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On December 20, 2006 in hall 2 at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia, hundreds of folklore fans had the chance to see Zdravets ensemble’s performance and celebrate the 70th anniversary of the choreographer Vassil Valchev.

This time the Christmas holidays weren’t the only reason for the kids and juvenile folklore ensemble to organize a concert, not only was it a celebration of Valchev’s 70th anniversary but also 50 years since he has worked as a choreographer.

Vassil Valchel was born in the town of Yambol, south-east Bulgaria. In 1959 he graduated at VIF (Physical Education Institute) at the Pedagogic department. He spent 29 years as a soloist at the National Army Ensemble and meanwhile worked as a dance teacher at the Rosna Kitka Ensemble. 7 years he was the director of the ensemble at the Ivan Vazov cultural club in Kostinbrod and 9 years worked with Zdravets’ children.

The ensemble presented numerous dances in two different lines – international dances and Bulgarian dances. The first part of the programme, the international dances were a wonderful surprise to some, but most of the audience knew that namely these dances won the first prize at “The Youth Makes Art”, which is a competition for international dances, and this thanks to Vassil Valchev’s teaching.

A Russian women’s dance was performed in the beginning, a fairy-tale-like slow dance, which promised for an awesome spectacle. Then, smaller girls and boys presented a lively and colourful dance from Mexico. The smallest kids turned into pigeons with the Japanese dance and played with their sky blue fans in an amazing manner. The Arabian dance started with boys in black and white clothes, but when the girls all covered in golden coins appeared the audience exploded. The second part of the concert was a Bulgarian dance show. It started with men’s dance from the region of Thrace. It represented very well how men used to work in the field to collect the crops, followed by a nice women’s dance from Pazardzhik. The small group of the Zdravets ensemble, girls dressed in yellow dresses and colourful aprons, wearing big flowers on their heads, appeared all smiling and danced Dzhinovsko.

Vassil Valchev was congratulated by the youngest member of the ensemble with a typical survakari poem. The youngest players – gadoulka, gaida and tapan, played for him a fast horo. Lozenska Mladost folklore ensemble, directed by Yulia Stoichkova, presented a beautiful Macedoian dance, a special gift for Valchev’s anniversaries.

Zdravets presented a fast Shopian dance and a lively dance from North Bulgaria. The concert ended with Zdravets’ special performance – Koda, in which all the dancers took part. The audience applauded and wanted to see more. It was a nice start of Christmas holidays and a wonderful celebration of Vassil Valchev’s anniversaries.

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Vera Genova