Bios
Christi Proffitt
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Dina Trageser
Dina has been studying and singing Balkan Folk Music since 1997, and currently she also sings and plays tambura with Orkestar RTW. During daytime hours, Dina works as an editor and Web publisher. She lives with her partner Rusty Knorr in an elementary-school-turned-artists-community in Seattle. |
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 Redmond with her husband Brian, daughter Lidia, and Siamese, Guy. |
Megan McPhaden
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Meredith Selfon
When she isn't singing, Meredith is a reference librarian, craft nut, blissfully wed, and proud momma. |
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 Balkan folkdancers. She enjoys traveling and went to Bulgaria for a third time in the spring and summer of 2009. On this latest trip she had the unique opportunity to study Bulgarian vocal technique with Kremena Stancheva (Shope), Binka Dobreva Koteterova (Thrace), and Elichka Krastanova (Rhodope), three members of the famed Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares choir. She also spent time collecting songs from several villages in North Bulgaria and meeting fellow musicians in Serbia (Izvor, Belo Platno, and Danica Krstic) and Macedonia (Stefche Stojkovski). |
Teodora Dimitrova
Tedy moved to Lynnwood in 2007, were she now works as a piano instructor and participates in after-school programs with various schools in the Seattle area. She is very happy to have found Dunava, and to be able to continue to demonstrate the beauty of Bulgarian choir music. |
Valerie Holt
As a member of Dunava, Valerie is excited to be exploring the vast world of Balkan singing with such talented musicians and linguists. Currently, she can also be heard singing with the country/folk trio Rhinestones, who just finished their first studio album. |
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 is
the founder and director of Dunava. She has sung with the Radost Folk
Ensemble since 1999. She previously sang in
various classical and folk choirs, including the Eugene Concert Choir,
Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble, Pacific University Chamber Singers
(Oregon), Seattle Pro Musica, the Radost Women's Choir Kosava, and
Russian vocal ensemble Pava. 
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. 
Meg's musical background includes years of singing with the Northwest
Girlchoir, as well as harmonizing with her a capella group SCHWA while at Whitman College, and playing bluegrass banjo with friends. She loves learning about other parts of the world through music, and spent four months in India studying Hindustani classical singing with Mangala Tiwari in 2006. Meg is thrilled to now be singing with
Dunava. 
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.
Tedy is from Bulgaria, and she discovered the magic of Bulgarian folklore music when she was little listening her mother sing at home. Her interest in the music brought her to the “Philip Kutev” School of Music in Kotel, where she studied singing and tambura. After graduation she participated with the school choir and eventually became a piano instructor and assistant director of a choir at Elhovo.
Valerie has been singing since age 5. She attended Interlochen Arts Academy and Western Michigan University, where she studied music, theatre, and dance. Valerie spent five years doing vocals and percussion with the Infernal Noise Brigade. She recorded two studio albums with the band and toured in Europe, Mexico and the U.S. Locally, she has also performed with Seattle Women’s Ensemble and the The Bicycle Choir. Valerie enjoy’s collaborating with other artists and has contributed musically to either live performance or recording projects with D9 Dance company, Dead Bird Movement, the Circus Contraption Band, and multi-media artist Filastine.