Dancing bears of Bulgaria

The Romany community of Bulgaria has trained bears to dance for hundreds of years. It’s a medieval tradition that lived on as a modern vestige of the Dark Ages. Cubs were raised in captivity in the homes of their masters. These were brown bears, ursus arctos, known in North America as the fierce grizzly bear, but they lived side by side with their owner’s families, cowed into submission.

The trained bears traveled throughout the region, entertaining Bulgarians wherever they went. The bears were taught to imitate celebrities, give massages to humans and even wear ice skates and play hockey. They were plied with booze by their masters and the bears were often drunk, but they were still able to perform their infamous dances while schnockered.

In 2007, Bulgaria was admitted to the European Union. Part of the price of admission was banning all dancing bear acts; treatment of the bears was rightfully deemed cruel and inhumane. Some of the bears were alcoholics, addicted to strong spirits that weakened theirs.

Teaching bears how to be free

A special refuge was founded for retired dancing bears. The team at the bear sanctuary had a daunting task: they had to teach freedom to bears who had never been free.

Behavioural specialists taught them how to hibernate, how to hunt, how to have bear sexytime. Food was hidden around the sanctuary to reawaken the foraging instinct. The Dancing Bear Park became an ursine experiment in freedom.

The stress of freedom

Their new life wasn’t easy. Freedom was stressful. The bears had to figure out how to live without the threat of the stick or the “treat” of a booze bottle. The sanctuary staff has had great success, but the bears struggle with the chaos of free will. The difficulty of being their own masters can cause emotional distress. At these times the bears revert to the behaviour that the rehabilitation staff were trying to get them to unlearn: When they see a human, they get up on their hind legs and dance a jig.

Free will is a challenge not just for retired dancing bears, but for all of us. When we’re scared or threatened, we can fall back on bad habits. We don’t sit up on our haunches and twirl, at least most of us don’t, but we make bad choices, go along with ideas and plans we don’t believe in, close ourselves off to experience. This is why you need a philosophy of life: to master your reactions, your instincts, your bad habits.

In my late 20s, I joined some amateur archeologists on a dig at a historic estate at the eastern end of Long Island. Before getting down to the business of digging up pottery shards from the 17th century, we were given a tour of the manor. In a formal garden with a reflecting pool stood a row of marble heads. The Grand Dame of the Manor quizzed us on who they were, and my friend Mary immediately recognized the curly-headed visage of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.

I was deeply impressed. If Mary could clock the likeness of the Stoic philosopher-king with barely a glance, I knew I better bone up on my classical studies. The next day I purchased Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and it ignited my passion and my daily devotion to reading the Stoics.

I have been at it for three decades, and I think I am a better person for it. I don’t get as angry or anxious, I don’t get (or cause) agita as much as before. I’ve become more steady and confident. If something great happens, I can enjoy it without getting too caught up or attached to it. If what happens is bad, like my chronic ill health and intractable pain, I have strategies for dealing with it. I have mastered myself.

Good life is within our grasp

Epictetus observed that everyone faces challenges and that a good life is within the grasp of all of us. He was born a slave, was savagely beaten by his master, and endured chronic pain and disability. I feel a deep connection to his philosophy. The wisdom you need to follow your own path, to master your life like that of a formerly dancing bear, is readily available to you in the Stoics. As Epictetus said,

It is difficulties that show what men are. - Epictetus, Discourses, 1.24.

Karen Duffy is a producer, actress, and former MTV VJ. Her latest book on Stoicism. Wise Up (https://amzn.to/ 3PpLv5D) is published by Seal Press.

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