LECTURE 1 ON FOLK CREATIVITY

He is Kamen Donev, who has burst dozens of cities into laughter!

The only artist to have filled Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture more than 30 times and to have performed 6 shows before 12,000 people at Arena Armeec.

� Favorite lines from his performances are passed from mouth to mouth across all of Bulgaria and beyond… like folk creativity. With his inimitable sense of humor, he manages to touch upon both phenomena we can be proud of as Bulgarians and problems affecting all layers of our society.

Undoubtedly, the highest achievement he has reached so far is the one-man show "The Views of a Teacher on Folk Creativity". Since its premiere on October 16, 2007 until today, the show is about to be staged for the 555th time. The greatest recognition for the performance is its 330,000 spectators — an accomplishment that no Bulgarian stage production in the history of theater can boast.

"Folk creativity is creativity created by the people. That’s all. It is born mainly in the villages, i.e. outside the city. But even what is born in the city can still be called folk creativity, because people in the city usually come from the villages. This is seen best on weekends, when they go to the villages, and people from the villages visit the city on Saturday and Sunday to sell what they grow in the villages themselves and to buy from the city what is, accordingly, lacking in the villages. The so-called folk creator learns, remembers, performs, but he must also interpret, fantasize, and enrich it further, mainly with love and wholeheartedly pass the enriched version on to his descendants. What matters, however, is that in folk creativity nobody wants to spoil what has been done; on the contrary — they want to make it better. Simple as beans.

The topic we will deal with is: the rediscovery of folk creativity and its broad application in everyday life for improving people’s health, work capacity, communication, and rest.

Folk songs and dances can help with coping with life’s hardships, stress, loneliness, boredom, problems with the musculoskeletal system, fatigue, negative emotions, and communication. It can also be applied across the entire span of the workweek, the two days off, and the time devoted to one’s personal life."

THE SHOW IS NOT SUITABLE FOR PERSONS UNDER 14 YEARS OF AGE!

AWARDS OF THE SHOW:

• Comedy hit of the 2008 season – audience award for Kamen Donev’s original production "The Views of a Teacher on Folk Creativity"
• International festival "Drumevi Theatre Holidays", Shumen 2008 – award for best male role
• International theatre festival BGMOT 2008, Gabrovo – award for best male role
• National Festival of Small Theatre Forms, Vratsa 2008 – third prize for best male role and award for the most musical and singing actor
• "Balkan Theatrical Europortraits", Blagoevgrad 2008 – award for best male role and audience award
• International theatre festival "Golden Knight", Moscow – bronze "Knight"
• "Favorite 13" Award, Dimitrovgrad, 2009
• "Ice Mask" Award from the Rousse State Theatre "Sava Ognyanov" for production of 2009

Scenography - Ralitsa Ruseva Costumes - Pasha Neshkova Music - Kamen Donev, Kiril Dobrev Choreography - Ivaylo Ivanov Arrangements - Dani Milev Folk consultants - Prof. Dr. Dimitrina Kaufman, Acad. Nikolai Kaufman, Tsveti Radeva Accompaniment specialists: Dani Milev – guitars, vocals; Teodosii Spassov – kaval, trumpet; Ivo Papazov-Ibrama – clarinet; Stoyan Yankoulov – percussion instruments; Antoni Donchev – original composition based on the libretto “Relatives”; Mihail Shishkov Jr. – bass, keyboards, pedal steel guitar; Mihail Yossifov – trumpet; Dimitar Todorov – gaida; Ilya Iliev – accordion; Violeta Petkova – gadulka; Lyubomir Zhelev – kaval; Kostadin Genchev – kaval; Kostadin Atanasov – clarinet; Eva Quartet – vocals Photographer Stefan Nenkov - 3inSpirit Abstract art - Chavdar Gyuzelev