A native of Turkey, Ahmet is an accomplished choreographer, dance teacher and performer as well as a researcher of Anatolian culture. He is currently the artistic director of the Boston based Collage Dance Ensemble, which allows him to further his goal of making folk dance and music accessible to a wider audience.

Since arriving in North America in 1985, he has taught many workshops and camps throughout the United States as well as Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Holland, England, Switzerland, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Norway, Italy, Spain and Australia. He has set innumerable suites of dances for the stage working with dance organizations around the world.

Some of the notable performing ensembles with whom he has worked include AMAN of Los Angeles, BYU dancers of Provo, BUDLET of Hong Kong, LES SORTILEGES of Montreal, and VINOK of Edmonton. In his native Turkey, he choreographed for HOYTUR and TURHOY of Ankara, ANADOLU UNIVERSITESI of Eskisehir. In 1991 Ahmet joined the Artistic Staff of AMAN as resident choreographer.

His college major was music, specializing in voice. Just as his love of folksongs guided him toward academic study of music, Ahmet’s fascination with dance led him to conduct scholarly research into the historical, social and cultural background of the costumes and spoon dances from Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. His efforts resulted in an exhaustive, 400 page study for which he was awarded First Place in the 1985 national competition in research on the folkdances of Turkey by the Turkish ministry of Youth, Sports, and Education. In 1997 Ahmet completed a second degree in Fine Arts.

Email: ahmet.luleci@gmail.com

Michael Lawson grew up in a large extended family that featured song and dance at family gatherings. International folk dancing has been a large part of their family life. Michael began classical piano lessons at age 6 and trumpet at age 11. In high school, he played trumpet in a community jazz band. In college, he picked up his mother’s accordion and learned to play it for his folk dance club. He fell in love with the rhythms and harmonies of Balkan music, a genre he has played extensively over the last 40 years.

He directed the folk dance bands Nisava, Balkan Cabaret and Kafana Republik as an accordionist and vocalist, recording several CDs. He is always busy playing for folk dance parties, festivals, camps and weddings. Michael performed in the 2013 movie Tazi Baba (This Grandmother), which features Penka Encheva, a native Bulgarian singer. He arranged her songs for accordion and recorded them with her. In the summer of 2016, Michael accompanied the Bulgarian Voices of Seattle Women’s Choir on a Bulgarian tour which included a spot on Bulgarian national TV.

Michael currently directs and accompanies the Bulgarian Voices of Seattle Women’s choir. Osem i Devet is his current band, composed of accordion and tupan, with David Bilides. We invite singers and other musicians to join us, depending on the musical event.

Email: michaellawson6@gmail.com

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Lee Otterholt, born in the US of Norwegian-American parents, lived and worked most of his life in Norway as a professional dancer, dance teacher and choreographer. In Norway he founded and led the Center for International Folk Dance in Oslo, Norway. He was a professor of folkloristic dance at the Norwegian National College of Ballet and at the University College of Oslo. He was responsible for the establishment of 4 still-active folk dance clubs and 3 performing groups in Norway. He led these groups to festivals all over Europe. He also produced teaching materials (videos, books and CDs) on folk dance for use in the Norwegian school system. He has a professional education in choreography and was one of the choreographers of the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway in 1994.

The last 20 years Lee Otterholt has been active on the international scene, teaching international folk dance (“Balkan and Beyond”) at festivals, workshops and camps in Europe, the US and Asia and leading folk dance cruises and tours to many part of the world. He moved to the US, to Laguna Beach, California in 2003. There he founded and led the international folk dance performing group “SYRTAKI,” and he is the lead singer in the BalkanBeat band “Zimzala.” He teaches regularly at local folk dance clubs in the area and teaches his own recreational folk dance group every Wednesday and Sunday evening at Laguna Woods. He is the chairman of the Laguna Folk Dance Festival. In 2015 he received the National Dance Award, presented at the San Antonio Folk Dance Festival.

Lee’s teaching emphasizes style: dancing well, not just “getting the steps.” Whenever he can, he also tries to bring improvisation, self-expression and spontaneity back into the folk-dancing traditions where these elements are a central part of the tradition. And he never loses sight of the fact that we recreational folk dancers dance because it is fun, and because these dances mean something to us – just as they were fun and meant something to the village dancers before us!

Email: Leeotterholt@yahoo.com

Tom Bozigian, of Los Angeles, California, is an internationally recognized dance instructor. He is a graduate of the Armenian State Choreographic Academy and also holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree (B.A.) in Russian Area Studies and a Master of Arts Degree (M.A.) in Education from Fresno State University. He is fluent in three languages: English, Armenian and Russian. He unites the elements of professional dancer-choreographer/linguist/musician to support his far-reaching research on the subject of Armenian dance ethnography. Tom Bozigian is particularly sought out for his extensive knowledge of dances from the pre-1915 period and has presented some of his material to institutes and ensembles throughout Armenia. His dance expertise also covers dances of the Armenian Diaspora and new folk dances. Tom Bozigian’s teaching has taken him to most continents of the world. He has been commissioned to set suites of Armenian dances for both Armenian and non-Armenian dance ensembles in various countries, and he regularly tours the Orient and Europe teaching Armenian dance.

Along with his teaching courses, which includes instruction in Russian character, Lebanese (Dabke) and Greek folk dances, Tom Bozigian leads a folklore orchestra which has produced numerous recordings. He is an accomplished percussionist with nearly 45 years of performance experience as a dancer/singer/musician.

After graduating from the choreographic school in Armenia and returning to Los Angeles in 1975, Tom Bozigian made the decision to devote his career full-time to the preservation, performance and instruction of original Armenian song and dance. Each year Tom travels to Armenia to continue teaching and research, working with various institutions and dance specialists such as Artashes Karapetyan of the Mankavarzhakan Institute for Dance as well as with folk musicians. Areas throughout Armenia, including other countries, are targeted and visited for the purpose of drawing analogies of original dances from both Armenia and the Diaspora.

In Los Angeles Tom continues with classical dance training and studies musical arrangement and harmony. Presently, he teaches weekly classes in Armenian dance in southern California and plays with his trio of folk musicians who have recently recorded two CD’s. He also regularly records with the Armenian State Television Ensemble for Folk Instruments which has also been included on his CD’s.