{"id":6036,"date":"2017-04-21T13:20:36","date_gmt":"2017-04-21T10:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/travellingbuzz.com\/?p=6036"},"modified":"2019-01-29T22:50:49","modified_gmt":"2019-01-29T20:50:49","slug":"going-to-the-sofia-opera-and-ballet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travellingbuzz.com\/going-to-the-sofia-opera-and-ballet\/","title":{"rendered":"Things to do in Bulgaria: Going To The Sofia Opera and Ballet"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was little, like most of the girls, I wanted to be a ballerina when I grow up.\u00a0And yet, I haven’t been to a ballet performance until last month. Such a shame, I know.\u00a0<\/span>But I’m more than delighted\u00a0that GISELLE <\/strong>was the\u00a0first ballet performance I ever watched.<\/span><\/p>\n

Me and Krasi\u00a0were invited by the Sofia Opera and Ballet itself. On the day, we arrived just on time to get\u00a0our tickets and to take our seats. The lobby of the building is not that big and it is easy to find your entrance. Our seats on the second balcony, in the center of the second row, allowed us to fully enjoy the ballet performance. The main hall is not as huge as the opera house in Barcelona I visited a year ago but it’s still quite impressive with all the rich decorations and colours.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sofia<\/a><\/p>\n

But what impressed me the most<\/strong>\u00a0was the prevailing presence of young people. <\/strong>They were rather casually than formally dressed but still as excited and well behaved as everyone else. Probably the only more pleasant view was two little girls with hair buns and big dreamy eyes impatiently waiting to see the ballerinas on stage.<\/span><\/p>\n

GISELLE – A beautiful\u00a0love story and\u00a0exceptional ballet performance<\/span><\/h2>\n

As I was observing the audience and catching casual conversations, suddenly the lights went\u00a0dark, the orchestra started playing, the curtains were pulled up and\u00a0there she was…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Giselle<\/strong><\/span> is a beautiful young girl from Lorraine. She falls in love with Albrecht<\/strong>\u00a0who recently appeared in the village. What Giselle doesn\u2019t know is that Albrecht is a royal and is going to marry the Duke\u2019s daughter Bathilde. <\/span>The gamekeeper Hans, who is also in love with Giselle, unsuccessfully is trying to warn her about his lie. Eventually, Giselle finds out the truth. She cannot stand it, she runs mad and dies.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sofia<\/p>\n

During the second act, Hans is grieving over Giselle\u2019s grave. He perishes by the deadly shadow evoking dance of Myrtha and the Wilis – virgins who died before their weddings. Albert who is also deeply grieving for Giselle comes to her grave. <\/span>He is about to be taken away by the Wilis too, but Giselle appears and saves Albrecht\u00a0from death.<\/strong> The shadows of the Wilis, Myrtha, and Giselle get melted. Albrecht remains to live with the pain for his lost love, stronger than death.<\/span><\/p>\n

The story was beautifully told by\u00a0guest performers\u00a0from\u00a0the Bolshoi Theatre:<\/strong>\u00a0Daria Khokhlova\u00a0in the role of Giselle and\u00a0Artemy Belyakov\u00a0in the role of Albrecht.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sofia<\/a><\/p>\n

Sofia Opera and Ballet House<\/span><\/h2>\n

Sofia Opera and Ballet house is located in the central parts of the city.<\/strong> This makes it easily reachable and very well accessible by public transportation. There are regular performances<\/strong> and events happening as part of the Sofia Opera and Ballet with many foreign collaborations, too. <\/span><\/p>\n

The imposing building is located on 30 Vrabcha street.<\/strong>\u00a0The ticket office\u00a0is situated on the right side of the main entrance. However, it is quite convenient that you can buy tickets online<\/strong> for every opera and ballet performances. The website has an\u00a0English version,<\/strong> too.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sofia<\/a><\/p>\n

Sofia National Opera and Ballet:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Address:<\/strong> 30 Vrabcha street, Sofia, Bulgaria
\n<\/span>Online:\u00a0<\/strong>Website<\/a> | Program<\/a>\u00a0| Facebook<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

It is important to note that going to the Sofia Opera and Ballet is more affordable than you might think<\/strong>. The ticket prices start from as little as 20 BGN or 10 Euro. Going to the opera is definitely one of the best and most affordable things you can do in Sofia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*Special thanks to the Sofia Opera and Ballet House for the invitations and the great experience. All photos from Giselle are\u00a0their own.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

For more travel tips and stories, follow Travelling Buzz on Facebook<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was little, like most of the girls, I wanted to be a ballerina when I grow up.\u00a0And yet, I haven’t been to a ballet performance until last month. Such a shame, I know.\u00a0But I’m more than delighted\u00a0that GISELLE was the\u00a0first ballet performance I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[276,309,1,775,310,88,311],"tags":[646,555,647,645,648],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/travellingbuzz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/sofia-opera-and-ballet-giselle-12.jpg?fit=1000%2C501&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/travellingbuzz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6036"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/travellingbuzz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/travellingbuzz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travellingbuzz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travellingbuzz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6036"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/travellingbuzz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6369,"href":"https:\/\/travellingbuzz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6036\/revisions\/6369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travellingbuzz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/travellingbuzz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travellingbuzz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travellingbuzz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}