Daniela Ivanova is an accomplished, professional folk
dance teacher and performer. She is also a very gifted choreographer and a
researcher of the South Slavic folk dance culture. Daniela graduated from
the Institute of Music and Choreography, Sofia and also from the Sofia
University “St. Kliment Ohridski” with MA degrees in Philosophy,
Literature and Cultural Studies. This broad educational background gives
her the unique opportunity to combine theory and practice, research,
teaching and performance in her very extensive works.
She was a full time teacher in choreography and
co-founder of the “Medena Pitka” school ensemble. She was Artistic
Director of the "Tropanka” folk dance group (New Bulgarian
University), choreographer of the “Zornitza” University students` folk
ensemble, and a choreographer of different student ensembles in Bulgaria,
Banat and Besarabia. With these ensembles she toured France, Israel,
Romania, Malta, Belgium, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Mongolia etc., where
her groups received prestigious awards. Daniela has very original dance
compositions some of which are still performed by various dance groups in
Bulgaria. When she practises with them, she always inspires them to give
the best they can for themselves and for the audience. Recently she took
up a job as a choreographer with a Vojvodian dance ensemble in Novi Sad,
Serbia - the “Chigra” Ensemble.
Her talent as an artist helps Daniela Ivanova to be a
very good educator as well. She delivers lectures at many educational
establishments: the New Bulgarian University, the National Theatre and
Film Academy, the specialised school in choreography, and many other
schools. She delivers lectures and dance workshops not only in Bulgaria,
but also in Slovenia, Serbia, Turkey, Hungary, Greece, and other European
countries.
Daniela has rich experience in conducting field work
not only in Bulgaria but in Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia as well. Her
field work resulted in hundreds of hours of audio recordings, a large
number of photos, field notes and other materials (See Field
Work
and Research Publications). She uses her fieldwork experience when
she teaches her master level students to perform authentic dances from
various countries. Her big and diverse repertoire and her charm make her a
dream teacher.
Daniela is a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Art
Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Science
Angel Nazlamov is one of the outstanding accordion
players in Bulgaria. He first took up accordion playing in his teenage
years. One of the his first teachers was the eminent Bulgarian accordion
player Ivan Milev.
Angel continued his musical education at the
Specialised National Folk Music High School, Shiroka Luka, where he
studied kaval (shepherd's pipe) with Ivaylo Koutchev and theory of music
with Kostadin Lyolev.
Angel started his professional career with the
“Trakia” State Folk Ensemble and at the same time he was the solo
accordion player of the Dalboki Izvor Orchestra. He played with the most
famous clarinet players such as Biser Bayram, Osman Sadovetsa, Yashko
Argirov, Nikola Angelov Bokovetsa, Dimitar Paskov. For many years he
played with "Yuzhnyache" Dance Ensemble and toured extensively
in Greece, Turkey, France, Italy and the Ukraine.
In 1988 Angel Nazlamov and Nikolay Trifonov founded the
“Slavyani” Orchestra and they performed numerous concerts and recorded
several CDs with their music. In these
recordings Angel Nazlamov stands out not only as a virtuoso musician, but
as a talented composer as well. Recently he has been involved in many
musical workshops where he teaches accordion.
Daniela and Angel will be in the United States from
March 1 until May 31, 2004. They will teach Bulgarian, Macedonian and
Serbian dances. The following will also be possible:
Singing workshops (Bulgarian traditional songs), Accordion workshops, led by Angel and Knitting workshop, led by Daniela (See “Made of
wool”)
