There are four Bulgarian cultural centers located in the suburbs of Chicago as each of them has its visitors and is a bit different than the other. But they all share something in common - when one steps through their doorsteps, they forget that Bulgaria is on the other side of the ocean.

Here people create a piece of Bulgaria they love and share it with others. Business meetings or elections are also held here, birthdays are celebrated, films are screened, art exhibitions are organized, and of course – dance classes. In any of these centers one can surely learn many exciting stories about the life of Bulgarians in Chicago. Today, however, we take you to the cultural center "Bulgarica", which has recently marked its 7^th anniversary.

"The idea was for a group of people who were previously part of dance ensembles to get together and continue to perform somewhere," Petar Georgiev, head and founder of a dance school that later became the Bulgarica Cultural Center, says. “During the first year there were a few people and we didn't have many commitments, but a very capable teacher arrived. Then we decided to promote our activities among a larger audience. We started with a few beginner classes. Subsequently, many more people and teachers joined… And that's how it all started. At first, I thought it was very easy to wake up the Bulgarian spirit in our compatriots, but it turned out that it was not such an easy task. In addition to folk dances, we have also created many other programs and activities."

One for the special days for the cultural center is Easter and it was on Easter when Petar met Daniela Valkanova, who works in the newspaper "Bulgarena". He casually offered her to do an interview about the activities of the center:

"I really like the way Petar thinks. He wants to preserve Bulgarian traditions, the positive attitude in people, to make them more united like in a big family. And indeed, this has happened because Bulgarica started as an organization, a dance school with five or six people. We are now talking about hundreds, even thousands of people who are part of the center’s activities."

The center does not need a lot of advertising in order to attract like-minded people as Petar has won the trust of Bulgarian compatriots in Chicago. People are happy to come here and look forward to the end of pandemic restrictions.

"There are dance classes held in the club every Monday to Thursday,” Nikolay Shopov, who is part of the Board of Directors, says. “These are a total of 8 classes per week, as we also have children's folk dance classes. We also have a separate fitness class and we plan to restore our yoga and salsa classes. We also organise art workshops and exhibitions,” Mr. Shopov, who is also the host of art gallery “Bagrena,” says.

The founder of the cultural center, Petar Georgiev and his associates had not made many plans for the future, but the center has already become an inseparable part of their life. It is the same with the rest of the Bulgarian compatriots, for whom everyday life without the cultural center would have been monotonous and gray:

"Our schedule is full. People want their existence to be meaningful; they want to have a space where they can meet their compatriots, without being burdened with political and everyday problems,” Petar Georgiev says.

Asked about the way he imagines the cultural center in 7 years, he says: “In 7 years I see the center having the same spirit as 7 years ago. If this spirit that we have here disappeared, everything would become meaningless…"

The Bulgarian spirit is definitely a part of Cultural Center "Bulgarica" that will surely remain one of the Bulgarian islands in the huge city of Chicago.

Report by Elena Tsaneva, BNR correspondent in Chicago

Editor: Darina Grigorova

English: Alexander Markov