State Ballet troupe Arabesque offers prayers for rain in their premier which will be staged at 7pm on Sunday, in the Stefan Makedonski Music Theatre. The performance, entitled German, is dedicated to a famous ritual performed by the people of different areas in Bulgaria in their thirst for rain when there is none.

The spectacle was prepared by choreographer Antonia Dokeva and composer and costume designer Vassil Dokev.

The plot of the ballet German focuses on people's attempt to decode the messages and signs which life sends. It shows the hard times spent over attempts to extract a meaning out of signs. "That is why we both considered the ritual German a source of knowledge about the past and about roots and folklore," Dokev said.

The prayer for rain is the attractive element in an environment of dryness. Dokeva said they have tried to depict the image of drought with suitable music. "I have always wanted to show man's urgent need to serve Earth," she said. For her the completion of the eternal cycle of life and death is topical and significant.

"German is a story in which sad emotions are implied rather than shown," she added. A funeral is depicted only with forceful and loud music overcoming the thunder and strong winds in a storm.

Dokev explained that it was both difficult and amusing to present the images involved in the ritual. "The theme of wisdom is present throughout the whole dance performance which attempts to show the wisdom people try to find in their real life," he added.

Generally the dance show is referred to as a matter solving race problems with the identical problems of the world's races. Bulgarian ethnic problems are at the centre of the event, according to Dokeva. "It shows the necessity of the human being to achieve harmony between nature and faith," she added.

The authentic music for the dance show was recorded exclusively for German and includes examples from the rich Macedonian folklore. "This is a ballet example of how to examine ethnic thinking amongst people," Dokev said. Folklore for him represents a rich possibility to teach children about one's past, traditions and rituals. "That is what we also aim at - uniting artistic quests and displaying them for young audiences," he said.

The soloist in the German dance Teodora Stefanova explained that the stage in Arabesque's German is the place to express yourself to the utmost, and to teach others a lesson in folklore by performing a simple dance.

Dance Theatre Arabesque is organizing the fifth contest from the cycle Choreographers' Nights in memory of the late Margarita Arnaudova who was the founder of Arabesque and a top-class ballet dancer. The prize will be given for the best choreography based on Bulgarian music. Four contestants are competing with different projects and the winner will be selected by the audience at a special show on October 31, at the National Palace of Culture.