Dimitrovgrad hosts the 20th National Dance Competition "Bulgaria Dances" from November 19 to 22. It takes place at the Mladost sports hall, and the public can attend free on all four days.

About 850 children and young people from 46 groups in Bulgaria and abroad have signed up, along with individual entrants. Dimitrovgrad municipality organises the event, and the Ministry of Education and Science is a partner for another year.

On Thursday, November 19, performances start at 1pm and the official opening is planned for 2pm. On the other three days, November 20, 21 and 22, the programme starts at 8.30am.

Entrants compete in two categories, "Professionals" and "Amateurs", in classical ballet, character dance and contemporary dance. There are three age groups: grades 1 to 4, grades 5 to 7, and grades 8 to 12. Performances come in five forms: solos, duets, small groups, formations and productions.

The "Professionals" category brings together students from the specialist arts schools run by the Ministry of Culture in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas. The contest aims to develop and promote young talent.

The Ministry of Education and Science gives scholarships to 9 soloists in each of the two main strands, amateurs and professionals. Individual entrants who perform solos in the grade 8 to 12 age group compete for them, both among "Professionals" and among "Amateurs".

The jury is international. It includes Bulgarian and foreign dance specialists, among them lecturers at universities with dance programmes.

The chair is Dr Riolina Topalova, a ballerina, choreographer, director and ballet teacher. She has twice won the "Golden Lyre" award of the Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers, and this year received the top honour, the "Crystal Necklace", for her contribution to dance. For many years she was a principal ballerina at the Sofia Opera and Ballet.

Topalova is the choreographer and director of the shows "Rhapsody in Blue", "Cinderella", "The Sleeping Beauty" and "The Poorly Guarded Girl". She has made the dances for operas such as "Il Trovatore", "Don Pasquale", "Macbeth", "La Traviata", "Eugene Onegin", "Nabucco", "Attila" and "Yana's Nine Brothers", for the Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna operas. She also choreographed "Orpheus and Eurydice" at the Municipal Theatre in Larnaca, Cyprus, and "Eugene Onegin" in Trieste, Italy.

With the Broadway director West Hyler, she is choreographer of the musicals "The Sound of Music" and "Shrek". She has also worked as a choreographer on "Mamma Mia", "Les Misérables", "My Father the Painter", "The Green Bird" and "Matilda".

Topalova holds a master's degree in "Ballet Art – Ballet Directing and Ballet Pedagogy" and a doctorate in the arts. She is a chief assistant professor at the Prof. Asen Diamandiev Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts in Plovdiv and a lecturer at the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music. She is also deputy director and a teacher at the National School of Dance Art, and her students have won prizes at international contests.

She is a mentor at the international organisation MGC Dance Events, which finds and develops talent. She leads master classes at Art Garage, a centre for choreography and modern stage arts in Pozzuoli, near Naples, Italy. She sits on juries at international dance festivals and contests, where she leads master classes in classical, modern, historical and character dance.

Antoaneta Alexieva is a prima ballerina, repetiteur, choreographer and teacher linked to the Stefan Makedonski National Musical Theatre and the National School of Dance Art in Sofia. She was artistic director of the International Ballet Festival in Varna. She has taught, lectured and sat on juries at international ballet contests and academies in Italy, America, Turkey, Germany and Montenegro.

Aneliya Dimitrova is a prima ballerina at the State Opera in Stara Zagora and a winner of the "Crystal Lyre" of the Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers. In 2019 she received a certificate for creative achievements from the culture minister, for May 24. In 2023 she was among the winners of the National Award for Contribution to Musical Life "Academician Marin Goleminov", and in 2025 she won the "IMPULS" award in the category "Classical Dance Performer – Female".

Svetlin Ivelinov is a choreographer, director and artistic director of the ballet of the Stefan Makedonski National Musical Theatre. He has won the "Crystal Lyre" for choreography and the Ministry of Culture's "Golden Age" badge of honour for his contribution to Bulgarian culture.

Angelina Gavrailova is a choreographer and performer on the contemporary Bulgarian dance scene, linked to the Arabesque ballet. She created the choreography for "INFINITY", for the National Theatre's show "Orpheus" and for the children's ballet "Lukcho" at Opera Plovdiv, which mixes classical ballet and neoclassical dance with modern elements. She has won a choreography award from the "Bulgarian Rose" contest.

Nebojsa Slavkovic from Serbia is an international choreographer and dance expert, a judge for the International Dance Organization (IDO) and deputy chair of the Serbian International Dance Federation (SIDF).