Bulgarian, Georgian, and Ukrainian Dance on the Brighton Beach Boardwalk, Saturday, June 6, 2015
Channel: Christopher Mulé
Date: 2015-06-16

The "Bosilek” Bulgarian Folk Dance Ensemble has been performing the exciting dances of Bulgaria in the New York metropolitan area, around the US and in Bulgaria for over 36 years. Today, they are joined by musicians from Young Bulgarian Voices New York and will present traditional dances (“horos”) from different parts of Bulgaria to traditional melodies performed on gaida (bagpipe, played by Nedyalko Ketev), tupan (large two-headed drum, played by Ivailo Kuchev) and gudulka (pear-shaped bowed stringed instrument, played by Lyubo Smilenov). In addition, they are joined by “101 Kaba Gaidi and Tupani NY” and will perform a  lively pravo horo from the Rodopi mountains of south Bulgaria.

ABOUT FOLK FEET 
In 2004, former Brooklyn Arts Council Folk Arts director, Dr. Kay Turner, called traditional dance “one of the least served areas in the arts in the United States.” In order to remedy the situation, she began Folk Feet, an initiative that documented and presented Brooklyn traditional dance forms through teaching workshops and public showcases. For the next six years, she identified over 180 dancers, supported dozens of showcases, and created a vast collection of educational and archival materials that highlighted the depth and breadth of traditional dance in Brooklyn. 

From May through July, BAC will celebrate Folk Feet’s 10th anniversary through a series of public programs that will fuse past participants of Folk Feet (i.e. Shock-a-Lock) with emerging traditional dance forms and communities in Brooklyn (i.e Flex dance). In keeping with Folk Feet’s past, each free public program will feature a mix of teaching workshops and showcases.  These programs are more than entertainment, but opportunities to experience the many different ways a sense of community and cultural identity is polished, like a gem, and strengthened, through traditional dance in the borough of Brooklyn.

Currently, traditional dance practitioners continue to be underserved and struggle to find economic resources, affordable spaces to rehearse and perform, and a next generation to care for these traditions. It is our hope that you attend and participate in our upcoming programs. But please, don’t stop there!  We urge you to get involved with the dance groups and practitioners that are keeping these traditions alive and support their ongoing activities.

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