I am here today with a young and ambitious woman, who is on the path of her own success. She graduated with honors from the University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy, Bachelor of Industrial Management and a Master of Business Management. A young woman with comprehensive interests who has decided to believe in herself and to listen to her heart in order to transform her life in a way that makes her feel happy every single moment. Her name is Diana Alexandrova.
Plamena Petkova for Success Stories Mag:
How would you describe yourself with a few words?
Diana Alexandrova:
Energetic, strong not only physically and very committed.
Among some of the things you do are sport, dancing and shooting with guns. Tell us which one was the first you became keen on, what attracted you about it and how did it all begin?
Dance is my first passion. It happened when I was still a child. It was me alone who decided I want to dance and I went to the dance studio all by myself. And now after 15 years I still haven`t come out of there and I hope I will spend a lot more time inside. The happiness that the dance brings, the confidence, the freedom that it gives you to express yourself, this is the magic of the dance.
You have started with ballet, passed through jazz, latin dances, character dance, even a little bit breakdance, maybe you would add what other styles, until you focus yourself on contemporary dance. What is dance for you in general and what did the whole palette of dancing styles give you?
I respect all dance styles and every possible way that you can express throughout movement, every style is beautiful and useful, especially for a dancer – a dancer should try everything, to be able to enrich his/her dance culture and to find what most suits him/her. What is dance for me is a question with a very long answer – dance is a state of the spirit and is embedded in us as a primary expression of emotion as the smile, just a gesture of joy or other emotional state. Of course, I am talking about its primary existence within us, not about the savvy and great virtuosos for example in ballet. The dance has evolved over many years in the thousands of dusty dancing halls in the world, but I think that before entering the hall and opera it came out from ourselves. With its therapeutic feature, the dance becomes like a drug for dancers, dance can cure, we all know it. That`s why we dance. Dance is the need to express ourselves on an absolute energy level.
You have been teaching children to dance. Is it easy to work with children and what does it give to you?
Working and communicating with children can sometimes be very tiring but it is always rewarding, it brings you a lot of vitality, joy and a lot of sense. It is an energizing and a very therapeutic activity. Children are so naive and pure, that it is just impossible not to touch you deeply, to make you feel, to make you laugh. You cannot remain indifferent towards your work with them. Children do not give up easily on what they have in mind and whenever they want something they want it from the heart, absolutely unselfish, maybe if we manage to preserve this quality also as adults, we will be much more successful .
You have participated in numerous dancing competitions and festivals with a competitive nature, you have won medals …
Yes, I have competed in various dance styles of domestic and international competitions as younger, respectively I have been taking great delight in first places and medals, not always of course. I think this is a good way to fall into dance and sport, it creates wonderful emotions and relationships in teams and also on stage.
What made you ultimately choose contemporary dance and engage yourself mainly in this style?
My own rhythm, my worldview, the way I understand the world and the movement as a fundamental condition of the body and energy. It is just that the contemporary dance can be deprived of graceful form and mannerism, it is natural as the life we live.
I find one other thing interesting as well – you’re a ballerina, who has a license for shooting with weapons and a graduate engineer.It sounds a little bit like a female superhero like Lara Croft. Do we have to be careful with you?
Yes, it is advisable not to make me angry .. (n.a.laughter) Just kidding of course. The shooting is an activity, which is losing the place in my life since I have concentrated my attention to other more interesting things for me. Some time ago it was provoked by my sister and my father, as they both have licenses, only I did not. Maybe that is why I have felt the need for this activity. To aim the target has helped me to release my thoughts and if I had some kind of inner tension, but now I use the weapons of my own personality as will and perseverance to hit the goals that I have set for myself.
You have always maintained a good physical sporty shape and a slender body. When and why did you decide that this is not enough for you and started actively with fitness training to transform your body into an athletic one?
I’ve always liked well-shaped muscles, I consider muscle separation as a sign of strength and I think that the human body is a perfect machine of nature. Nature is perfect as a whole and makes creations like our bodies, for example. About 4 years ago I got into the sport as a purposeful physical action, before that it has been always tightly bound to the dance for me. I just realized that I cannot achieve the results that I want and gain the physics that I want with dancing only. For that I needed to make physical exercises with many repetitions and with weights.
What turned out to be the biggest challenge?
Physical activities have never been difficult for me, or perhaps I am mistaken – they have been, but when you have a desire and interest, with the necessary effort and perseverance everything is achievable and you can not even say that it is uncomfortable or painful, because after all you are doing what you want. You have decided to lose weight or to accumulate muscle mass, no one makes you to do this, it is your desire and goal and It can not be unpleasant for you to walk towards your goal, it does even bring a lot of satisfaction.
What motivates you not to give up?
The feeling that is giving me what I do. Even in the most difficult moment I don`t lose motivation, I just like the striving itself, and not the result itself.
How did the successful outcome change your life?
It made me more confident, disciplined and tougher mentally and physically. The results that I have achieved with hard training opened another door to possible realization for me and currently I am working as a personal trainer in an elite club for fitness and healthy lifestyle, this is in a professional aspect.
Are you planning on developing this type of activity separately by yourselff? To share your experience in training, healthy nutrition and physical transformation to a wider audience outside the club?
I have something in mind. Expect surprises soon. This is the only thing I will say for now.
We can say that the hobby became a profession? And where do your engineering skills fit in?
I graduated only few months ago and I still do not practice it as a profession. I however hope that very soon I will be needing the knowledge that I acquired during my studies and I can put it into practice in some of my personal projects and ideas.
Is there something that you got into and did not achieve success?
There are things that I am not good at, but I was never afraid to try. This is exactly how you find yourself and what really excites you. You should always try to see if you like certain thing or not whether you are good at it or not. Eventually you will find your true talent, everyone has a talent and just have to find it in time.
What is success for you?
Success is doing what you want and that it brings you satisfaction.
What is needed for a person to be successful?
Perseverance, a lot of will, hard work and believing in yourself. It takes a lot of discipline and self-confidence. You must first like yourself in order the others to trust and believe in you. Success is always connected with the faith in your own strengths.
What is failure and should we give up on the goal that we have set if we fail once, twice … even ten times?
Failure obliges you and engages you fully with next success. You must fight to achieve your goals. You can give up only if you realize that this is not what you wanted and this awareness is a kind of success.
Failure is a self-knowledge. Sometimes it just shows you that you are not adequately prepared for the situation, and sometimes that you’re not in the right direction. In both cases it is a self-awareness.
Is there something that sometimes discourages you and what is it?
Incorrect people and bad attitude demotivate me.
How do you deal with demotivation and what is it that motivates you to continue despite the difficulties?
The people I communicate with, they inspire me and give me strength, my sister supports me very much in all my activities. The place where I go to dance is my biggest inspiration, all the dancers, the passion they dance with, their energy, the team that works in Derida Dance.. Altogether there are many bright people in my life, who motivate me and inspire me. Furthermore, when it happens to me to feel somehow demotivated, I try to think more often of the purpose, I always look ahead to the goal, I ask myself the question “Why am I actually doing this?” and when I give myself an answer this motivates me again.
What lessons did everything that you have been gone through give you?
It thought me not turn my head down easily, to fight for what I want to be and what I want to have.
What is the next challenge, standing in front of you?
A new show case, that we are preparing in Derida Dance Centre. It inspires me a lot and energizes me. I am still trying to figure out the character of my role and to get into it. The spectacle is called „Zen Play”. It is a contemporary dance performance wich focus is the attempt of the man to construct the current reality in accordance with life notion with a design from the past. This happens in a number of legendary efforts with seemingly divine nature. The mind and body are mobilized in the service of well-coiffed dream that becomes a rack of the sense for acute life insufficiency. It leads the character in his creative impetus. When he has created the “muscle fibers” of the desired reality and his project is promisingly progressing, something beyond his control and understanding intervenes and takes away his rule. That “something” does not fit into the dimensions of the rational dualism, it is not impressed by the good hairstyle of the imagination and seems fleetingly, playful and dispassionately. Yet it is the heart of life. The main character is about to feel its full-bloodedness in himself.
If you let your imagination run wild, what are your wildest dreams and how do you imagine your life in 5 or 10 years, for example?
I am imagining myself .. still dancing, but with at least two children, with a dance career behind my back, many more performances like this and a gym of my own.
What inspires you?
Life as it is.
What advice would you give to people who yearn for success in one sphere or another?
To be persistent and follow what they yearn for like a beacon in a stormy sea because the dream come true can be the only pier.
Everything you need to know about Diana Alexandrova can be found here:
