Teachers
Caspar Bik - Dances from Black Sea
• Caspar Bik was born in 1990 in the Netherlands and has been an active dancer from a young age.
He graduated in 2013 as a dance teacher at the dance academy Codarts in Rotterdam. Besides folk dancing, Caspar has experience in classical ballet, modern/contemporary dance, jazz dance, ballroom and tap dance.
Since his graduation, he has been teaching different dance styles to
children, teenagers and adults on both an amateur and professional level.
He founded a youth school for theatre art in 2014 which performs a stage musical
every year for which Caspar creates the choreography. He has taught courses in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Turkey both as a folk dance instructor and as a choreographer.
He has specialized in folk dances from the countries around the Black Sea. His most recent research was in Georgia, where he trained with the professional ensemble Erisioni and traveled through the country to experience the variety and beauty of Georgian dance, song, and music.
This will be his second appearance at Balkanot.
Sonia Dion e Cristian Florescu
Dances from Romania
• Cristian Florescu was born in Bucarest, Romania. He started dancing in 1982 with different Romanian folk ensembles, and studied with various specialists including Theodor Vasilescu.
Sonia Dion was born in Quebec and has been a professional dancer for over 20 years. She was lead dancer and choreogreapher for Les Sortilèges Dance Company, Canada's oldest folk dance ensemble with whom she developed several new productions.
Cristian and Sonia have been guest performers with the Collage International Dance Ensemble of Boston, have been regular teachers at l' École supérieure de danse du Québec and have been selected to be part of the Artists in the Schools program sponsored by the Quebec Ministry of Education. In recent years, they have developed a specific interest in working with recreational folk dance groups in Canada and the United States to share their love of Romanian folk traditions. Throughout 2005 and 2006, they have taught workshops in all parts of Canada and the USA and have choreographed Romanian suites for performing groups including the world-renowned BYU Folk Dance Ensemble.
Roberto Bagnoli
Dances from Israel
• Roberto Bagnoli is a master teacher of international folkdance with a specialization in traditional and modern Israeli dance.
He discovered his love for Israeli dance many years ago in Rome when he started dancing with the Jewish community there, and then began performing with “Sasson Ve Simcha” and teaching classes at the Jewish Community Center. He subsequently studied Israeli dance in workshops throughout Europe, the United States, and in Israel under the guidance of various choreographers and teachers.
In 2000 he co-directed and choreographed the performance “Mazal Tov” and a few years later, founded the association “Folk Atelier Reggio Emilia”, dedicated to preserving and promoting folk dance and other folk arts.
The association is responsible for dance classes throughout Italy, and Roberto himself teaches weekly classes in Reggio Emilia, Modena, Cremona, Crema, Piacenza and Imola. He is the director of two highly successful camps in Italy each year: Balkanot, the first ever Israeli and Balkan dance camp, which takes place every January, and Camp Yofi, Israeli dance, which takes place in July. Roberto conducts workshops and seminars throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States, and has been on the teaching staff of Stockton International Dance Camp for six years.
