THE STARA ZAGORA OPERA – HOST OF THE THIRD EDITION OF THE INTERNATIONAL CHOREOGRAPHY COMPETITION “LINKAGE”

LINKAGE is an international choreography competition for contemporary choreographic miniatures with a duration of 5 to 12 minutes. In the preliminary selection 130 choreographers were candidates from Asia, Europe and the USA.

In the final of the Competition on 30 October on the stage of the Stara Zagora State Opera 9 out of 11 selected choreographers from the USA, Italy, Ukraine, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain will present their productions, who will arrive with their performers. There will be 4 awards: first and second prizes, prize for the best performer and the prize of the audience. The head of the jury is the world famous prima ballerina and artistic director of the Ballet of The Stara Zagora Opera Silviya Tomova. Members: Angelina Gavrilova – choreographer, Vilislav Prager – performer, co-creator of “Antistatic” – Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance, Zhivko Zhelyazkov – choreographer, co-creator and artistic director of the dance company “Derida”.

On the first competition evening on October at 19.00 the spectators will be able to see the authors’ choreographies of the nominated finalists and choose their favorite for the prizes of the best performer and the best performer of the audience.

On 3 October at 19.00 there will be held the Closing Dance Gala Evening, when there will be announced the prizes and presented the performances of the prize-winners, as well as of the guest-performers.

The idea of the Competition emerged spontaneously during the pandemic in 2020. Its creators are Philip Milanov and Valeri Milenkov, who are also founders of the Dance Company Stream Dance, and Filip is its artistic Director. Supported by the Ministry of Culture, the International Choreography Competition “Linkage” has turned into one of the most large-scale and significant projects of Stream Dance.

The first two editions were realized online, as well as by live projections – the video materials of the selected choreographers were projected on the stage “Derida” in Sofia, and the events were open to a small number of viewers, in accordance with the obligatory limitations because of the pandemic.

At the very beginning of the birth of the idea of the Competition, the aim of the Dance Company Stream Dance was to make it a large-scale international event. The third edition, which for the first time will be held live in the Stara Zagora State Opera, will welcome 9 choreographers – finalists of the Competition, who will be selected among more than 130 candidates from all over the world.

The International Choreography Competition “Lincage” is the only one of its kind forum within our country. The international interest increases with each edition. The Competition attracts choreographers of high professional level, and many of them have already won prestigious international prizes for contemporary dance. “Linkage” develops the dance scene in Bulgaria, attracting a great number of professionals in the sphere of contemporary dance and performance, and also contributes by presenting to the audiences world famous names within the framework of one competition evening.