surdce dance collective

23/03/2026

surdce is happy to have performed an excerpt of our immersive dance work “Samodiva” at the London Borough of Culture festival celebrating Maslenitsa 2026! ✨

Our dancers Thea & Stephanie presented the Healer and the Whirlwind from Samodiva, and held a dance workshop on communal rites welcoming Spring! 🌷

Choreographed by Merchant, meet Samodiva in Sofia, Paris, Rotterdam or london in autumn 2026 🍂!

16/03/2026

📍Wandsworth, are you & your little ones ready for the Maslenitsa Festival this Saturday?

Meet our Samodivas in Wandsworth this Saturday, celebrating Maslenitsa Festival & the beginning of Spring! 🌷

📆 March 21st ⏰ 11:30 am
📍RAM Quarter, Wandsworth
🎟️ Free admissions - http://bit.ly/3NgHaGF


Our dancers will be perform an excerpt from Samodiva and delivering a free Family Dance workshop outdoors. 💃

See you there! ☀️

29/01/2026

surdce dance collective is looking for a Producer for an Arts Council England new dance production to take place in London in fall 2026.

Topics of the work:
- Community, communal hope in times of desperation, Does this time belong to us?, Eastern European heritage, audiences participatory dance experience

Choreographer Stephanie Handjiiska - Artist.

We are looking for a passionate about dance & community practice individual that has a great understanding of the dance ecosystem, is proactive and alive.

We are interested in meeting new producers in our industry for this project and potentially expanding this into a long term working relationship.

💌 Please email your CV and a short introduction to [email protected].

We will meet with everyone by the end of February 2026 for an initial chat.


England

Peperuda is funded by National Lottery Grant Projects by Arts Council England.

19/01/2026

🎉 surdce dance is honored to have received a National Lottery Project Grant by Arts Council England to create a new dance piece, Peperuda - a dance prayer in London, 2026.

🦋Peperuda is a much needed piece about collective desperation & finding hope as the young people of today, inspired by Bulgarian rainmaking ritual with the same name.

🌧️ Peperuda is a rural dance ritual, that women & girls, called peperudarki, perform in the summer draught, in order to bring hope & save the community from a missed harvest.

Peperuda is a flight of the spirit and imagination, about the struggles of the everyday, and a transformation of the communal suffering into communal hope.

🔔 Professional Dancers: We will be holding London based auditions for 4 project-based paid dancer positions in late Winter / early Spring 2026 for the creation of Peperuda.

🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Community is at the centre of this project, and this is why for the first time, we invite Community dancers to join us.
We will be donating 11 live dance workshops to the dancing communities in London, completely for free.

🔔There will be Community Auditions, and a selected number of non-professionals will get the opportunity to train in dance with us at the dance company completely for free.
Our work together will conclude with a London-based community dance performance, choreographed by surdce.

🤍Creative Team:
Choreography & creation: Stephanie Handjiiska - Artist
Assistant choreographer: Marchela-Vasilena Dimitrova
Music composition: Michał Kawecki

With gratitude,
Stephanie x Marchela
surdce dance collective
London, January 2026

#България #Пеперуда #Великобритания

18/12/2025

Today, surdce dance collective, represented by our Artistic Directors Marchela-Vasilena Dimitrova Merchant and Stephanie Handjiiska - Artist, had the pleasure of meeting with H.E. Tihomir Stoychev, Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria to the UK. 🇧🇬 🇬🇧

We discussed the future of the company, upcoming international touring projects, and opportunities for cross-cultural collaboration between Bulgaria and the United Kingdom.

Grateful for the support of His Excellency and looking ahead to inspiring partnerships and new artistic exchanges. ✨

Днес surdce dance collective, в лицето на артистичните ни директори Марчела-Василена Мърчант и Стефани Ханджийска, има удоволствието да се срещне с Негово Прввъзходителство посланика на република България във Великобритания, г-н Тихомир Стойчев. 🇧🇬 🇬🇧

На срещата обсъдихме бъдещето на танцовата компания, предстоящото ни европейско турне 2026г. и нови възможности за културен обмен между Великобритания и България.

Благодарни сме на Негово Превъзходителство за подкрепата, и с нетърпение очакваме да развиваме нови културни международни проекти и партньорства през 2026г. ✨

#България #Великобритания #културенобмен #Самодива

30/10/2025

🇺🇸ZAEK USA tour:
Catch our co-Artistic Director Stephanie Handjiiska - Artist and dancers Bilyana Tsolova Жасмина Вълчева Nelly Georgieva Ksenia Bakalova Pavel Todorov Simona Yonkova

Tomorrow, 31st October ⏰ 19:30 h
📌 Prattsville Art Center and Residency

🎫 Admission: Free Entry

The USA tour of ZAEK is supported by the Sofia Municipality Culture Programme. ZAEK is a dance perfomance created with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria 🇧🇬.
Produced by Фондация "Човек с Шапка" / Man with a Hat Foundation & surdce dance collective

Турнето в САЩ на спектакъла “ЗАЕК” се реализира с финансовата подкрепа на програма “Мобилност” на Столична Програма “Култура”. Спектакълът “ЗАЕК” се реализира с финансовата подкрепа на Министерство на Културата на република България.

#България #Ритуал

23/10/2025

Samodiva Official Trailer

Ecology | Femininity | Mysticism

surdce dance collective’s latest immersive dance show, premiered in Proportions Gallery, London, August 2025.
Inspired by Balkan folklore Samodiva is an immersive journey through ancient myths fused with contemporary dance and rooted in the natural world

🌀 Creative Team
Idea & Choreography Marchela-Vasilena Dimitrova
Dancers Lily Armah, Marchela-Vasilena Merchant, Nina Thomlinson, Noemi Gunea, Stephanie Handjiiska - Artist , Thea Chamberlain
Costumes Freya Thomas-Taylor Set Design Abi Wood Music Dan Hibbert
Executive Producer Stephanie Handjiiska Consulting Producer Lydia Wharf
Associate Producer Ella Natalia Hopkins Photography Sophie Dunne Studio Video Tree Bench Film
Venue Proposition Studios, London BD Manager Proposition Owen Kennet

🌳 Samodiva is realised with the financial support of National Lottery Project Grants by Arts Council England.
Co-produced by Man with a Hat Foundation and surdce dance collective.




#съ̀рдцетанц #сърдцетанцовколектив #България #самодиви #мит #митовеилегенди #ИзточнаЕвропа

Creative Team Idea & Choreography Marchela-Vasilena Merchant Dancers Lily Armah, Marchela-Vasilena Merchant, Nina Thomlinson, Noemi Gunea, Stephanie Handjiiska,…

13/10/2025

🐇 ZAEK - our winter dance tale on the Bulgarian male of rite passage called koleduvane - is going to Pratsville, New York! 🇺🇸

31st October, 19:30
Pratsville Art Centre & Residency
Free Entry

Choreographed & devised by Stephanie Handjiiska - Artist
Dancers Bilyana Tsolova, Jasmina Valcheva, Ksenia Balakova, Nelly Georgieva, Simona Yonkova, Pavel Stefanov
Music Georgi Atanassov
Costumes & set Maya Mateva
Director of Photography Ivan Tsutsumanov
Photography Nikola Gyulmezov

Come for the performance & stay for the Helloween party.

ZAEK is realised with the fnancial support of The Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria Министерство на културата.
The ZAEK Pratsville tour is realised with the financial support of the Culture Programme of the Sofia Municipality.

01/10/2025

❤️‍🔥sùrdce (съ̀рдце) is an old Bulgarian word for heart. Our two artistic directors Marchela and Stephanie work together as the two chambers of a beating heart.

We believe in:
- Dance company with horizontal leadership - vertical power distribution has led humanity to too many problems already
- Leading with empathy, inclusion and a sustainable pace - in a female way
- Dance should be accessible for all and everyone should see themselves represented on the stage
- It is time to come back to living in harmony with nature, before it’s too late 🌿

We’re busy preparing a large 2026 - dancing around the world and meeting you in person.

Which city and country shall we include in our 2026 tour?

#танц #сърдце

Pictured: Co-Artistic Directors Stephanie D. Handjiiska & Marchela-Vasilena Merchant
Styling by Lilia Toncheva-O’Rourke
Photo edit Nikola Gyulmezov

12/09/2025

Thank you so much to Bulgarian National Radio БНР - Радио Стара Загора - for the review of our immersive dance show Samodiva in London.

В края на август в галерия Proposition Gallery  в Лондон се състоя премиерата на Samodiva - „Самодива” – иновативен,  танцов...

09/09/2025

🤍 Female Balkan power: Our Founders.
Do you know who stands behind surdce?

Our dance collective is led by 2 co-Artistic Directors - Marchela-Vasilena Merchant and Stephanie D. Handjiiska.

Marchela and Stephanie imagined surdce as a dance powerhouse that is interested in:
🌀 Myth
🌱 Ecology
🌍 Heritage, Eastern Europe, identity and belonging

They are looking at these topics through a female gaze into creating original dance experiences for spaces, stages and screens.

Both Bulgarian and living in London with their families, our founders are currently cooking up our newest Eastern European dance myth tale.

Where will you meet them next?



Photo by Sophie Dunne Photography.

05/09/2025

🌿 The land & the river still remember our footsteps, dancing under the crescent moon. 🌙 Our voices are still echoing around the Samodiva forest, and grass doesn't grow on the spots where our feet were dancing.

Where would you like to meet the Samodivas next? Type your town and your favourite venue.