Fall Camp 2023

Fall Camp 2023 promises to be another vibrant, fun-filled weekend with workshops by master instructors Steve Kotansky (Balkan, international) and Gergana Panova (Bulgarian), dance parties, and more! Like before, it will serve as both a quiet retreat where you can relax with some very nice people and a weekend dance camp where you can learn from master teachers. You can find out more and download registration forms (and waivers) at http://FallCamp.org.

Dr. Gergana Panova-Tekath

Dr. Gergana Panova-Tekath was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. From 1988 to 1993, she danced with the Filip Kutev Bulgarian National Folk Ensemble. She studied dance ethnology in Bulgaria and obtained her Ph.D. in dance from Dortmund University (Germany). She regularly commutes between Bulgaria, where she heads the Ethnochoreology Department at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and Germany, where she is Professor of Dance at Folkwang University in Essen.

She graduated in Dance Pedagogy, Ethnochoreology, Choreography and Direction (Bulgaria), and Kinetography and Communicative Sciences (Germany) and has completed a Doctorate with “Summa cum laude” and awarded the prize “Dissertation 2004” from the Technical University of Dortmund (Germany) in the area of Cultural Philosophy. The title of her thesis is “Dance after Perestroika. The Communication between Eastern and Western Europe through the Bulgarian Folkdances.” Gergana qualified in Ethnochoreology and Communication in 2011 in Sofia.

She performed as a solo dancer and choreographer at the National Ensemble for Folksongs and Folkdances (Philip Koutev) in Sofia from 1988 to 1994, was a Choreographer for different Bulgarian and international Theater Projects, was a Senior Fellow and Associate Professor for Ethnochoreology at the Institute for Art Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia, and has lectured at the Technical University of Dortmund, the Humboldt University, Berlin, the University in Zurich, the University of Music, Vienna, and the New Bulgarian University, Sofia.

Starting in 1994, she has conducted over 300 seminars and summer academies in folk dances in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Israel, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, and the United States.

She has published numerous articles and has written two books on various aspects of Bulgarian traditional dance. Besides organizing annual summer seminars in Bulgaria, Gergana has taught workshops in many countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Israel, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Brazil, Argentina and North America. Read more…

Steve Kotansky

Steve Kotansky has an extensive knowledge of the cultures behind the dances he teaches. Beginning in the early 1970s, Steve made many research trips to Romania, the former Yugoslavia, Hungary, Greece, and Albania. He and his wife, Susan, have taught at many major folk dance camps in the USA and Europe.

In the late 1970s, Steve returned to Hungary and studied with dance master, Timár Sándor, among others. Steve has taught at every major North American festival and camp, often with his wife, Susy. Their work continues to be an expression of their love and passion for dance, finding time to teach dance to children K-12 in New York City area public and private schools. Steve also serves as a consultant to several Hungarian folk ensembles. Most recently, Steve has been researching Albanian and Roma dance from the Diaspora and continues his work and research in Balkan and Central European countries. He is particularly interested in dance culture as it has evolved since the “fall of the Wall” in these countries. Read more…

Comfort

Fall Camp, nestled in a woodsy alcove near Simi Valley, is a lovely place where you can enjoy being close to nature while still having the creature comforts of excellent meals (upgraded from previous years), motel-style rooms (with private bathrooms, heat, and air conditioning), and more. You can dance when you feel like it, and when you don’t, do other things such as catching up with friends, playing Scrabble, working on a jigsaw puzzle with others, getting a massage, completing a craft project, going for a walk in nature, reading a good book, meditating, or doing nothing at all. You don’t have to get on a plane or drive treacherous mountain roads to be with nature, and WiFi is available too!

Fall Camp will no longer require masks or vaccinations, but we still encourage best health practices. Because the fall weather is so difficult to predict, we are doing all of our dancing in a beautiful, heated and air-conditioned building, where many of our other activities will also take place. Although we are installing the largest wood floor possible to fit the dance room, it is smaller than the largest room we used in previous years, so we are limiting the number of campers to around 60. This also means that dancers will have more access to our two master teachers. The dining menu has been upgraded in quality, and Sunday lunch is included in the registration price. There will be two happy hours with wine.

Dance

Fall Camp is also a great place for those who are serious about learning all the dances presented on Friday and Saturday by Gergana and Steve. If you want an intense dance experience, you can dance Friday afternoon and all of Saturday and also dance the night away during the Friday and Saturday parties. And then you can dance again Sunday morning during the review session.

Music

Terry Gucwa will be conducting the Potluck Band as in prior Fall Camps. It’s a potluck because everybody is welcome to contribute to the musical feast with an instrument to play or a voice to sing. Many members of the Potluck Band will have never played together before late Friday afternoon. Well before camp, Terry will correspond with each person interested in joining the band, finding out what instruments they play and how well. Then he will select music for a few popular folk dances, transcribe parts for each person, and send it to them to practice. The Potluck Band will play together for thefirst time on Friday and practice in one or two more sessions on Saturday before performing during the Saturday night party.

Create

After you check into camp Friday afternoon and enjoy the welcoming snacks (which could be your late lunch), there will be some time and materials, including fall leaves, flowers, living ivy, and ribbons, you can use to create a head wreath of fall colors, decorate a hat (if you bring one), or create an easier to make headband or corsage.

Pricing

Like many post-pandemic enterprises, the new management of the facility has increased the prices. They also have a new pricing structure, where the price is the same for each person regardless of whether they want a private or shared room. The registration price for a single, double, or triple room is now $535 (the same price as a single room for Fall Camp 2022). We charge only $375 for commuters, who will be able to enjoy all the camp meals. Commuters may choose to go home each night or stay in a nearby hotel, Airbnb, or Vrbo.

Register