Teachers

Dance Courses for 2008

Participants will be able to follow two of the four six-session courses, two specialist and two general:

Course	Teacher
Bulgarian	Dragan Draganov
Catalan	Ramon Cardona
General (2)	Corry Verheijen

The General Course will be divided into two separate courses, both taught by Corry. One will focus on non-partner dances and the other will concentrate on partner and set dances. There will be a number of short optional courses, run most afternoons — subjects and countries to be announced — as well as opportunities to offer workshops.

Programme

The course starts on Saturday evening, July 26th, with a social dance (registration from 1430, dinner at 1800). Teaching is every morning, Sunday to Friday, with optional short courses and workshops in the afternoons. The close is after breakfast on 2nd August.

Course Fees

The course fee covers tuition, dance notes for those who require them, the hire of the dance rooms, administration, morning coffee, group photo and fees for the excursion. Tapes or CDs and a video of the dances will be available at additional cost.

Teachers' Biographies and photos

Corry Verheijen

Corry will be teaching both the General Courses for the Summer School. (These will be divided into partner and non-partner classes.) Corry comes from the Netherlands where folk dancing is treated as very important to the community. She has a wide range of dances to share, and a wealth of experience.

She started dancing when she was a teenager and has never stopped. She originally trained as a school teacher, which included studying a special course 'Dances for Children'. Later on she taught dance to adults and became a qualified dance teacher in 1982. Corry now teaches a range of ages — young, middle-aged and senior dancers — 'from the cradle to the grave'! By 2008 Corry will have been a dance teacher for 40 years.

Corry has a wide and varied repertoire of dances although her favourite dances are Bulgarian. She visited Bulgaria many times, including a six week stay, doing workshops, watching dance events and dancing with Bulgarians. She says that she likes all kinds of folk dances: Romanian, Israeli, Armenian — even English! Those who have had the pleasure of attending her classes at the Eastbourne Folk Dance Festival will know that she teaches well and with good humour.

Corry says that dancing gives her great joy and she likes to share this with others. This is her principal aim when teaching. She is looking forward to meeting you in Swansea and having a good time together.

Dragan Draganov

Dragan was born in Liaskovets in Northern Bulgaria where he grew up dancing. He joined a children's community group when he was 10 and went on to dance with four significant Adult Folk Dance Ensembles in Bulgaria, over a twenty year period. He therefore has an excellent understanding of the rhythms, melodies and movements of Bulgarian dances from different regions. He has also studied Bulgarian Dance at the National School for Art Instructors and the Academy of Music and Fine Arts, both in Plovdiv. He has used his considerable knowledge and love of folk dance to teach young students in Bulgaria.

Dragan moved to London in 2001 and joined Tanets Folk Dance Group at the Bulgarian Embassy. He has been teaching at an after school club at Sutton. Dragan looks forward to teaching us at the Summer School. He writes, 'I had an opportunity to attend some events of Balkan Plus and the Festival Dance Around the World, 2007 and I am impressed by how many people in the UK are interested in Bulgarian folk dances. It will be a pleasure for me to contribute to their understanding and enjoyment of Bulgarian dances.'

Ramon Cardona

Ramon was born in Barcelona and is an expert in Catalan dancing. He started dancing when he was 15 years old and has since participated in many courses and seminars on the subject. He has also taken part in many traditional festivals, both as a spectator and as a performer. He says that he has 'enhanced [his]… dance education by self-learning and direct contact with popular culture.'

To complement his dancing he had musical training in the diatonic accordion and the flabiol i tamborí (traditional Catalan flute and tabor, played at the same time).

Ramon is an experienced teacher, starting in 1980, and subsequently teaching in different parts of Catalonia. He has been taking part as a teacher in the Summer Catalan University in Prada de Conflent for more than 20 years. He also takes part every year in the festival Le Grand Bal de l'Europe in Gennetines (France). He has also taught Catalan dances in folk dance seminars in various countries such as Italy, France, Germany, Japan, Spain and Switzerland.

His course at Swansea will focus on the Sardana, a circle dance which has easy steps but an intriguing musical structure and dance sequence. He will also teach some other Catalan dances. Ramon is also actively interested in other forms of folk dancing, such as Balkan, French, Basque, Israeli, and Scandinavian, so he should be in tune with our members. According to his website he also likes ballroom, contra, jotas, rock and roll and swing! We look forward to welcoming him to Wales.

Note to International Dance Teachers

If you think you might be interested in teaching at future SIFD Summer Schools (which are held every two years) please send your details to This will help us to build a database of suitable teachers for future years.