Daniela Dimova-Yaneva is an Edinburgh-based curator, translator and educator with a background in competitive ballroom dance across Scotland. She holds a PhD in medicine and an MA in Art History from Edinburgh College of Art, the University of Edinburgh. In 2014 Daniela co-established and continues to run The Bulgarian Community School in Edinburgh where Bulgarian folk dance, storytelling and music are taught alongside Bulgarian Language, Literature, History and Geography to over 100 students. In 2017 Daniela co-founded the Bulgarian Cultural and Educational Centre Scotland – the only independent non-profit and non-venue based arts, culture and education organisation of its kind in Scotland. Through the Centre, Daniela curates, produces, coordinates and amplifies cultural events, festivals and initiatives which feature Bulgarian-born creatives or those of Bulgarian descent who are often Scotland-based. Exemplary is the ongoing Thistles and Sunflowers collaborative initiative which started as a showcase of dance and drama, music and films, poetry, art and design from the lands of thistles and sunflowers as part of Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022 and culminated into a four-star Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023 show of traditional dance and music.