Young talents from 15 European countries in Sandanski

Bnr.bg, Gergana Mancheva, Iva Letnikova

Energy, rhythm and light – these were the forces setting in motion life, even though for 5 days only, for the hundreds of participants in the Balkan Youth Festival staged for the 12th time in Bulgaria. This year the event was held in the town of Sandanski, Southwestern Bulgaria.
Directness and the pleasure of close communication were everywhere – among the street arts performers, singers on stage, and participants in the round table tackling the issue of informal education. So in the course of five days Sandanski was the venue of performances and friendships, concerts, exhibitions and improvised street shows. On Saturday night there was a big concert gathering by tradition the majority of participants in the festival. It featured pop and rock groups from Hungary, Finland, Greece, Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria. Enchanting folk songs and dances came on the part of Turkey, Kosovo, Albania, Romania and Bulgaria again. Break-dancers from France showed on the other hand that human capabilities actually have no boundaries. The guests from Spain put up a stunning fire show presenting an ancient tradition of dancing and making fire figures with lit torches. It turned out that many young Bulgarians are at present keen on learning how to stage such a fire show. This is perhaps one of the latest non-traditional forms of youth art gaining fast popularity. Nikolai Tsvetkov from Sofia has come with a group of friends to present the art of dancing with torches.
“All this exchange between people from different countries is very attractive and that is why I come to the festival,” he explains. “There are here young people from all over Europe. I am part of a fire show. We are here people from different parts of Bulgaria practicing this ancient art. There are no age restrictions. Last year there was a girl of 10 who was very good with the fire. But I have also friends of 30 and 40 performing. This is a bit unusual and very few people in this country can do it. But it helps get many new acquaintances. Some time ago I was at a similar festival in Poland and there I got to know many of the people I now see in Sandanski. The organization is very good and the contacts with the people you can meet here – the experience is unforgettable.”
Emilia Marinova is Director of the Balkan Youth Festival. Over 100 young volunteers came to help put the project through.
“The idea of the festival came up in 1995 during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Mrs. Marinova explains. “Then we thought it would be a good idea for young people go set an example for politicians from different Balkan countries of how they can get together and make contacts, work together, be creative and enjoy themselves in such a way as to make differences fade away and overcome old prejudices. At the first edition of the festival in 1996 there came young people from Macedonia, Albania, Romania, Greece, Greece and Turkey and they were pleasantly surprised to find out how very much alike they were. They enjoyed one and the same music, they dressed alike, they were interested in one and the same issues. At that time the topic of the round table was rather general: “Partnership – now and in the future”. For the following forum the participants set up the subject of possibilities for employment and education. One of the subjects of the current edition of the festival is “All different, but never indifferent”. The interest in the festival has been constantly increasing and this has been a highly motivating factor to continue with this forum for 12 years in a row. During the first year the festival gathered 100 people, while now we have had over 1000 participants,” Emilia Marinova, Director of the festival concludes.