Cultural Exchange

I had the opportunity to spend 5 days in Dryanovo (a town in what I define as central Bulgaria). Highlights of the trip include revisiting places of interest such as Dryanovo Monastery, the fortress Tsarevets in Veliko Tarnovo, and architectural landmark villages such as Bozhentsi and Etara. I also visited the cave Bacho Kiro for the first time. I loved seeing each and every one of these places. But the one thing that left the biggest impression on me from those 5 days was a certain cultural event -- an International Multicultural Performance Festival, which was taking place in Veliko Tarnovo but for some reason one of the nights was hosted in Dryanovo. The performance involved dance troops from South Africa, Mauritius, and Italy. So here we are in a pretty small town in the middle of Bulgaria, not one known for its cultural riches, and we are watching African dances! I found that kind of amazing. I am sure most of the people from the town had never seen Africans in person, let alone a live cultural performance such as this one. It seemed like most of the audience was really enjoying itself. As the dances came to an end and the dancers filed off the stage one by one, a lot of them were greeted by high-fives from the Bulgarian side :) I guess some "language" is universal.