30 Years Jubilee Celebration

Balkan Festival

Balkanitsa celebrated 30 years of activity since its establishment in 1984. To celebrate the jubilee occasion we organized a Festival of Balkan Music and Dance on Saturday, 31.5.2014, at the new Sports Indoor Stadium in Haifa, between 10:00 to 18:00. Three ensembles of musicians with authentic instruments arrived from the Balkan countries to participate in this event. We danced Balkan dances with live music and occasionally, international couple dances as well. There were also three dance intermissions with concerts of Balkan music performed by the guest players. The event was a celebration for all lovers of Balkan music as well as Balkan dance fans and their families.
The festival was generously sponsored by the city of Haifa.

Flyer - Thanks to Orit Ben Artzi for the graphic design of the flyer and the logo on the T shirts.
Video clip - Thanks to Tomer Badash, the video photographer who also editted the clip.
Picasa photo slide - Thanks to the photogrpher Leora Eger-Dreyfuss.
End of the festival - After 8 hours of dancing playing and singing, the muscians have already undressed their custumes... The audiance don't let them stop! Thanks to Steve Hodish for the video clip.
Another clip of the end of the festival - Thanks to Steve Hodish for the video clip.

Special thanks to Batya Leiptziger for shirts printing and to David Sheli for Sound engineering & design.

Festival Time Table    

  1. Dancing started at 10:00 sharp with circle dances.
  2. Each activity in the table below last 30 minutes or so. Between these sessions there will were couple dances and dances from other Balkan countires.
Time Band Activity
10:30 Romanian Dancing
11:15 Bulgarian Concert
12:00 Macedonian Dancing
12:45 Romanian Concert
13:30 Bulgarian Dancing
14:15 Macedonian Concert
15:00 Romanian Dancing
15:45 Bulgarian Dancing
16:30 Macedonian Dancing

The Bands

    Macedonia
Filip Arilon                        Gaida-Music clip     Flute- Music clip
Stojan Stojanov                 Clarinet
Timko Chichakovski           Keyboard
Sashko Anastasov            Tappan- Picture

    Bulgaria
Lyuben Tsvetanv, Dosev            Kaval- Picture
Georgi Zafirov, Seymenski         Accordion
Ivan Kostov, Stefanov                 Gadulka

    Romania
Dorian Sicoe                  Taragot- Music clip        Flute- Music clip
Liviu Sicoe                     Saxophone
Nenad-Zoran, Luchin       Keyboard

The New Sports Indoor Stadium

The Sports Stadium in Romema, Haifa, (map) was renovated in 2012. It is big and modern and is used as an excellent area for sports activities and other cultural events. The spacious air conditioned hall is equipped with advanced sound system and is covered with a new parquet floor. The place contains a number of seats that enable all comers, dancers and guests who come to just listen to the music, to relax and enjoy. The hall is located in a central and easily accessible location with plenty of parking space. There are several restaurants and coffee shops on premises.