Dance It! Spring Intensive is a week-long annual dance training program which takes place in Sofia, Bulgaria during the academic spring break. In 2016 it will be held between April 4th and 9th with a stage production on April 10th, showcasing the repertoire created during the six intensive days. The program is an international collaboration targeting young dancers from Bulgaria (mainly) and from all over the world with the goal to contribute significantly to their dance training – to build upon their existing technique, expanding and enriching it with the vocabularies and practices of several fundamentally different dance forms. It aspires also to allow the dancers to take part in a creative process, as well as to benefit from the international exchange and intercultural communication.

In the course of the week young dancers (advanced and professionals) take classes in five different styles: Classical Ballet, Modern Dance, Jazz, Hip-Hop and Character Dance. The classes are taught by renowned teachers and choreographers from both continents – professionals who are at the top of their career. They bring their unique expertise to the young dancers who do not have the chance to experience this in their routine dance curricula. Each student also participates in the creation of repertoire, which is showcased in the final day of the program.

The spring program closes with a final stage production – a combination of the new pieces of the choreographers involving all workshop participants and repertoire shown by specially invited renowned guest dance artists.

It also offers special master classes as well as public discussion events on relevant topics, which additionally enrich the program.

Each year, five or six of the best dancers receive scholarships for summer dance intensive programs at renowned schools and companies in the US.

Since 2008, more than 900 dancers from Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, Romania, Greece, Montenegro, Portugal and the US have participated in Dance It! More than 40 young talented dancers have received scholarships for schools such as Pacific Northwest Ballet School – Seattle, School of Ballet Chicago, Debbie Reynolds Dance Studios – Los Angeles, Syracuse University – New York, Deeply Rooted Productions – Chicago and others. Many of our scholarship recipients are currently employed at dance companies in Italy, Germany and the US, as well as at Bulgarian national dance institutions and private dance companies.

This project is being implemented with the financial support of

America for Bulgaria Foundation (ABF) is partnering with the Iliev Dance Art Foundation in the Dance It! Project since 2011. Founded in 2008, ABF is the successor of the Bulgarian-American Enterprise Fund (BAEF), an investment fund created by the United States of America, acting through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). One of the goals of the Foundation is to support private-sector art entrepreneurs and organizations. ABF’s mission in arts and culture is to promote greater appreciation of and demand for Bulgarian arts and culture in-country and abroad; to nurture Bulgarian creative talents to lead and compete in the global marketplace; and to enhance Bulgaria’s international cultural profile. With the Dance It! 2016 Project, America for Bulgaria and the Iliev Dance Art Foundation aim at building another cultural bridge between Bulgaria and the United States, as well as to provide opportunities for Bulgarian students in dance to get a feel for the American way of work and to get to know some of the most prominent choreographers and masters of American dance. For more information, go to www.americaforbulgaria.org

Classic Ballet

Paula Weber

Professor of Ballet, Chair of Dance, Conservatory of music and dance, University of Missouri at Kansas city

Paula Weber received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance from Butler University and her Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance from Smith College. She has studied ballet with such masters as Maria Tallchief, Jean Paul Comelin, Dermot Burke, Basil Thompson, Larry Long, Marjorie Mussman, and Maggie Black. During her professional career, Ms. Weber performed solo and principal roles of more than 45 major works which include such classics as Swan Lake (Odette/Odile), Giselle (Giselle), Romeo and Juliet (Juliet), Cinderella (Cinderella) and Coppelia (Swanhilda), and contemporary works as George Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco (First Violin), Agnes DeMille’s Fall River Legend (Lizzy Borden), John Butler’s Carmina Burana, and Alvin Ailey’s The River. She has worked with renowned choreographers such as Bill T. Jones, Margo Sappington, Laura Dean, Sean Curran, Charles Moulton, and Kevin “Iega” Jeff. She has been a member of the Milwaukee Ballet (principal), the Albany Berkshire Ballet (principal), Lyric Opera Ballet of Chicago (soloist), Chicago Ballet and the Indianapolis Ballet Theatre, and guest principal artist with the Hartford Ballet. She is currently the assistant director and rehearsal director for the Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company and is ballet mistress for the Albany Berkshire Ballet. Ms. Weber has been a guest instructor of ballet in many prestigious schools throughout the United States. In 1996, she was invited to be a guest instructor of ballet for the Shenyang Conservatory of Music, Shenyang, China, making her the second American ballet instructor to teach at that conservatory. Ms. Weber was the 1997 recipient of the Mrs. Ewing Kauffman Excellence in Teaching Award, the 2001 recipient of the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Excellence in Teaching Award, the 2007-2008 recipient of the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Excellence in Teaching Award and the 2011 Muriel McBrien Kauffman Faculty Service Award all presented to her by the Conservatory of Music and Dance, University of Missouri – Kansas City. She is on the official adjudicator for Regional Dance America and a site evaluator for the National Association of Schools of Dance. Ms Weber’s choreography has been performed by the Kansas City Ballet, the Albany Berkshire Ballet, the Kansas Regional Ballet, the Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company, Midwest Youth Ballet, Alexandra Ballet, Kansas City Youth Ballet, Allegro Ballet of Houston and City in Motion. Her first professional choreographic work, Carmina Burana, was performed by the Kansas City Ballet in 1996 with repeated performances in 1998 and May of 2002. In 2003 Ms. Weber was commissioned to create a new ballet for the Kansas City Ballet, “Canzone” which later by invitation became the three movement ballet, “Toccata e due Canzoni”, created for the 2005 Fall Season of the Kansas City Ballet. She has received three Craft of Choreography Awards from Regional Dance America (2004, 2008, and 2014). Summer of 2008 her work, “From Within” and 2013 her pas de deux in the piece “Blue” were selected to be performed for the Young Tanzommers Dance Festival in Austria by the Allegro Ballet of Houston. In 2010 she received the Regional Dance America National Choreographic Award and was named a choreographer for the 2011 National Choreographers Initiative. She is a member and former President of the CORPS de Ballet International, Inc.

Modern Dance

Gary Abbott

Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Missouri at Kansas City; Deeply Rooted Dance Theater

Gary Abbott teaches modern dance and composition at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. He is also a co-founder and the associate artistic director of Deeply Rooted Dance Theater in Chicago, Illinois; a company rooted in the traditions of modern, classical, and African American dance, storytelling, and celebration of the voices of contemporary life. They perform nationally and internationally. In 1993, Abbott co-founded Performance Arts Workshop in Gillette, Wyoming, to train youth in musical theater during a three week summer workshop, and presently serves as it artistic director. Also in Gillette, Abbott is lead artist and instructor of modern and African dance at Choose Dance which delivers dance education to the public school system and to at-risk youth centers. In 1999, 2010, and 2012 he was awarded the Katherine Dunham and Alvin Ailey Awards for Best Choreography for Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Best Choreography for the dance ‘Desire,’ and Best Choreography for the dance ‘Move,’ respectively. His company, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater was the first American dance company to perform in the internationally celebrated JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Festival held in Durban, South Africa. Deeply Rooted Dance Theater continues to collaborate with Durban Flatfoot Dance Company. In addition to his professional activities, Abbott has been a guest artist at numerous performance arts centers, and colleges and universities across the country, Austria, Bulgaria, and South Africa. As an educator, it is important to Abbott that all those who collaborate in the sharing of knowledge do so authentically. In the class room environment, he shares all of the lessons he has learned as a dance student, professional dancer, choreographer and artistic director. He shares that knowledge freely and urges students to challenge his ideas as a way of making what they learn from him their own. He continues his work as a choreographer and educator both nationally and abroad. Abbott’s work has appeared in the repertories of Dallas Black Dance Theater, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, David Taylor Dance Theatre, Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company, The Goodman Theater, Kansas City Repertory, Penumbra Theatre Company, among others, including his own company, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater. He serves as artistic director for Performance Arts Workshop, where he has directed musical theater performances that include: The King and I, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Mulan, and Once on This Island, to name a few.

Jazz

Kirsten Cooper

Pacific Northwest Ballet, Westlake Dance Center – Seattle

Kirsten Cooper trained in Washington State then moved to Los Angeles when she was nineteen years old. She trained at Edge Performing Arts Center and Tremaine in Hollywood. She assisted Rhonda Miller, Jeff Amsden and Liz Imperio. While in Los Angeles she worked in film, video and stage. Kirsten danced on Costa Cruise Lines, toured with Los Angeles Dance Force convention, demonstrated on LADF and Jeff Amsden instructional videos, Sony Disc Industrial Film and numerous ABBA hair shows. Kirsten now teaches full time in the Seattle area as well as traveling the U.S. to do choreography and master classes. She teaches for the Dance This Intensive (STG) and Pacific Northwest Ballet Summer Program. She has run a pre-professional jazz company out of Westlake Dance Center since 1997. Her goal with the company is to train the dancers for dance careers and instill in them that hard work is just as important as talent. They have performed at “Sign of the Times”, “Bumbershoot Arts Festival”, “Dance This” and “Global Dance Party” @ The Moore Theatre and the PONCHO gala benefit. They were honored to dance in the Tanzsommer Dance Festival 2006 in Austria. Many of her students have gone on to do the one-year study program at Edge Performing Arts Center (LA) and Steps on Broadway (NYC). Manny of her current students have attended summer programs at Juilliard, Alvin Ailey, Alonzo King Lines Ballet and Hubbard Street. Her former students have gone on to exciting careers in dance. They have toured with Paul McCartney, Backstreet Boys, Celine Dion, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Ricky Martin, Pharrell Williams and The Glee Summer Tour. They have been in numerous videos and film including “Dreamgirls”, “Fame”, “Teen Beach Movie” and the live version of “Grease”. Her students can be seen in Hysterica Dance Company (LA), Odyssey (Salt Lake City) and the NYC Rockettes. Her students have also attended dance programs at Tisch (NYU), Marymount Manhattan, Loyola Marymount, Chapman University and SUNY Purchase.

Hip Hop

Andrea Burr

Go To Talent, LA

Andrea is a professional dancer and teacher based in Los Angeles, California. She is signed with Go to Talent Agency. This past summer, Andrea went on tour with Macy’s Glamorama “Fashion in a New Light” show where she shared the bill with Cirque de Soleil, the Backstreet Boys and Sheryl Crow. Her recent credits include the finale of the television show the Voice, Comic Con and Mandy Jiroux’s “Speakers Boom” music video. Last summer, Andrea was chosen as one of 8 girls in the US to be in “The Mobsters Way”, the Monsters of Hip Hop show in LA. Now she assists on the Monsters of Hip Hop convention tour. Andrea was recently in a short film called “Today is the Day”, directed and co-choreographed by Tamara Levinson and Daniel “Cloud” Campos. Last year Andrea danced with Rihanna on the X-Factor, where she performed the world premiere of “We Found Love” choreographed by Tina Landon and Tanysha Scott. In 2011, Andrea lived in China for 6 months teaching hip-hop and performing around the country. Upon return to the States, she co-directed a full length hip hop dance show in Seattle. Some of Andrea’s credits include: August Jackson Industrial in Las Vegas, Poser’s LA, Carnival LA, Cruz Control’s show at the Moore Theater, Seattle Seahawks halftime show, Vietnamese music awards, and the Young Tanzsommer Austriatour with Westlake Dance Center Performing Group. Andrea is credited with award winning choreography which has been selected to perform at Disneyland in CA, and the RDA Dance America Festival in Utah. She has received scholarships to Steps on Broadway in NYC, Millennium Dance Complex in LA, Debbie Reynolds in LA and various convention scholarships from Monsters of Hip Hop, Company Dance, Hollywood Vibe, LA Elite, Encore, and West Coast Dance Explosion.

Character Dance

Petur Iliev

Iliev Dance Art Foundation, Bulgaria; Pacific Northwest ballet; Ballet Chicago

Petur Iliev is a Bulgarian-born dancer and choreographer whose career is deeply steeped in the rich folk dance traditions of his family. He started dancing at the age of five at the dance ensemble of his father. Later he graduated from the Bulgarian National School of Dance Art and from the Bulgarian National Institute of Choreography in Sofia, Bulgaria. He began his professional career as a Principal Dancer of Kutev National Dance and Music Ensemble where he worked for five years, before continuing his training at the National Dance Institute in New York where he studied under the supervision of one of the gurus of American dance – Jacques d’Amboise. Subsequently, Iliev became the Artistic Co-Director of Believe in Me — a dance ensemble in Austin, TX, where for four years he trained more than a thousand young dancers. Moving to California, Iliev continued working in the American educational system teaching dance to hundreds of children in a performing arts magnet school. A year later he was appointed the Artistic Director of Westwind International Dance Company — one of the first companies in the US whose mission is to present to the American audience the richness and diversity of ethnic dance. All along Iliev has been teaching master classes in Character dance and Bulgarian folk dances at many colleges and universities in different parts of the US, and has been creating new choreographies for professional and non-professional dance companies in the US and Canada. In 2003 he joined the faculty of the renowned school of Pacific Northwest Ballet and two years later he was attracted to the school of Ballet Chicago. Along with that, for several years Iliev shared his expertise with numerous students in the public school system in Chicago through a 21st Century grant. With this invaluable experience in hand he resumed his activity in Bulgaria in 2008 through the various programs of his foundation established in the same year. The Iliev Dance Art Foundation has since been running several highly successful educational programs: the Spring and Summer Intensives Dance It, a solid scholarship program for summer training in the US, as well as the children’s dance program targeting youth from public schools. Most recently Iliev appeared as a judge on the national reality dance show Magadans – The Challenge, as well as created and staged a full-length children’s show Click, performed in October 2013 as part of Sofia Dance Week. In addition, he has also actively been teaching and choreographing at The Anglo-American School of Sofia, both instructing children from various classes, as well as choreographing for the final musicals performed by the graduating classes. In 2014 he choreographed and staged 5×5+1 – a conceptual, interdisciplinary project, and A Swallow’s Flight – a children’s dance show, and in 2015 – the highly original Who Stole the Chips? In Bulgaria Petur Iliev’s artistic creativity has gradually been coming to its full potential in the creation of many highly innovative choreographies that reach to the core of the Bulgarian ethnic dance – unlocking its structure and unleashing its potential as means of expression by enriching it with the vocabulary of ballet and modern technique.