Tanya Cunningham Adcrg
Tanya began her Irish dancing journey at the age of five with the Janice Currie School of Irish Dance. Her competitive career was marked by exceptional success, including seven National Oireachtas Championships titles and numerous state championship victories. She also achieved multiple Top 10 placements at the World Irish Dancing Championships and was honoured with the prestigious Best Overseas Dancer Award, presented to leading dancer from outside Ireland and the United Kingdom.
At 18, she stepped away from competitive dancing to pursue a professional performing career in Europe. Over the following five years, she performed professionally across Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Asia, gaining valuable international experience across a wide range of productions and performance environments.
In 2007, Tanya advanced her career by attaining her Irish dance teacher qualification through An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha. Since then, she has shared her expertise internationally, conducting workshops in England, Russia, Austria, Bulgaria, Australia and Latvia.
In 2012, Tanya founded her own dance academy, which has since grown into an established organisation operating across three European countries. She takes immense pride in the achievements of her students, who have become mainland European champions and earned top placements at major competitions including the Great Britain, All Scotland, All Ireland and World Championships.
Also in 2012, Tanya qualified as an Irish dance adjudicator, allowing her to further contribute the development of the sport. She has since had the privilege of adjudicating competitions internationally.
Rosen Idealov
Rosen Idealov Jr. has been a professional dancer and Irish dance teacher for over 16 years. Throughout his career, he has drawn knowledge and inspiration from numerous masters of the craft, including James Keegan (Lord of the Dance), Breandán de Gallaí (Riverdance & Éiriú Dance Company), Colin Dunne (Riverdance), and Shane McAvinchey (Riverdance).
However, his teacher and mentor is Tanya Cunningham ADCRG. Thanks to her, Rosen and his school in Sofia have adopted a high standard of dancing, authentic material, a refined teaching system, and strong support in the Irish dance world.
Rosen has won numerous international competitions across continental Europe. He began performing professionally at the age of 18 and has delivered over 800 performances to date, appearing on both national and international stages. He works in „Cornamusa - World of Rock Pipe & Irish Dance“, major German production by „Irish Beats Dance Company Berlin“; the Breton production „Avalon Celtic Dances“; Australian-Irish production „Night of the Dance“; „TimeLine“ directed by Harald Habermayer in Vienna.
He co-founded the Irish music and dance group SONAS alongside Toma Chakarov, accumulating dozens of performances—including a showcase at the Bansko Jazz Festival. He also established the Cunningham Academy of Irish Dance Sofia.
Rosen holds the full 11 recognized grades toward TCRG certification from An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (CLRG) and has completed an international degree in Ballet Pedagogy from the Kalina Bogoeva Foundation in affiliation with the National Academy of Music in Sofia.
Tiana Slancheva
Highly active from young age, Tiana comes from a family that highly values physical activities of all kinds. Dancing is her way of expressing herself and conveys beauty and meaning in everything she does. She has explored a variety of styles—including Bulgarian folk dancing, modern ballet, jazz, Latin dance, and flamenco, but Irish dancing was the style she fell in love with at first sight.
In 2017, she stumbled upon Irish dance during an event in Sofia, and ever since Irish music, culture and dance have a special place in her heart. Barely a year after that she attended her very first competition (feis), and has steadily developed her skills while striving for excellence. Representing the academy with distinction, she has won first-place titles at competitions in Bucharest, Munich, Milan, and Busto, and in recent years, she has competed in European qualifying championships in Brașov and Prague.
Tiana joined the teaching team at the Cunningham Academy in 2022, passing on her knowledge and experience to motivate and nurture the academy's students. Nowadays Tiana is carving her path towards the professional stage and working her way to the top. She has 8 grade examinations towards becoming a certified Irish dance teacher - an official assessment of a dancer's technique and knowledge administered by the organisation An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha (CLRG).
Outside of Irish dancing, Tiana is a certified yoga instructor since 2020, as well as a yogalates and pilates instructor. To her, yoga serves as a wonderful addition to the dynamic style of dance she practices, offering a breath of fresh air and a grounding retreat after a busy day.
Zornitsa Garkova
Zori joined the teaching staff in 2017. Her first encounter with the Irish culture goes way back to the 90s through the “World Mythologies“ series. In 2006 she fell deeply in love with the Irish music, and in 2008 took her first steps in Irish dancing. She competed actively between 2015 and 2023, winning first prizes in Berlin and Bucharest. She participated in many seminars in Bulgaria as well as workshops with Breandán de Gallaí, Shane McAvinchey, James Keegan, Tanya Cunningham and Claire Greaney’s workshop in Bucharest.
Apart from teacher in the academy, Zori is writer, radio journalist, photographer and botanical illustrator. She hosts the agricultural show 'Izgrev' (Sunrise) on BNR's Hristo Botev channel. She’s a member of the Bulgarian Society of Animalists, Florists and Scientific Illustrators and a member of the editors’ team of “Free Poetic Society“ publishing house’s online magazine for literature and culture.
She draws her theoretical knowledge of Irish dance from the books 'Jigs to Jacobites: 4000 years of Irish history told through 40 traditional set dances' by Orfhlaith Ní Bhriain and Mick McCabe, 'Step-dancing in Ireland: Culture and History' by Catherine Foley, an ethnochoreologist from the University of Limerick, and 'The Story of Irish Dance' by Helen Brennan.