ABOUT US Folk Seminar 2012

About the Seminar Administrative Staff

Larry Weiner, international program coordinator

Larry Weiner, from Silver Spring, Maryland (near Washington, DC) serves as one of the International Program Coordinators for the Bulgarian Folk Music and Dance Seminar in Plovdiv. He has been involved with Balkan traditional music and dance since the early 1960s. Principally a dance researcher, he has made numerous trips to Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Italy and Hungary to study traditional dance in its native setting. Larry has taught Balkan dance workshops throughout North America and has directed various Balkan music and dance camps for over 40 years. In addition to his strong background in traditional dance, Larry plays tûpan (big drum) and tarabuka (small hand drum) with Lyuti Chushki, a bitov band in the Washington, DC area. He is an avid Bulgarian folk music collector, most recently focusing on music recorded before 1945. In 2004, Larry developed the original concept for the Bulgarian Folk Music and Dance Seminar at the Music Academy in Plovdiv.

Larry's son, Bryndyn, is married to Lyuben and Tanya Dossev's daughter, Tzvety, who is the webmaster of our web site.

Cathie Springer, translator, editor

Cathie Springer, who lives in New Brunswick, NJ, serves on the Administrative Team of the Seminar as Bulgarian/English translator and editor. She has also been interpreter in the dance classes at the seminar since 2005 and has taught the Bulgarian language course at the seminar since 2006. Cathie is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Bulgarian Folk Dance Teaching program of the School for Leaders of Amateur Activities in Plovdiv. She has been Artistic Director of the "Bosilek" Bulgarian Folk Dance Ensemble in New York City since 1981. Cathie is also actively involved in the dance and music connected with the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle; she is editor of the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America's quarterly journal, Sound Post and Chair of the HFAA's annual music and dance workshop.

Margaret Loomis, photographer, editor

Margaret Loomis came to the world of traditional folk dance and music through international folk dancing groups in 1982. From 1985 to 1991 she was the manager for Buffalo Gap Camp for the Cultural Arts, a facility in West Virginia that hosted many different international folk music and dance workshops. She has attended the East European Folklife Center's annual Balkan Music & Dance Workshops since 1983, and there began learning to play the santouri, a traditional Greek folk instrument. Margaret served on the Board of Directors for EEFC from 1992 to 1994, and also worked for 7 years as Administrative Director for the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance, based in Washington, DC. She has run numerous folk dance camps and events with her husband, Larry Weiner. Margaret currently works for an integrative pharmacy and spends as much time gardening as possible. She and Larry have three cats, who would also like to take up gardening. They all live in a log cabin in Silver Spring, MD.

Tzvety Weiner, webmaster

Tzvety Weiner has been the webmaster for the Bulgarian Folk Music and Dance Seminar website since its inception. She is the daughter of Tanya and Lyuben Dossev, two of our very own teachers at the Seminar.

Tzvety is a website developer by profession but all her life she has been immersed in Bulgarian folk music through her parents. In 1998 Tzvety moved to the United States to study computer science. Besides working on her professional career, Tzvety also started performing as a singer with Lyuti Chushki, the local Bulgarian folk music band, alongside Larry Weiner and some other outstanding musicians in the Washington, D.C. area. In late 2007 she was also invited to sing with Slaveya, the local women's choir. Tzvety is now a very active member of the folk community in the D.C. area, as well as a committee member of the Bulgarian Community Center in the Greater Washington Area.

Hristina Koleva, financial manager

Hristina Koleva's career path has led her to various management and control positions - Head of the State Agency for Financial Control, Head of the Internal Audit Department of the Plovdiv Municipality and, at present, Head of the Finance Department at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts (AMDFA) in Plovdiv. She has developed most of the established procedures for good financial management that are included in the digest Financial Management and Control Systems at AMDFA. She has also authored an article on the risks in reporting professors' work, published in the AMDFA 2009 yearbook. She has a Master's degree in Economics and is a part-time lecturer in the Master's Program in Arts Management at the Academy.

Dilyana Kurdova, international program coordinator

Dilyana Kurdova joined the Seminar team in 2010. She has been involved with folk dancing since 1999 when she was part of an amateur dance group affiliated with the Filip Koutev national ensemble. In 2000, she moved to Athens, Greece to pursue a Bachelor's Degree from Panteion University and joined the amateur dance ensemble at Zografou Cultural Center. She has performed authentic dances from the folk regions of Pontos, Epirus, Thrace, Northern Greece, the islands, and others. In 2007, Dilyana left Greece to earn a Master's Degree from Hochschule Bremen in Germany. While in Germany, she taught Balkan dances at an independent local dance club. Dilyana currently lives in Assenovgrad, Bulgaria and has recently started teaching Bulgarian and Greek folk dances to amateur groups.

About the Academy

The Academy of Music and Dance was founded in 1964, initially as an affiliate of the Bulgarian State Conservatory in Sofia. The idea for a branch in Plovdiv was put forward by the eminent Bulgarian musician Prof. Assen Diamandiev and was met with enthusiastic support by Prof. Vladimir Avramov and Prof. Alexander Neinski, Rectors of the Bulgarian State Conservatory.

In the next eight years the branch grew substantially and in 1972 became an independent institution under the name of Higher Institute of Music and Music Pedagogy. In the same year, degrees in Bulgarian folklore music were introduced into the curriculum, making the Institute the first and only school of higher learning in Bulgaria to offer such degrees. Prof. Assen Diamandiev was appointed as the Institute’s first Rector.

Training in Bulgarian folklore choreography was introduced in 1975, and in 1995 the Institute was formally renamed The Academy of Music and Dance. Visual arts were introduced in the mid-90s completing the range of art degrees offered.

Prof. Nedyalcho Todorov (1979-83), Prof. Gheorghi Kunev (1983-89, 1997-99) and Prof. Ivan Spassov (1989-96) and Prof. Anastas Slavchev (1996-2008) succeeded Prof. Assen Diamandiev as Rector. Docent Doctor Vasilka Yoncheva has been the Academy’s Rector since 2008.

Following the political and social changes that took place in Bulgaria in 1989, the Academy of Music and Dance became one of the first institutions of higher learning in the country to receive full state accreditation (1998). Since 1964 more than 5,000 students have graduated from the Music Academy.

About Docent Dr. Vasilka Yoncheva

Vasilka Yoncheva, a native of the city of Yambol in Thrace, graduated from the Music High School in Plovdiv and the Bulgarian State Conservatory in Sofia where she studied in the Department of Theory and Composition. She taught folk music, harmony, and polyphony and led the folk orchestra and folk choir at the renowned Music High School in Kotel. Dr. Yoncheva has taught at the Academy for Music and Dance Art in Plovdiv since 1972. Upon earning her doctorate from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in 1996, Dr. Yoncheva was promoted to Docent at the Academy. From 2003 to 2007, she was Dean of the Academy’s Department of Music Pedagogy, and in 2008 she was elected Rector. She is the author of two books: Theory of Music and Bulgarian Folk Music for Students of Bulgarian Folk Choreography.

About Plovdiv, Bulgaria

"…some cities are older than their countries…"

Remains of ancient civilizations and expressions of modern culture complement each other to create the irresistible and eternal beauty of this city, a true symbol of Bulgarian history and culture.

Plovdiv's location along the banks of the Maritsa River, and its seven hills, so prominent on the Thracian plain, indicate the city’s strategic significance and account for its long tradition as one of the largest cultural and economic centers in the country throughout the ages. Here Thracians, Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans and Bulgarians came together to create an architectural wonder.

Being situated as a crossroad between East and West has brought Plovdiv strong cultural and political influences from many civilizations over the centuries which have informed the city’s unique cultural identity. Being older than many ancient cities such as Rome, Athens, Carthage and Constantinople, and an almost-contemporary of Troy, Plovdiv is not only a picturesque site with many parks, gardens and historic buildings. Its museums and archaeological monuments and excavations make it a unique document where one can experience layer upon layer of history.

The old section of Plovdiv, called the Old Town, with houses from the National Revival period (18-19th century), is an open-air museum situated on the three hills of the ancient Trimontium. One of the most remarkable sights of the city is the ancient Roman Amphitheater (left), which has been restored and is once again in use for open-air performances.

Plovdiv is magical all year round. In the winter it is fabuously white; in the spring it is covered with green and flowers, in the summer it is hushed under the scorching dry heat of Southern Thrace, in the autumn it is calm and intriguing, with ripe figs and sweet grapes dropping into soft foliage… Plovdiv can hardly be described in simple words… One should see it and feel its unique atmosphere in order to understand it.

To find out more about this fascinating place, please visit the official web site of the city of Plovdiv: http://www.plovdiv.org/