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
