Entering the costume shop at ASU's dance department is like walking into a giant collage.
A mishmash of colors, fabrics, tools and magazine clippings fill the large workshop, where its coordinator, Galina Mihaleva, has made and designed clothing and costumes used by ASU's dance and theater departments for the last five years.
Mihaleva just finished working last week with dancers and choreographers to create the costumes used in the ASU dance department's annual spring concert, which concluded Sunday.
Mihaleva, a native of Bulgaria, was trained in the country's highly exclusive and intensive art school in the field of fiber arts.
Once she completed her formal art training in Bulgaria, Mihaleva immigrated to the United States on a student visa in 1995 after the communist government collapsed and citizens of Bulgaria were allowed to travel freely.
"I came to the United States because I wanted to learn and to create," Mihaleva said. "Back in Bulgaria, everything was so gray, even the way our food was packaged."
Mihaleva said she would collect the packaging from imported foods like chocolate bars and brightly colored soda cans, because she found the colors and graphics so pleasing.
"To me, it just seemed like in the United States it was much more acceptable to stand out and be a little different," Mihaleva said. "It was acceptable to draw attention to yourself or to the things that you made."
But after two years of studying at Phoenix College, Mihaleva's student visa was no longer valid. Because of new U.S. immigration laws, she feared she would not be allowed to visit the United States for at least a year.
So, she set out to apply for an Alien with Extraordinary Abilities exception, which would allow her to remain in the United States as long as she could prove her artistic talents to the government.
This was a completely new challenge for Mihaleva, who had learned most of her English simply through listening and speaking as best she could. Now, she would have to fly to New York City and meet with some of the fashion industry's top designers, show them her portfolio and convince them that she could make a contribution to the fashion world.
"The first two years I lived in the United States, I was afraid to answer the phone, but all of the sudden I needed to go out and call people to set up meetings with Liz Claiborne and Nicole Miller," Mihaleva said.
But her hard work paid off and soon Mihaleva had gained the exception.
Now, seven years later, Mihaleva continues to display her work in the pages of such local magazines as Sonic, Trends and Yes. She also brings a new dimension of creativity and expression to ASU's performing arts.
"She really brings a fresh sense of creativity to the department and has a way of making people say, 'Wow,' " said Melissa Rex, a dance department faculty member.
Mihaleva said she has no favorite pieces from this year's costumes or anything else she has ever designed.
"To me, my costumes are like my children," she said. "No mater how ugly they may seem, I love them and think that they are special because they are things that I have helped to create."
Reach the reporter at scott.buros@asu.edu.
