Emil Ivanov Metodiev is a project coordinator with CEGA (Global Education without Borders) a Bulgarian NGO under the auspices of the EU which endeavors to expand the principles of educational excellence to all. He attained a BBA from the New Bulgarian University and has been employed with CEGA since shortly after graduation.
Emil’s passion is dance, specifically salsa. Emil was introduced to salsa dancing at the Havana Club in Bratislava, Slovakia in 2007. He was entranced by the intricate dance movements and sought out a teacher in Sofia when he returned to Bulgaria. Emil encountered a Cuban dance instructor who became his mentor. Over the past five years he has taken part in salsa competitions and performances throughout Bulgaria. “The salsa environment is very accepting of people from diverse backgrounds. If you have talent, you belong.”
A lack of Bulgarian websites devoted to dance and dance styles impelled Emil to develop his own, which advertises dance festivals in several countries and has generated offers for Emil to photograph festival performances.
Although only in his early 30s, Emil has decided to move from being a dancer to creating images of dance. “I no longer want to be in the spotlight; I want my photographs to dance for me.”
Emil is now enrolled in a photography course at university in Sofia and plans to establish himself as a photographer through participation in events put on by the European Commission and NGOs such as CEGA and Areté Youth, a foundation whose objective is to ready Roma young people for higher education.