Iliana Bozhanova & Todor Yankov Bulgarian Folkdancing Workshops 8/25 & 8/27

Boulder International Folk Dancers and Denver Area Folk Dancers are hosting mini-workshops with singer, dance instructor, and choreographer, Iliana Bozhanova and musician of gaida, kaval, and accordion mastery, Todor Yankov on August 25th in Boulder and on August 27th in Denver.

Iliana Bozhanova is a native of Gulubovo, Bulgaria, and comes from a family of musicians and singers in Southern Thrace. She graduated from the National School for Amateur Art Instructors and later received her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from the Academy of Music and Dance Art in Plovdiv.

Todor Yankov was born in Dobralak in the Rhodopi Mountains. His father, Vasil Yankov, was a well-known gaida player in the area. Todor began to play gaida, like his father, then he took up kaval at age ten and accordion at age sixteen. He is also a noted singer. For many years he played with the Hisar folk orchestra and has been the accordionist for the folk dance ensembles: Rûchenitsa, Hebar, Pûldin and Voivodintsi.

Iliana and Todor met in 1984 in Ensemble Ruchenitsa, Then their professional paths diverged. In 2004, they reunited to found Ensemble Voivodintsi. Iliana and Todor have created the repertoire of 40 dance choreographies for their Ensemble “Voivodintsi”. Since 2007, Iliana and Todor have been teaching abroad together.

Links to Iliana’s and Todor’s full bios and previous workshops:

• Iliana Bozhanova
• Todor Yankov
• Boulder IFD Event Listing
• Folk Arts Center of New England online workshop