival. This means on-site preparations must begin in the early hours of opening day, Petkov said.

The biggest challenge, he said, was securing financing for the festival.

“Unfortunately, we found ourselves in a period of crisis, both globally and in Bulgaria, with changes of government and uncertainty, and the support we expected from the country did not materialize,” Petkov said.

He said organizational costs had far exceeded initial expectations, prompting a donation campaign dedicated entirely to supporting the festival.

“At first, we thought the campaign would support a charitable cause or another non-profit purpose, but after talks with the festival’s initiators, we decided the funds should be used to cover the costs of the event itself, from the festival and for the festival,” Petkov said.

The campaign will remain active until the festival opens, Petkov said, adding that donations so far range from EUR 5 to EUR 500.

During the festival, a special Lazarka stand will offer the full official range of branded products dedicated to the three-day folk event.

Organizers expect Expats Join Hands in Worldwide Dance to also draw interest from German audiences. The largest turnout of local visitors is expected during the large open-air horo, Petkov said, adding that other major events will be taking place in the city centre at the same time, including celebrations of Bayern Munich’s championship title and a public demonstration nearby.

“We have invited our friends, colleagues, acquaintances and former Lazarka dancers from different periods of the ensemble’s existence. We hope there will also be interest from the German side,” Petkov said.

The Bulgarian News Agency is the official media partner of the 11th edition of the travelling festival Expats Join Hands in Worldwide Dance, which will take place from May 15 to 17 at BMW Park in Munich, Germany.

As part of the partnership, festival participants will be featured in the BG World section. A special banner has been created to link to all stories related to the event, which BTA also plans to cover on site during the three festival days in the German city.

The presentation will begin in early March, and the articles will also be translated into English for BTA’s English Service, where a banner has also been created to link to festival news.

The travelling festival Expats Join Hands in Worldwide Dance is organized by and for amateur folk ensembles based outside Bulgaria. The festival was launched by the Ot Izvora Group in Lyon, France, which organized and hosted both the first edition in 2015 and the 10th edition in 2025. Over the years, Expats Join Hands in Worldwide Dance has also been held in Montpellier, France, in 2016, Gandia-Valencia, Spain, in 2017, Milan, Italy, in 2018, La Nucia, Spain, in 2019, Verona, Italy, in 2020, Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2022, Prague, Czechia, in 2023, and Palma de Mallorca, Spain, in 2024.

The 10th edition of the travelling festival Expats Join Hands in Worldwide Dance, of which BTA was also a partner, officially opened in Lyon, France, on June 6, 2025. Over three days, from June 6 to 8, four stage sessions were held, featuring all ensembles and individual participants in the festival.

On June 8, The Big Horo was held at Place des Terreaux, in front of Lyon City Hall, with dancers from more than 100 Bulgarian folk ensembles from 18 countries taking part.

At a special ceremony on the evening of June 8, organizers Dance Formation Ot Izvora in Lyon handed over hosting duties for the festival’s 11th edition in 2026 to the heads of Lazarka Ensemble in Munich.