March 8 – International Women’s Day

On the beautiful women’s holiday, March 8, what better occasion to remember the first professionally trained ballerina in Bulgaria, Nadezhda (Nadia) Vinarova (1903-1991). In the 1920s, she dared to pursue this rare and feminine profession, making a significant contribution to the popularization of ballet in Bulgaria.

Nadia Vinarova (pictured, from the exhibition at the Bulgarian History Museum – NIM) was born in 1903 in Ruse. She showed early talent as a pianist and tried her hand at composing. She was predicted to have a brilliant future, so at the age of 13 she left for Vienna, where she studied with piano teachers. She also attended ballet school to get some exercise after long hours spent at the piano, but she became so fascinated by ballet that she decided to devote herself to it. She enrolled in the school of ballet master Karl Raymond. Her debut on the stage of the Vienna Opera in 1924 was a great success, after which she went on tour in Warsaw, Berlin, and London.

In 1927, she returned to Bulgaria at the invitation of director Petar Stoychev to become the prima ballerina of the newly formed ballet troupe of the National Opera. Until then, ballet in Bulgaria, known as pantomime, was amateurish and only ballet interludes were performed.

Besides Nadia Vinarova, another ballet dancer with professional training and experience was Anastas Petrov, who is considered the founder of ballet art in Bulgaria. In 1928, he staged the ballet “Coppelia, or the Girl with the Enamel Eyes” by Léo Delibes, in which he danced as a soloist alongside Nadia Vinarova (as Coppelia and Swanilda). The premiere of the performance on February 22, 1928, is considered the birth date of ballet art in Bulgaria.

Later, the troupe is joined by Russian ballerina Anna Vorobyova, as well as Nadia Rakovska (in the photo – to the left of Anastas Petrov, Nadia Vinara is on the right), recalls Anastas Petrov. The creative tandem of Nadia Vinara and Anastas Petrov was extremely fruitful and successful. She became his assistant ballet master and rehearsal coach in his productions. In 1957, he retired. She was awarded the Order of Cyril and Methodius, First Class, three times. She died in Sofia on August 15, 1991.

Text: Mariana Parvanova