Jovana Petrovic

24 years old

“For Roma women, marriage usually means the end of their social life. They become homemakers, wives, persons who keep giving birth, cleaning, cooking, staying inside. And from a very young age at that. This is not who I am. I want more in life. And therefore I’m judged by the people from my community.”

Wearing her dance shoes, Jovana had around sixty folklore performances throughout Croatia and abroad. Dancing helps her to cope with double discrimination she experiences as an unmarried Roma woman. Dancing is also a means of preservation and transference of the Romani tradition.