To celebrate the heart and soul of our community, we’ve been interviewing some of our ZeoT students. It’s our privilege to dance with so many different and wonderful women and we’ve loved finding out more about their lives, their passions and, of course, their love of dance.⠀
I'm from Bulgaria, but my background is quite international: I studied at an English-speaking university in Bremen, lived two years in London, two years in Milano, and finally moved to Zurich to do a PhD in "Molecular Medicine", which is a fancy word for a branch of biology researching the underlying causes of human diseases.
After I finished my PhD I was lucky to find almost exactly my dream job in the pharma/biotech industry in Switzerland, so I'm not planning to move to any other countries anymore - I have been here for almost 10 years:) My passions are biology, dancing, travelling, baking, and orchids (my secret back-up career was to become a dancer or a baker:), and the most important things in my life are my partner and my friends. Since meeting my Swiss-Canadian boyfriend in Switzerland, I also became a big fan of hiking in the mountains. I love learning and experiencing new things at work, in dance class, or when travelling, but I'm actually quite shy and reserved when meeting new people!
“I love the feminine gracefulness and control of slow musical movements, as well as the energy and precision of dancing to and becoming one with a drum rhythm.”
Are you doing or working on anything exciting at the moment?
I recently got promoted to build a brand new molecular and cell biology laboratory in my company, so that's really exciting as I'm learning a lot of new stuff!
How did you find your way to ZeoT?
Why did you start dancing? Why belly dance?
I discovered my passion for dancing in the last year of high school in Bulgaria when I joined an elective class in traditional Bulgarian folk dancing, where we also had to dance at the school Christmas concert. I was immediately hooked and I even regretted not joining this class earlier! As soon as I finished school and started my biology studies in Bremen, I tried all the possible dance clubs at the university - salsa, ballroom dancing, and with a bunch of Bulgarians and Romanians we even created an Eastern European (folk) dance club. I didn't like the salsa and ballroom dancing so much because I didn't have a good dance partner so I soon quit, but the Eastern European dance club became my main hobby for the next three years - we danced at all the university student events and my friends from the club still remain some of my best friends. There was also an Oriental Dance club which seemed very good but unfortunately for some reason was not open to new members during my time there. However, they had open workshops a few times per year, which I always joined and which gave me a first taste of belly dance that I liked a lot.
When I finished my bachelor study in Germany I moved to London for one year to do a master's degree, and then stayed for a second year to work as an au pair while looking for a laboratory job or PhD position in the UK. Just before my au pair job I saw a professional flamenco show and immediately, absolutely fell in love with it! So as soon as I started the au pair position I signed up for three different dance classes: beginner flamenco on Monday evening, beginner belly dance on Saturday morning, and beginner samba on Sunday evening, every single week for one year :) I loved the flamenco and belly dance classes so much that when I moved to Milano for work I found schools there and started dancing again as soon as I knew some basic Italian: one evening beginner flamenco and one evening intermediate oriental dance for another full year, at the end of which I had student performances in both schools. When I finally moved to Zurich to do my PhD I immediately joined the local Bulgarian folk dance club (Ludi Mladi) because one of my best friends from Bremen was already in it. I quickly became one of the main stage dancers, and for 6 years danced at different private events (weddings, company parties) and public festivals in Switzerland as well as folk dance events in Germany, Austria, UK, France, and Spain. Dancing in this club actually helped me go through my very challenging PhD without a burnout. Unfortunately the Covid pandemic hit the Bulgarian folk dance club really hard because you cannot do a social circle dance online, so we've had to suspend regular rehearsals for the last year and a half.
When I moved to Zurich I immediately researched the oriental dance schools and found ZeoT, but because I was really overloaded with work during my PhD and because I was already dancing twice a week at the Bulgarian folk dance club, I didn't have any free time for another dance class...until for my 30th birthday my friends gave me a ZeoT voucher, which they had found themselves :) Soon after I finished my PhD and decided it was finally time to start belly dance again! However, I didn't know what level I should sign up for because I was not a beginner anymore but it was already several years since I last danced, and I was also worried that I will really struggle with classes in Swiss German (I still struggle with the language:). So instead of the regular oriental classes I tried Barre au Sol and Dance Fit, but I didn't continue because they were stretching/fitness classes which I don't enjoy so much...And then one year later I had the third and final push to join ZeoT when for the bachelorette party of one of my friends I suggested to gift her an oriental dance trial class that we all joined - and then and there, while dancing with a veil for the first time and with the wonderful Lhamo, it hit me how much I love and miss oriental dance! I immediately signed up for Lhamo's A1 Wednesday class in English and have been there for two years already :) I have even considered signing up for more than one class in ZeoT, but unfortunately I don't have the same crazy motivation anymore and I miss a lot of my classes in the first place, so that would be too ambitious.
“I get completely immersed during the class and always feel amazing after that, especially when we manage to dance a choreography synchronized with the teacher and with each other!”
Tell us about your experience with belly dance!
What do you like about it? What do you find challenging? Is there a style of belly dance you prefer?
I find belly dance extremely natural and have never struggled with the basic movements. Now after advancing to level A/M I find the new layering movements (e.g. hip shimmy on top of a walking camel) quite challenging, but I'm sure that with regular practice there will be improvement :) One of the reasons I enjoy belly dance so much (but also dancing in general) is that I see my progress in every single class, be it finally mastering and feeling confident with a basic movement, or slowly but surely learning a new, more difficult movement! Also, even if sometimes I'm not really motivated to come to a class, I get completely immersed during the class and always feel amazing after that, especially when we manage to dance a choreography synchronized with the teacher and with each other! In psychology there's even a special term - flow - describing exactly this "mental state in which a person performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity" (Wikipedia:), including feeling their own progress towards a distant but achievable goal. I can only wish for all my fellow belly dance students to be able to experience flow while dancing!
Apart from the amazing feeling I experience while belly dancing, I also love the feminine gracefulness and control of slow musical movements, as well as the energy and precision of dancing to and becoming one with a drum rhythm! For that reason I really enjoy the Raks Sharki and Drum Solo oriental dance styles, but I also love the Saidi rhythm and stick dance as well as Fantasy dancing with a veil or a fan-veil :) One day I would also like to try Tribal Fusion, which seems more advanced in terms of muscle precision and control. I'm glad that in ZeoT we have the opportunity to learn different oriental dance styles throughout the year, from the traditional folk ones to the refined classical style to fantasy dancing with accessories. Also, it's important to dance with different teachers because they all have different styles and teaching methods, and I was lucky to study at three different oriental dance schools and to learn something different from each one of them.
Do you have a story to tell?
Probably my most interesting story is how I came to Zurich, and it also illustrates how important friendship is to me. I was doing a PhD in Italy but I was very unhappy there because I didn't have any friends. One of my best friends from Bremen (the same guy from the Ludi Mladi folk dance club) had recently moved to Zurich and with some other friends living across Europe we decided to surprise him for his birthday by coming to Zurich for the birthday party. We had an amazing weekend together and when I went back to Milano it suddenly hit me how alone and miserable I was there...I cried one whole evening and then firmly decided that I'm not going to further waste my life without any friends, and that I will also move to Zurich as soon as possible (I already had several friends from university there). It took me one week to make a plan how to do it, another week to apply for PhD positions and get an interview, and a third week to get an offer. I didn't tell anyone until I got the position, not even my family, except one friend in Zurich who helped me with the PhD application and hosted me when I came for the interview. Two months later I moved to Zurich and started a new PhD from scratch :) I changed my life in three weeks and it was the best decision I ever made!
I would also like to share a very interesting observation I've made throughout the years: a lot of my fellow biology students from Bremen and Zurich had or still have a dance or music hobby about which they are very passionate, for example belly dance (I know several people, and one of them even became a self-taught belly dance teacher while still doing science), folk dancing (a lot of my Bulgarian scientists friends), salsa (I know one person dancing almost at professional level while still doing science), ballet, ballroom dancing, playing guitar or another instrument alone or in a band. Also, in my current ZeoT class there are several ladies working in some kind of biology-related field. I don't think this is a coincidence.
First, music and dance have huge, scientifically-proven benefits for the physical, neurological, and psychological well-being as well as the social identity. Imagine the boost to my confidence when my first flamenco teacher, after one year of dancing, took me aside to ask why I haven't invested in proper flamenco shoes yet. I answered that I didn't know if I would be able to continue with flamenco because of my work situation (this was at the end of my au pair when I hadn't found a proper job yet and I didn't know if I could stay in London). She said that I MUST continue dancing flamenco because I'm really good (for a beginner:)! Second, it seems like a lot of scientists take up a creative hobby like dance in order to creatively express themselves outside work as well.