Bios
Christi Proffitt
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Dina Trageser
When she isn't singing, Dina works as a consultant to Microsoft, trains for marathons and triathlons, and sits in as a substitute DJ at KBCS.fm, a local community radio station. Born and raised in Germany, she loves learning new languages, as well as hiking, traveling, and playing with her cockatiel, Johnnie. |
Hila Lenz
Apart from irony (and singing), Hila enjoys language study, and hopes to become fluent in Arabic and to work and travel in the Middle East. Born in Israel, raised there and in Idaho, Hila is happy to make her home in Seattle. |
Jill Cohen
At her synagogue, Congregation Beth Shalom, Jill is a shlicha tzibur, one who leads worship services by chanting traditional melodies. She is especially fond of Broadway musicals and cherished a childhood dream of dancing with the Rockettes. Standing only 5'5", she never made the height requirement. |
Jody Rush
Jody lives in Ballard with her husband Brian, daughter Lidia, and Siamese, Guy. |
Laurel Redenbaugh
When she is not singing with the group, Laurel works as an Environmental Scientist in the Seattle area, and is the Vice President of Seattle's Radost Folk Ensemble's Board of Directors. Laurel also enjoys gardening, art, and hanging out with her wonderful husband. |
Meredith Selfon
When she isn't singing, Meredith is a reference librarian, craft nut, blissfully wed, and owner of a crazy border collie mix. |
Ramona McDowell Wijayratne
Ramona also loves to dance. She is a member of the Radost Dance Ensemble and frequently has to stretch herself between the two performing groups and casual dancing with Seattle's Greenlake folkdancers. She likes to travel and went to Bulgaria and Hungary for a second time in the summer of 2005. On this latest trip she had the unique opportunity to study Bulgarian vocal technique with Kremena Stancheva in Kovachevtsi Bulgaria. |
Christi has come to Balkan music after years of playing percussion and singing all over the world, including Scotland, Wales, and Mexico. She has been seen doing her vocal improv work at the Seattle Art Museum (accompanying The Gbpele Dance Ensemble), Folklife, Bumbershoot, and other smaller venues. Christi is also an accomplished actor, having returned to the world of theatre after a long sabbatical. She loves the haunting harmonies and passionate melodies of Dunava's repertoire,
and hopes to discover more in the technique as she continues to sing.
Dina Trageser, founder and director of Dunava, has been singing in choirs since first grade. She went on to play guitar and flute, but singing remains her first love. She has sung in various classical and folk choirs, including the Eugene Concert Choir, Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble, Pacific University Chamber Singers (Oregon), and Seattle Pro Musica. She has been singing Balkan Folk Music for over
nine years, and currently she is also a member of Orkestar RTW. 
Hila loves singing in Dunava and believes in the power
of craigslist to bring musical groups together. Hila sang in the Borah High School Choirs under the direction of Ted Totorica and in the Seattle University Choirs under the direction of Joy Sherman. She has served as sometime-cantor at Ahavath Beth Israel synagogue in Boise, Idaho, and has sung with
the Dickens Carolers.
Jill has been dancing and singing her whole life. She performed with the Sabra Dancers of Cincinnati and the Zivili Kolo Ensemble of Columbus Ohio. While living in Washington DC, Jill helped found Zemya Ethnic Dance Theatre. She performed with and managed Seattle's Radost Folk Ensemble before joining Dunava. Jill's favorite singing part with Dunava is when she gets to yip and bark like a dog!
Jody has sung Balkan folk music for
many years, and has been in numerous choirs in Seattle. With the now-defunct Balkan Choir Vecherinka she sang at the Bulgarian music festival in Koprivshtitsa
on the main stage once and nearly fainted. Prior to singing with Dunava, she
directed the choirs Kosava and Dodole. She also sings in New Land Choir projects. 
Laurel Redenbaugh is a Balkan
soprano, environmental scientist, and lifelong singer of any song on the radio.
Before joining Dunava, she performed with Darena Women's Choir in Salt Lake City. She was very excited when Darena was asked to sing at the Salt Lake Olympics. She was even more excited about the venue, which was halfway up the bobsled hill in front of the port-a-potties.
Laurel has sung in various school, college, and independent choirs throughout the years, but has found her vocal home in Balkan music. 
Meredith has been singing her whole life. Her first public performance was a Mary Poppins concert in her bedroom at the age of 3. Since then, she has sung in musicals, chamber choirs, show choir, opera casts, open mics, recitals, services, the car, the bathroom, and pretty much anywhere else she goes. After graduating with a Bachelor of Music in 2000, she moved to the beautiful Northwest, and never has a place felt more like home. Meredith auditioned for Dunava at the urging of a friend, and has been learning to pronounce Bulgarian, Croatian, Macedonian, Romanian, and countless other Balkan languages ever since. 
Ramona grew up with vocal music and dance from East Europe. Both of her parents are still active in the Balkan folkdance community today, as are other members of her family. "I can't not like the music...it's ingrained in my very inner being," says Ramona.