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The CHINARY Folklore Formation
of Sofia - Bulgaria
Artistic director: Assen Pavlov
The CHINARY Folklore Formation of Sofia is a private enterprise formation set up in 1993 and made up of professional performers of Bulgarian folklore dances, music and songs. Every member of the Formation has higher academic background in music or choreography. The performers are selected through hard competition. The CHINARY performers are talented professionals and good-looking young people.
The virtuoso performances of traditional Bulgarian dances, songs and instrumental tunes by the CHINARY are thrilling and innovative. The repertoire of the CHINARY covers all major folklore regions of Bulgaria. The CHINARY present authentic interpretations of the wealth of musical traditions of Bulgarian folklore. The Formation can do shows and entertainment programs of various lengths in a unique way of presentation and of superior performing art quality. The CHINARY do full-time concerts (actually performances and entertainment programs of any length up to 90 minutes) meeting the world's highest performing standards. The performers of the CHINARY are also adaptable to shows/entertainment programs with the participation of other groups and/or individual performers. The optimal group number for tours includes 16 (8/8) dancers, 7 musicians and 4 singers plus manager and technical staff (tech staff can vary in number because contractor's local staff may be used). Smaller groups from the Formation can also do shows of various lengths.
The CHINARY performers have toured in Greece, Macedonia, Turkey, Russia, the Ukraine, France, Holland, Belgium, etc.
The performances of the CHINARY are an experience of the ecstasy of dancing. Phenomenal precision and beauty comes through each and every step and movement as the men do the slow and earthly dances of Dobroudzha and the manly dances of Pirin. The CHINARY male dancers can dance on top of earthenware jugs the way the people from the villages in Thrace used to do it. The charming female dancers sweep the stage into a rapture of breath-taking rhythms and complex steps in a virtuoso rendition of the Shop dances. Bulgarian folklore dances are being brought to their perfection when presented by the CHINARY dancers whose fanatic love of Bulgarian folklore has taken them to the
heights of professionalism.
On special occasions a dancer from the Formation does the rite of Nestinarstvo
to the deeply moving sound of the bagpipe and the drum and dances on hot
coals.
The repertoire of the dancers includes also performances of dances typical for
foreign cultural traditions, as well as contemporary dance presentations.
The dancers of the CHINARY are the stars all major entertainment programmes
of the Bulgarian National Television and take part in many shows produced by
private cable TV's as well as in live concerts.
The musicians of the CHINARY are masters and recognized soloists of their respective instruments - the gadulka (a relative of the Medieval rebec, a bowed stringed instrument), the gaida (bagpipe), the kaval (end-blown wooden flute), the tapan (the large drum).
"bells sound" singing of the CHINARY singers has a mesmerizing effect in the acappella performances. Illiyana Naidenova decorates the Shop district songs with vibrati, whoops and slides with a virtuosity and lightness that seem incredible for her youth. Infinite space and eternity seem susceptible when the voices of the talented young singers of the CHINARY do the heart-rending laments from the Thracian plains of long ago. The CHINARY singers sound a forte with lightness and at the same time with trumpet-like power and clarity. Their voices are as sweet and pure as the melodies from the North-East of Bulgaria and as beautiful as the songs from Pirin.
Assen Pavlov, the artistic director and choreographer of the CHINARY Formation is Bulgaria's premier dancer. For several years he was the principal dancer-prima with the Bulgarian National Ensemble "Phillip Koutev". He is a graduate of the Music Academy of Plovdiv, major in choreography directing. He has choreographed the dances for most of the prestigious folklore and variety shows produced by the Bulgarian National Television as well as for private Cable Televisions productions since September 1998.
In 1999 Assen Pavlov was approved to do the major part in the American-Bulgarian production of "I, Hamlet" which was directed by Greg Rouch (the director of "The X Files"). The film was shot in 1999 and in 2000 near the Seven Lakes of Rila.
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