Cynthia
(Semmler) Vakareliyska was a member of the original Bosilek
until 1980. She studied Bulgarian folkdance and folkdance choreography
at the Shkola za Xudozhestvena Samodejnost in Plovdiv, Bulgaria,
in 1982.
She is now
a professor of linguistics at the University of Oregon; her
research specialization is medieval Bulgarian manuscripts. She
has been president of the Bulgarian Studies Association, an
international scholarly organization, since 1997.
