site.btaPernik Region Nominates Traditional Horo Dance and Singing for Living Human Treasures

The traditional horo chain dance accompanied by singing of the village of Kopanitsa in Radomir Municipality will represent Pernik Region in the national Living Human Treasures programme, said the Pernik Regional Administration.

This characteristic and significant skill will be presented by the Merakliiche folk dance group of the Hristo Botev - 1928 Community Centre. Its secretary, Vasilka Nikolova, told BTA that this type of dancing dates back to the years when it was widespread in Graovo, a historical ethnographic area in Pernik Region. Nowadays, it is still preserved and passed down between generations in the village of Kopanitsa, she said.

Nikolova noted that until the end of the 1990s, the horo was performed to the accompaniment of a bagpipe, as there were local musicians in the village who played this instrument. Nowadays most of the tunes are played on a gadulka (a bowed string instrument) or even without an accompaniment. She also said that the community centre helps to preserve the horo dances and the study of them over time, adding that the repertoire of the folk dance group includes more than 20 different horo dances accompanied by singing.