Milen Petrov,
Anna Pampulova and
Tatiana Sokolova
Milen Petrov
“The freedom of contemporary dance has obsessed me.
Milen Petrov has been fascinated by the beauty of contemporary dance since he was a child. As a student at the National School of Dance Art he began to study modern dance with a teacher from the USA and even before graduating from school, he danced simultaneously in two contemporary dance companies “Arabesque Ballet” and the then newly established Dance Company “Amaranth Dance Studio”. From the very beginning, the then very young dancer was entrusted with important roles in performances. Subsequently, Milen Petrov became a soloist of the Arabesque Ballet.
Over the years, he has worked with a number of Bulgarian and foreign artists, including dance artists and choreographers from the USA, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, etc. Milen Petrov has travelled the world dancing and has performed to packed houses on four continents. And despite numerous opportunities to go abroad, he chooses to work and create in Bulgaria.
Milen Petrov is the author of a dance performance and a number of dance miniatures, as well as choreographer in several dramatic productions. He has taught modern dance at the National School of Dance Art and has conducted numerous dance workshops.
Teaching, Milen Petrov strives to convey to the dancers the idea that mastery lies not in routine, but in always being open and honest in front of the audience. But an important function of routine is to help the artist sift out the unnecessary and get to the most Essential. To his true self.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Anna Pampulova
“Luck comes to everyone, but not everyone has the courage to catch the crest of the wave
For years now, Assoc. Prof. Anna Pampulova has successfully combined the academic with the creative. But her creative path is itself a successful combination of different vectors of art.
Anna Pampulova graduated from two schools at the same time: the National School of Dance Art and the Theatre Experimental Class at the 22nd High School in Sofia. Since then, her artistic path has developed in two directions: dance and theatre. Even before she graduated from school, she was already dancing in the Sofia Opera company, and at the same time working as an actress in two theatres. A little later she also took part in performances of the Arabess Ballet, performing solo roles.
The theatrical experience helps Annie to expand her perception of dance, capturing new and new nuances in body sculpture and expression. However, the turning point came after Annie left for Vienna to continue her training with a dance specialisation, there alongside dance technicians such as Graham, Hortuck Cunningham. Lemmon and others, she studied a range of disciplines that allowed her to combine different art forms in her further work. This experience gave her the strength and courage to continue her path as a choreographer.
Over the years, Anna Pam Pulova has participated in a number of Bulgarian and foreign productions as a dancer and actress, created dance performances (for the Arabeschi Ballet, Sofia Opera and Ballet, Varna Opera, etc.) and choreographed theatre productions (for the Ivan Vazov National Theatre, etc.), choreographed for the small and big screen and boldly experimented with different genres of art.
In 1999 Anna Pampulova joined the NBU as an assistant professor, and in 2012 she became a Doctor of Music and Dance Art. Since 2017 she has been an associate professor. While teaching, Associate Professor Anna Pampulova strives not only to impart technical dance skills, but also to help build the artist holistically. She strives to feel and understand each student’s energy and stand opposite them to complement it. She teaches her students to be observant, trusting, to build upon, to ask questions. To be real. She is open to the students and artists she works with with all of her senses and they reciprocate.
Principal asst. Dr. Tatiana Sokolova
“It is important for an artist to know the roots of his art in order to build forward into the future.
Tatiana Sokolova graduated from the National School of Dance Art and then specialized in contemporary dance in Western Europe. At a competition for contemporary dance in Cologne, West Germany, she received third prize and after participating in the Summer Academy of the competition, she went to Dresden, where she spent two years at the world-famous Palucca Schule. In the following years Tatiana Sokolova did dance specializations in Amsterdam and London.
But her path in the world of contemporary dance began in Bulgaria, in the famous contemporary dance studio “Ekk. Her teacher and mentor is Margarita Gradechlieva, a German graduate and a significant figure in the development of contemporary dance in Bulgaria. It was Gradechlieva who provoked Tatiana Sokolova to look for herself outside Bulgaria, to gather experience and knowledge to pass on.
Since 1993 Tatiana Sokolova has been teaching contemporary dance techniques at New Bulgarian University, and in 1996 she founded the Dance Theatre programme, the first such programme in the field of higher education in Bulgaria.
Tatiana Sokolova is the creator of a number of original performances, director of several operas and choreographer of more than 180 theatre plays across the country. She has won the Crystal Lyre Award for choreography of an opera performance and the IKAR Award for the Varna Puppet Theatre’s performance Silent Betrayals.
Tatiana Sokolova has been teaching contemporary dance techniques to dancers and actors since 1993. Her way of teaching challenges artists to be open and able to take in as much as she gives them.