Movin' Easy Dancewear

Heard at Movin Easy-”My husband and I have been ballroom dancing for 2 years now.  We absolutely love it.  I have done marathons and lots of other things, but dancing is totally different.  I can be stressed with lots of work stuff and at the end of dancing those thoughts are all gone.  It is a time that takes me completely away from any of that worry.  I love it.”

What’s more fun than laughing until I cry?  What’s more fun than running with dogs in the park?  Dancing with my grand children, that’s what.  I not only laugh and smile for hours, but I can not wait for the next opportunity for that much delight.

So at every moment I am with our four grand children, 3 girls and a boy all about the same age, I am watching for the moments when dance will pop up as the main feature.  Matters not whether it’s the short feature, the full length, or the cartoons, I am ripe and ready to catch their wave of sparkling delight.

I will tell my stories of how I learn to dance with crawlers and toddlers and Asbergers, how we learn together, and how our brains grow beyond our wildest imaginations.

Virginia’s Ballet Austin Experience

Dance class as an adult can be a little scary. Our bodies don’t recoup as quickly as a hard workout, our brains run a little bit slower than they did at age 16, and I am sure none of us look the same as we did 10 years ago.

At the Butler Community School at Ballet Austin these fears all seem to disappear. I have been taking class at Ballet Austin for about 6 months and couldn’t feel better about myself. Not only am I working out with fantastic teachers, I am invited into this amazing environment of people who make art all day and want me to get involved. And let me tell you about the facility. WOW!! State of the art to say the least.

Whether you’ve never put on a pair of dance shoes, or are just squeezing back into that leotard, everyone deserves to take a dance class at Ballet Austin.

Petre Iliev was a founding teacher of the Believe in Me program in Austin, Texas. From Austin, he led his first group tour of American dancers traveling to Bulgaria to explore the richness of the dance traditions there. The group visited dance schools for ballet that included traditional dance forms as well as studing with the major choreographers of Bulgaria’s traditional folk dance companies, and dancing in his family in the village where Iliev was born.

Petre Iliev has a important impact on the dancing of the United States by bringing the rhythm and passion of Bulgarian dancing to his ballet and modern choreography. Here is an update of his further exploration of connecting folk traditions with contemporary dancing.

Iliev Dance Art Foundation, DANCE BULGARIA 2009, gerganam@aol.com

In April, 2008 through the initiative of Bulgaria-born dance teacher and choreographer, Petur Iliev, The National School of Dance Art in Bulgaria hosted a week-long intensive dance workshop, which gave aspiring young dancers from Bulgaria and the US the opportunity to study different dance styles with renowned master choreographers. The ambition was to give the students the opportunity to acquire fundamental knowledge of four extremely different dance forms: jazz, modern, Bulgarian folk dancing and classical ballet, and also for them to witness the creative process through which their teachers approach the creation of a complete choreography. 125 children from all the corners of Bulgaria, and 14 children from the US participated in the project. The six choreographers who devoted their time and expertise to the project were Daniel Duell (School of Ballet Chicago), Mariana Deneva (Bulgarian National School of Dance Art), Sonia Dawkins (Pacific Northwest Ballet-Seattle), Alex Bergeson (Pacific Northwest Ballet-Seattle), Hristo Ivanov (Bulgarian National School of Dance Art) and Petur Iliev (School of Ballet Chicago).

The first edition of this dance program enjoyed a tremendous success! Both students and teachers were very enthusiastic and worked really hard during the short time they had together. The students demonstrated talent, strong work ethic and a burning desire to learn and develop. During that intensive week they acquired new dance vocabulary and techniques, and participated in the short choreographies set by the teachers. The workshop ended with a concert, which showcased the new choreographies and demonstrated the students’ progress. It also included performances by the professional dance companies Pirin and Trakia from Bulgaria, and Prism from the US. The concert was held to a fully packed hall and the performances received long-lasting ovations. The workshop enjoyed tremendous interest from the media as well, and its participants were featured in several TV shows.

The whole endeavor became possible thanks to major grants from the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture, Ballet Chicago, The Bulgarian National School of Dance Art, and many American and Bulgarian private benefactors, including generous in-kind donations.

In addition, the workshop became the springboard for yet another fruitful Bulgaria-USA dance collaboration. Ballet Chicago awarded 14 full and one partial tuition scholarships for Bulgarian students to participate in their prestigious summer program, held between June 23 and August 7, 2008. Thus, fifteen exceptionally gifted and diligent young Bulgarians had the opportunity to train for six weeks at a prestigious US ballet center. All of them were students of the Bulgarian National School of Dance Art but came from different parts of Bulgaria. They were selected by the teachers of the workshop. The students’ families and private sponsors covered only their airfare, while members of the Bulgarian community in Chicago and supporters of Ballet Chicago took care of their accommodations and meals.

The Bulgarian dancers made incredibly good impression in the US. They participated in all the choreographies set during the summer program and presented at the final concert held on July 25 at Columbia College – Chicago. Two of the dancers, Nikolina Karageorgieva and Eliza Kaltcheva, received full tuition scholarships, which enabled them to continue their training at Ballet Chicago’s year-long comprehensive program. They are currently continuing their studies there.

Upon their return back home, all of the Bulgarian students shared their enormous satisfaction with their participation in the project. They were hopeful that the project will continue to exist and will develop further, providing aspiring dancers with the opportunity to train in different dance forms on both sides of the ocean. With this goal in mind, in July 2008, in Sofia, the international Iliev Dance Art Foundation was created, an organization which took upon itself the task of guaranteeing the continuation of Dance Bulgaria. Its members are currently preparing the second edition of the program, which will be held between March 31 and April 6, 2009 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Excerpts from student responses received after the workshop and summer program

My trip to Bulgaria was an amazing experience. The cultural diversity between Bulgaria and the United States was an eye-opening experience for me. I loved learning Bulgarian folk dancing and found myself smiling at the end of every class. I felt I worked very hard and had a fantastic time. If given the chance, I would definitely go back.

Regan Bell, USA

This project changed my life completely. Meeting such an incredible group of teachers was a fantastic experience. They were highly professional teachers and incredible role models. Although we only worked with them for a short period of time, the memory will be forever with me and I am eagerly expecting the next opportunity to work with the incredible crew of Dance Bulgaria 2008.

Eliza Kalcheva, Bulgaria

It was a truly life-changing experience for me. It was amazing having the opportunity to work with such great teachers and choreographers. It has made me more aware of the world around me and the opportunities that may lie in store for me down the road. I know that I will never look at the world of dance or at myself in the same way again after this experience.

Kyle Johnson, USA

I know that this journey will be one of the most memorable events in my life. I loved it and I hope to be back soon. The part which I loved the most was holding hands with everyone in the circle as we danced, and we all laughed and enjoyed as much as we could.

Rina Shimizu, USA

Your country is beautiful and it was truly a pleasure getting to stay and perform there. It was also really great getting to know the people and learning about the culture of Bulgaria.

Madeline Koch, USA

This was undoubtedly a new and enriching experience for me. I got the incredible opportunity to get to know a new style of dance, such as jazz. It was a pleasure to try it out and understand why it is so popular and loved in the United States. The teachers also impressed me immensely. It was a true pleasure to work with everyone. The other incredible opportunity I received was immersing myself in the American culture – so completely different from the Bulgarian.

Nikolina Karageorgieva, Bulgaria

You were graciously helpful in meeting us at the airport, translating and taking us to delicious places to eat. Getting to meet the other students from Bulgaria was amazing. They were very welcoming, friendly and helpful.

Jessie Guerrero, USA

Although I loved the classes and felt the workshop was very beneficial, I think that the most valuable part about the week was meeting people and making friends with students our age who live in such a different culture. After the performance, I cannot believe how emotional all of us were. It was so difficult to leave all of the new friends that we had made. Saying Good-bye to them was the hardest part of the trip, but this also showed me how wonderful the experience was and how happy I was to be able to be there, even if only for a week.

Haley Holman, USA

Here is a paraphrase of comments from celebrities on Dancing with the Stars:

Being here has changed my life…

This is the greatest experience of my life…

I am a girl…

People recognize me more as a dancer than as a football player…

This has been so much fun; I am going to continue to grow from here…

I have gotten so close to everyone.  It has been a great experience…

I have learned so much about myself.  It has really changed my life…

as for Ballroom dancing in Austin – it’s been there forever……..the Waltz Club (Herb’s Club in the beginning at the Senior Center) has been around 50 – 60 years……. I remember peeking through window at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio on Congress next to the Old Bakery when I was about 10 (1967).

To complete my background – I started dancing when I was in St. Petersburg, Fl when I was 13 ½ years old. My brother John Reyes, was a dance instructor there & I was living with him at that time. When I returned to Austin I continued to teach dance at the John Felix Dance Studios. I started having coaching lessons with Roy Mavor, Ron & Patty Troy, & Ron Montez. My first wife Joanne Trevino & I competed professionally at the regional and national competitions & won several championships, including American 10 Dance, International Smooth & Theatre arts.

I have worked with the Fred Astaire Studios in various parts of the country and have owned studios in San Antonio, TX, Jacksonville, FL, and Tulsa, OK. I returned to Austin in 1992 as an independent instructor and moved to Temple in 1999, where my wife Karen & I own & operate In the Mood Ballroom, now starting our 10th year.

My first social dance was at 11 or 12 years old.  My granddad loved to dance and he was going to make sure I got a start.  So he took me to the local rodeo where the live country band played inside a chicken wire fence on a basketball court.

Granddad bought me a moviestub ticket and had them staple it to the collar of my shirt.  I was pretty terrified by this time.  But then he stood outside the fence and said, “Go on in there.”

“Do what?”  “You are not coming?”  “No, Go in there and dance.”

Dance?  I had never danced in my life.  This was something akin to the frontier way of teaching boys to swim by pitching them in the river and saying, “Come to Daddy.”  “Yikes!” is only the tip of the feelings that boil at that moment.

So I went.  I wandered shy and out of place through lots of young people enjoying the music and the dancing.  Many were real cowboys from the many ranches around our small town called Spur, Texas.

Granddad called me over to the fence for coaching.  “Ask that one to dance?”  “I don’t know how to dance.  What do I do then?”

I don’t know what happened then.  It seems like I obeyed and asked her and said something like, “I’ve never done this before.”  If that happened, there was an awkward moment when I kind of just stood there holding her in dance position wondering what to do next.

Maybe it was then that Granddad called her over to the fence or maybe Granddad coaxed the girl to go up to me, I don’t remember.  Anyway, he asked her to teach me the basic two step.

She did and away I went doing this side together step step clunky beginner two step.  I loved the music and moving to it, but the overwhelming feeling of this nice girl doing this for me, an out of place pre-teen who had no idea what I was doing, argh!

Whew!  That was over.  I stood around for a while, probably asked my Granddad if I could stop now.  “No, no, ask her to dance again.”  “Yeah right, this hurts.”  So I did and she was nice and danced with me again.

I did not know what to do.  So I stood around and asked her a couple of more times until she said, ”Ask someone else to dance.”  That was it.  I had to get out of there.

Granddad’s ticket did not go to waste, but however short a time that was in the dance pen was way beyond what I could handle.