Interview

Dear readers of "We hear you", today we are introducing you to our guest who is a teacher, expert of traditional Bulgarian dance folklore. He teaches dance classes both in Bulgaria and abroad. He’s a former solo dancer at the Folklore Ensemble "Trakia" (1995), as well as the author of a number of dance stage performances carried out by various professional and amateur folk ensembles. He’s a graduate of the National School of Dance Arts Sofia and the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts Plovdiv. He’s been the head of Choreography Department at the former university since 2011. He’s been teaching choreographic composition in Belgrade (Serbia). He is the author of a number of scientific works on Bulgarian stage and traditional dance folklore. He judges a number of Bulgarian as well as international dance contests and festivals. We are discussing about the magic of dance, the correlation between rhythm and the sense of rhythm in deaf people. Dear readers, meet Prof. Dr. Anton Andonov!

Today’s guest of We Hear You is an interpreter translating from and into sign language. She plays a multitude of roles in her life. Mother of two boys, she’s also a specialized security officer and a sign language interpreter. She’s a qualified stenographer typist and document administrator, but she also has a degree in Pantomime as she’d graduated from the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts (NATFA) program in Physical theatre. She holds a brown belt in Shotokan Karate Do. She’s an experienced sign language interpreter who’ll tell us about sign language, the job of a sign language interpreter and the challenges in this area. Let me introduce you to Kameliya Angelova!

You can’t help but notice the big smile she’s giving you even if it’s the first time you both have met. You can sense her positive outlook and extreme vitality which create a friendly atmosphere around. We’d like to ask her about the popular and tremendously successful show she’s been hosting in the social media for five years now (Boryana  Topchieva Show). She’s occupied with plenty of activities being a vlogger, a translater, an athlete, a show-woman, a traveler, a parent and … the author of an upcoming book! But I’m not telling you anything more about her. You’ll see for yourself now that we’re letting Boryana Topchieva speak about it all.

Dear Readers, we’ll introduce you to a very, very brave boy named Georgi Skordev. He lives in a world we know little to practically nothing about. Georgi was so eager to come into our world that he was born prematurely to his loving parents who had been excitedly expecting him. This caused him to lose his sight and hearing. He is both deaf and blind, but a very sensitive child. He’s a 10-year-old guy from a seaside city who has a lot to tell us. However, his stories have so far remained untold because his means of communication are still unknown to us and we can barely come to a reaching point. That’s why, his mother is speaking out for him.

I’ve known Maria Popova (or Maya, as the people close to her know her) for ages. But we’ve only managed to meet up in person along with Goshko at the International Conference ‘See the Silence, Hear the darkness’ held in Plovdiv last year. She was there to share her experience as a parent of a deafblind child. Unfortunately, we barely had the time to speak about all the matters that concern us. This is why I’m expressing my sincere gratitude on her willingness to speak out through We Hear You.

Last year, Mitko graduated from New Bulgarian University, getting bachelor’s degrees in Acting in Film & Television. With his active imagination, he would write scripts in hope that some day, he’ll see them playing on the screen. Mitko Yakimov is the founder of Foundation Deaf Unlimited Bulgaria, the organization doing the National research on Bulgarian Sign Language. He was also a part of the international judging committee of the Miss and Mister Deaf Stars 2017 beauty contest, which recently took place in Paris. Ladies and gentleman, allow me to present Mitko Yakimov!

For his students and colleagues, he is just Richapd. He prefers the more informal style of communication. Holder of numerous prizes for contributions to the assistive technology for Deaf and deaf-blind people. Since 1971, he has been a professor at the University of Washington in Seatle (USA). I contacted him for an interview. Richard had a readiness to answer, even something more - showed a lively interest in the situation in Bulgaria about bulgarian sign languagge, technologues and legislations. Today I present to you, dear readers of "We hear you", the enriching and very useful dialogue with this remarkable person. Richard E. Ladner.