Macedonian and Balkan Folk Music

Heidi Bodding

Heidi Bodding image

Heidi Bodding Heidi Bodding was first introduced to Balkan music and dance in 1967 at the age of fifteen when, as a barefoot flower child, she stumbled across recreational folk dancing at the Tressider Deck on the Stanford campus. While still in high school, she found herself dancing at least 4 nights a week and performing in two San Francisco based folk ensembles, Vladimir Profilov's Russian Folk Dance Group and The Westwind Folk Ensemble under the direction of Neil Sandler. Through performing with Westwind, Heidi developed her skills as both a dancer and a vocalist, and with friends Jodi Gilbert and Jane Sugarman, was part of the vocal trio Tri Devojce, who performed in the early 70s at various venues in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1974 Heidi moved to Seattle, where she was a founding member of several folk groups including The Radost Folk Ensemble, with whom she served as women’s dance director, the Ruzice Folk Choir, and the renegade folk group, Ostali Muzikasi. In addition, she was a member of both the Vecerinka and Sedyanka Balkan Women’s Choirs. Heidi’s travels have taken her to Europe and the Balkans several times for both study and pleasure, and she participated in cultural exchange tours with Radost in 1981 and Ostali Muzikasi in 1984. Heidi is very honored to be working again with Dragi Spasovski whom she first met in 1975 when she participated as a vocalist in his re-enactment of a Macedonian wedding. In her professional life, Heidi just retired from thirty-two years as a Speech and Language Pathologist in the schools. She is hoping that with more free time, she will have more opportunities to sing, raise a glass, and enjoy life with her friends.