Teachers & Guest Artists

Kathy Molga

Kathy Molga has a lifelong interest in dancing. Starting with classical training in ballet, jazz and tap, Kathy accidently bumped into folk dancing in 1970 on the campus of Princeton University. She fell in love with the rhythms of Balkan music and was hooked. Since then, Kathy has been involved with folk dance groups in Texas, Colorado and California. Kathy has been instrumental in helping put together fundraisers and auctions for scholarships that have supported dancers wanting to attend folk dance camps. In addition to teaching, Kathy has helped with the production of festivals such as San Antonio's recent SAFDF Technical Institute featuring Mihai and Alexandru David. Kathy's first love is Balkan dancing, especially dances from Bulgaria. She started Bulgarian dancing in the 1970s while attending her first Yves Moreau workshop. Since then she has visited many countries in Europe including Bulgaria and has written articles for the NFO Newsletter, Let's Dance and Folk Dance Scene. Her favorite quote is: "Dance is life, and the rest is just stuff you have to do."

John Parrish

John Parrish has been international folk dancing since 1974, enjoys Balkan dance but also has especially focused on material from Scandinavia and the Carpathian basin. He will present a few dances from the Csango Hungarian ethnic minority from two areas in Romania.

John has been sticking things in his mouth and playing on them from an early age. When he was 10 he got his first goyishe harp from the spouse of his piano teacher who winced and said "Here, why don't you play this instead?" About fifteen years ago he played it for a four day run in an off-Broadway revue. He apprenticed on harmonica at German youth hostels in the 60's and had been invited to teach Swedish folk harmonica at a camp in Sweden. John also plays miscellaneous folk flutes.

He started playing the tapan, which wouldn't fit in his mouth, in the mid 70's, which is what he is now. He picked up the violin about twenty years ago and intends to play it any day now. Actually he goes to group fiddle lessons at camps to learn tunes for his harmonicas and would be better on the fiddle if he opened the case more often. He also sings in a variety of languages, some of which people recognize.

Tanya & Valentin Ivanov

Valentin Ivanov graduated from the Academy of Music and Dance in Plovdiv in 2002, and Tanya from the Free University in Varna. Tanya is a student of one of most popular choreographer Vasil Gerlimov and is part of the Zagore ensemble in Stara Zagora. Valentin and Tanya Ivanova are soloists in one of the first private formations East Wind with the direction of Vasil Gerlimov. Participant in the Etnika formation for Slavi's Show

Participant, choreographer and leader in the Neshka Robeva Troupe. Creator of some of the choreographies in the performances Vidritsa, Meeting in the Memory, and The Party.

Vivanov

Founded  in 2018 by Tanya and Valentin Ivanov, Vivànov brings a unique artistic approach to the world of dance. Their repertoire consists entirely of original choreography, blending both traditional and modern styles.

VivAnov dance group Chicago | Roselle IL

Angelina Genova

Angelina Genova is a second generation Bellydancer, who was trained  in traditional, folkloric, flamenco fusion, as well as modern Bellydance, by Dahlena, a master of the Bellydance artform, who is also her mother.

Angelina has taught, and performed  in the Chicago area across the  US for many years.Angelina's venues, range from nightclubs, cultural events, workshops, weddings, corporate events, to the principal  dancer, in the Chicago Lyric Opera production of Thais 2002-2003 . Angelina  again ,was the principal  dancer ,in another Opera, Il Cosaro by Verdi, performed by the The Opera festival of Chicago  July 24th 2022.

Angelina still continues teaching  weekly Bellydance classes in  Chicago.

http://www.angelinabellydancerchicago.com/ 

Yannis & Kosta Economou

Yannis Economou grew up in Athens Greece and came to Chicago in 1984. His first organized Greek folk dance experience was with the troupe of a local Greek church. In 1989, Yanni along with his brother Kosta founded the Orpheus Dance Troupe.

As one of the principal instructor of Orpheus, Yanni has conducted the beginners, intermediate and advanced levels of instruction on a weekly basis. He, along with the other instructors at Orpheus have continuously increased the Troupe’s repertoire of dances by their participation in various Greek folk dance workshops in the USA, Canada and Greece.

Together with Marianna Damianides-Gudmundsson, Yannis Economou has been awarded an Illinois Arts Council Grant for 1996- 1997, for his work in maintaining and expressing the Greek community’s aesthetic heritage and tradition, in addition to the preservation of the state’s cultural heritage.

Yannis has been a judge for several years at the FDF and HDF Greek Folk Festivals, where dance groups from northern America compete in many categories.

Barbara Bleisch

Barbara Bleisch lives in St. Louis, Missouri. She began folk dancing at the age of 11 with the St. Louis International Folk Dance Association. Through high school, she folk danced three nights a week and danced with the IFDA performing troupe. Of course, this made her one of the really cool kids (though no one realized it until many years later). She spent a few years away, finishing her education and starting a family and a career, but she found her way back to St. Louis and to her IFDA family.

Barbara enjoys almost any kind of dancing. She has discovered that dancing is key to her physical and emotional health. She has attended many Balkan and Israeli folk dance workshops and camps, and has taken classes (with varying levels of success) in ballet, ballroom, belly dancing, country line dance, hip hop, jazz, modern, salsa, swing, and tap.

Regardless of the type of dance, she tries to pay close attention to the appropriate styling. She's learned that in folk dancing, the styling can be more important than the steps in creating the character of the dance.

Marvin Moehle

Marvin Moehle was born in Granite City, IL (old Macedonian Immigrant settlement). As a young kid, he began to record Immigrants, walking from house to house collecting folk songs, dances and customs from the early Immigrants.

Marvin started collecting folk costumes in the early 1980's. To date, he has collected costumes from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, China, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia and Turkmenistan. While the majority of his collection is from Macedonia and Bulgaria, he also has costumes of minority groups living in the Balkans including: Aroumanian, Roma, Vlachs, Albanians in Macedonia, Turks in Bulgaria, Pomaks, Torbeshi, etc.

He has several hundred costumes and artifacts. One artifact includes the large outside cross, from the first Macedono-Bulgarian Orthodox church in America. He also has collected books and document archives, record collection including old ethnic 78rpms. His book collection includes rare books published and printed in Granite City, IL in the Bulgarian language.

Marvin’s vision is to eventually open a small private Ethnographic museum.

Mady Newfield

Mady Newfield has been dancing all her life, and teaching, leading, and organizing traditional dance in the western suburbs of Chicago for close to 4 decades. After starting folk dancing in high school at Stony Brook University on Long Island, she started and led Fermilab international folk dancing, a weekly international folk dance group, for over 30 years. She also directed and choreographed for the associated performing group. She has traveled to Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia to learn more about their dance and music. Mady also specializes in dances of the British Isles, and has taught Scottish, Welsh, and English dance not only in Chicagoland, but in workshops across the country. She organizes dance weekends including June Camp (a residential international dance weekend held in the Chicago area in Mid-June, this year featuring Steve Kotansky), the Midwest Scottish Weekend, and the Harvest Moon Dance Weekend, as well as the Pourparler, a national community dance leaders’ and teachers’ retreat.  She particularly enjoys teaching dance and encouraging learners, as well as editing dance descriptions, a skill which has helped her work with the Stockton Folk Dance Camp “Research Committee,” which prepares the yearly syllabus. 

Maya Tatiana

http://www.mayaflamencochicago.com/