site.btaBulgarian Folk Dance Club Brings Together People of Different Nationalities in The Hague

The Bulgarian folk dance club Zora attracts people of different nationalities to The Hague.

The club was founded in 2017 by Bulgarian Nikol Petkova, who was studying in the Netherlands at the time, the Zora team told BTA. Thirteen people signed up for the club at the very beginning. This number has grown to 50 over the past season, which makes Zora the largest folk dance club in the Netherlands, according to its management. The club brings together people not only from The Hague, but also from Utrecht, Leiden, Horn, Delft, Rotterdam, and Eindhoven, among others.

Zora started out as an amateur club. At the end of 2017, however, Petkova returned to Bulgaria, and Dutch choreographer Esther Willems took over as artistic director of the club. This is when Zora started to perform at various local forums and cultural events.

They consider the past 2023-2024 season their most successful so far. The dance club has made a number of stage appearances both in the Netherlands and abroad, including in Belgium, France, and Germany.

A great deal of Dutch people as well as Germans, Croatians, Mexicans, Americans, Italians, French and English people have danced with Zora since it was founded, the majority of its members being Bulgarians.

Besides teaching Bulgarian folk dances, the dance club has also organized a dance competition for ensembles based in the Netherlands and a Bulgarian traditions and folklore quiz.