Deep in the forests of the Balkans, where oak and beech cast their long shadows, dwell the Samodivi: wild women born of wind and moonlight who dance till dawnbreak and break the hearts of lusting men.

In this storytelling concert, traditional storyteller Nana Tomova draws on the folk traditions of her native Bulgaria to conjure the Samodiva in all her contradictions: huntress and healer, seductress and sister, a spirit as old as the forests she haunts.

Samodivi are of this world, and not of this world, they are bringers of health and illness, and they both build and destroy. They are however neither ‘bad’ nor ‘good’, as the divine cannot be categorised as such.

In this telling, you will meet the Samodiva in her many forms from wild woman to mother; she who seeks freedom to she who takes freedom; she who heals to she who harms. For the Samodivi, just like us, are complex beings with many multitudes.