School Director, Associate Instructor

I was born in 1972, the year of Rat according to Chinese calendar. I have begun practicing Martial Arts in 1982 in my hometown Sofia, Bulgaria. Over the years I had practiced Tae Kown Do, Aiki-Do, Ju-Do and Boxing and than I continued with Shao Lin Quan, WingTsun, Escrima and TaiChi. At first Bulgarian national Wu-Shu competition I won first place in Yang Style Taichi Chuan and I was champion in this tournament for four following years.

In 1991 I moved to Plovdiv to continue my education in Plovdiv State University. Along with normal college study I become a teacher of Wu-Shu and Taichi Chuan and I conducted lectures and classes at Physical Education Faculty. For six following years our University team won many first places at Bulgarian National Wu-Shu competition. At that time I’ve got acquainted with tradtions of Yang Family and the amazing art of Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan. I bought Grand Master Yang ZhenDuo’s book from China and his instructional video type of Long Form produced by Test of China.

In 1992 I initiated first 10 TV shows on Bulgarian National TV devoted to Tai Chi Chuan and for more than 3 years I had participated in TV and radio programs dedicated on Tai Chi, Chinese culture and philosophy. Together with my students we did many public demonstrations presenting Tai Chi Chuan and Chinese martial art.I wrote articles for several newspapers and I ran some futures on Chinese martial arts and culture.

In 1996 I graduated Plovdiv State University with Master degree in philology and in1997 I graduated National Sport Academy with major Martial Atrs.

Since 1998 I professionally teach Martial Arts and my main efforts are on popularizing and spreading Chinese Martial Arts and especially Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan.

In 2003 through my longtime student Guerman Atanassov who moved to USA and continued his study of Yang Family Tai Chi with Master Yang Jun, I have got in touch with Yang Jun Laoshi and International Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan Association and in 2004 I become its first Bulgarian member.

In 2008 I visited Alviano, Italy to participate in a seminar organized by Yang Chenfu Center –Rome. There I had great chance to personally meet Master Yang Jun and every year since then I attend his seminars. In Alviano I have also got in touch with Claudio Mingarirni, the National Technical Director of Italy and next year 2009 I visited him in his home and had private lessons with him. The same year I attended the seminar he conducted in Bulgaria.

In 2010 and 2011 together with other Tai Chi instructors we organized the International Tai Chi seminars with Grand Master Yang Jun in Bulgaria and we were also huppy to welcome Cluadio Mingarini, and other special guests from Italy and Slovenia.

Today, I’m proud to be a member of International Yang Family Association and as a student of Grand Master Yang Jun I continue my effort to spread and popularize the tradition of Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan in Bulgaria and abroad.

Address:
P.O.Box #9
Plovdiv 4000
Bulgaria

Tel. 00359 888 228842
Email: bagalev@yangfamilytaichi.com