I met Daniela in 2012 during her first visit to Brigham Young University (BYU). I was introduced to her by former colleague Ed Austin. I invited her to set a Bulgarian choreography on the BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble, of which I was a new artistic director. We discussed different ideas which were based on my request to include something humorous that could also represent a new Bulgarian area of representation for us. Daniela proposed this idea of focusing on the northeastern Danubian dance styles that would include the story of “The Gorgeous.”

I was impressed with Daniela’s knowledge and skills in Bulgarian dance and music from the beginning. She is meticulous in any project she sets her mind to, and I appreciate her combination of practical skills but also her very accomplished research and writing skills. She is one who is eager to share these skills and knowledge through meaningful collaborations. Daniela wrote a libretto entitled “The Gorgeous” that became the base of her choreographic work for BYU, an 8:00 min. medley of this comical story coupled with a large dance piece representing a gathering and celebration in the village square.

Daniela worked with the student performers for 12+ hours as she taught them the Danubian dance style and choreographic elements. She was kind and encouraging in her interactions with the students. They were eager to learn from her and responded quickly to her coaching. She is one who understands music structure and texture and was able to teach difficult rhythmic step patterns to the students quickly. Her clear demonstrations and dance skills made it easy for the students to learn from her. She communicated her goals clearly and efficiently. Daniela’s expertise and cultural sharing had a deep impact on student learning.

Daniela is immensely versatile as she not only came to BYU as a guest choreographer, but also presented a lecture, master classes, and facilitated bringing original Bulgarian costumes to us for her piece. She collaborated with Bulgaria’s finest musicians from the Philip Koutev National Folk Ensemble to record the music for her piece. She is a musician, a dancer, a researcher, a writer, and a dancechoreologist.

Most impressive is Daniela’s personable and genuine way of relating with others. The faculty and students at BYU were all benefactors of her willingness to share her expertise of cultural knowledge and identity with us.

Jeanette Geslison
BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble | Artistic Director

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Daniela was introduced to me by a folkdance colleague as “the top” person for Bulgarian dance and music to bring as a guest. Her many visits to my Movement and Culture classes at Western Washington University have been so well loved, and profound learning experiences. There is so much more to teaching a dance from a specific culture, and Daniela has a way to introduce students to dance, call and response in Bulgarian; music, and singing so that for beginners (as some of the students are to dance) or more advanced (Dance Program dancers) are able feel the joy and empowerment of themselves as young people as part of a community. Due to the questions and need of the situation, she created an ebook with lots of information and links that is so interesting and inviting to students they read it. She also participated as a choreographer for our spring Dance in Concert with dance students, creating a suite of dances from several parts of Bulgaria. The choreography, costumes, singing, calls, performative feedback, created a total immersion for students which ended with the entire Dance Program participating in the pravo at the end. Daniela’s dance and musical background are extensive and she is a foremost researcher also. I recommend her highly.

Penny Hutchinson
Associate Professor of Dance, Western Washington University

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Daniela helped me learn basic Bulgarian so I could talk to family members. I had done some of my own research and learning on apps before I started working with her, so I thought I was learning a bit, but my pace was so slow. As soon as Daniela started teaching me, I learned so fast! I learned more from her in one hour-long class than I learned in months of independent practice on an app, and over the months, it got better and better. She’s a skilled teacher and does a wonderful job of meeting her students where they’re at. I’d highly recommend her classes and tutoring to anyone interested in learning the Bulgarian language or about Bulgarian culture.

Ali Shaw

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I  came to know Daniela at several Study Group on Ethnochoreology meetings held throughout Europe every two years. These meetings bringing together a group of scholars, artists, practitioners concerned with the study of, and very active participation in, all forms of Folk Dance. These dances are, in turn, usually a very integral part of contemporary culture – a very different positioning than here in most of the US. I noted, right from the beginning, Daniela as a very thoughtful and active participant, whose papers were very well received. We became friends and I was very pleased to receive a visit from her in New York in 2013. I had recently moved back to NYC after more than 50 years of living in Southern California – many of those years spent Chairing the Dept. of Dance at UCLA while creating, and then giving leadership to, the Dance Ethnology program there.

Not only did we talk at some length about her current interest and work which I continued to find very exciting but I was very pleased to be invited to visit and witness a presentation and class at the Gallatin School, New York University. I was quite overwhelmed by what I saw – Daniela is a master teacher and the students responded with enormous focus and enthusiasm – I was so impressed I wrote UCLA saying this was a young teacher I felt that they should bring into the Department – unfortunately for UCLA they had no openings at that time. (…) I think you will find yourselves very, very happy with Daniela’s presence and contribution to Critical Dance Studies.

Allegra Snyder
Professor Emerita of Dance and Dance Ethnology, UCLA
Honorary Member, Board of Directors, Buckminster Fuller Institute

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Daniela was a beautiful dancer. At one point, she demonstrated a dance and I thought, “I’ll never be able to do that,” but she then broke it down into such small parts which she kept repeating and before long she had us all doing the dance. We participated in Daniela’s workshop in March and were very impressed.

…

Daniela is a beautiful dancer and a great teacher. Her graceful movements inspired us. She had the knack of making dances easy to learn even though they at first sight appeared difficult. She taught a wonderful selection of dances, and Angel’s accordion kept our feet hopping.

…

Daniela and Angel provided us with a delightful workshop. Daniela’s teaching was precise, informed, and clear. Her dancing style was similarly clear, and obviously covered a wide range of  ethnographic regions. Angel’s accordion playing was cheerful, enthusiastic, and wonderful to listen to. We highly recommended both for any workshops.

Participants in workshop in Morris Town, March 2003
Comments submitted by Murray F. Spiegel

Dani is an amazingly talented, gracious, and gifted dancer, choreographer, teacher, and singer. Together with Angel’s talent and repertoire on the accordion they will present a night (or day) not easily forgotten.

Riccie MD, Philadelphia

It was a wonderful experience learning from and being led by Daniela Ivanova with Angel’s accompaniment in 2003. This is Balkan dancing in its finest. I look forward to their return to the Philadelphia area.

John Frank

Daniela & Angel’s workshop was delightful and refreshing. They are a good team. Everyone enjoyed them very much.

Ellen Golan, Woodbury, NY

Daniela and Angel together provide an exciting tour of dances of Bulgaria and surrounding areas. With Angel filling the room with music, Daniela patiently builds a dance from fundamental to more complex steps, leaving students with a thorough understanding of how elements fit together. She is an excellent teacher who matches her choice of material (…) She can teach men’s and women’s dances, as well as solo and group dancing. As a dance researcher, she is very interested in how dance changes from region to region, and she delights in sharing this flow of styles with students. Angel is a phenomenal accordionist. Both are very sweet people and a joy to work with.

Judy Olson 

Daniela presented a variety of Bulgarian material in a lively manner, ably assisted by Angel’s accordion.

Roger Cooper

Dear EEFC friends,

We have seen many of the best that the Balkans have to offer, and these two artists and teachers are absolutely tops. Daniela Ivanova is an exquisite dancer of great range spanning several genres backed by extensive field research (and publications). Her superb style is not only accurate but elegant, subtle, nuanced – and pure folk. Her women’s styling and graceful hand movements are also delightful to watch and learn from. Angel Nazlamov plays the accordion with clarity and fluidity that has to be heard to be believed. Together they form an incredible duo who presented authentic and captivating dances which were enjoyable for every level of dancer. Daniela is particularly adept at breaking down steps and patterns so that even beginners are able to learn difficult dances (…) Daniela is also a superb singer and teacher of singing (and knitting!) and taught a number of songs, some of which accompanied the dances and others which are just marvelous songs that are fun to learn and sing.

John Kuo
to East European Folklife Center, April 14, 2004

They were as good as the advance publicity.

Frances Prevas
to East European Folklife Center, May 24, 2004

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