The Antistatic Festival 2021 will be held, for its 14th edition, between May 28th and June 6th in Sofia – live – which seems more important than ever. After an extremely tumultuous year, the International Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance invites us to make another step closer to yesteryear, when we used to meet, hug, and dance together. This is why it chooses for a motto which grasps the sentiment “getting closer,” and turns it into a decree on its territory, bridging art and audience.
The Antistatic festival 2021 programme foresees 15 events. That includes performances, meetings with artists, conversations, as well as the premiere of issue 3 of the only annual Bulgarian Dance Magazine.
Antistatic Festival : Program 2021
On May 28th at 7:00pm, Hommage an Merce Cunningham
The celebration against static begins with a special free opening performance for which choreographer Paula Rosolen (Germany) is coming to Sofia. She will work together with 20 Bulgarian dancers of all ages and backgrounds to create the performance Hommage an Merce Cunningham. 2019 saw 100 years since the birth of the dance legend and to mark the occasion, we will see a large-scale group choreography score, assembled by Paula Rosolen, and based on the 20 individual solos by Bulgarian artists. It will be presented only once at Sofia Arsenal – Museum for Contemporary Art along with music composed and performed live by Emilian Gatsov-Elbi. Click here for more info on this performance of the Antistatic Festival 2021.
On May 29th at 7:00pm, To The Point
On the stage of the DNK space for contemporary dance and performance, the incomparable Kevin Jean (France) will climb in order to turn reality and the theatre hall environment into a metaphor. This time the French choreographer turns his gaze to the concept of masculinity today, constructed to a large extent by sarcasm, sexism, and violence. In 2019, he began working on a new cycle with The Cyclon Pursuit (to destroy a world and be reborn), To the Point (to sabotage masculinities), as well as Time for Nothing (to contemplate) from 2021. It is To the Point, the last complete part of his trilogy, that the audience of the 14th Antistatic will be treated to. Click here for more info on the performance.
On the last day of May at 7:00pm, Morphic Resonance & Consent
At the DNK space for contemporary dance and performance, the festival programme offers a double dose of the work of choreographer and performer Megan Bridge (USA). In one evening she will present two solos, Morhpic Resonanse and Consent, in which a key partner is music. In the first work we will see how her dancing body reacts to the sonic architecture of Peter Price, while in Consent she will “dance” the female sexuality, prompted by the rhythms and delicate details of Beethoven’s final piano sonata, Opus 111. Click here for more info on this performance the Antistatic Festival 2021.
On June 1st, Flags
At the Derida Stage, flags will be flown and the “culprit” will again be choreographer
Paula Rosolen, who will turn to this long neglected means of communication in her second
performance in the Antistatic Festival 2021 programme and in partnership with Goethe-Institut Bulgarien. In Flags
Rosolen superimposes several semiotic systems to create a visual language of her own to connect
between dancers and audience, turning the theatre hall into a communication station. So forget
about satellites and broadband and join the lords of concise messaging. Click here for more info on the performance.
On June 4th at 7:30pm, Retrospectrum – 5 Solos for 5 Decades
The audience of Antistatic will welcome Tomi Paasonen (Germany) to the Derida Stage, in partnership with Goethe-Institut Bulgarien. A reliable feature in the creative approach of the choreographer and ex-ballet dancer Paasonen is that with every artistic project he tries something he hasn’t done before. So at the age of 50, he realized that there is a form he has long evaded and it is time for his first solo project, which is why he began work on Retrospectum -5 Solos for 5 Decades. With this autobiographical work Tomi Paasonen returns on the stage as a performer after 23 years of choreography and teaching. Click here for more info on the performance.
„Before COVID-19, the development of contemporary art followed the principle of modernity – a less is more approach. Restrictions in recent months, less communication, fewer meetings, less dancing, less participation, less protests, less socialization, less interaction, less interpretations, less criticism, less demonstrations, fewer participants, less of… makes the performance question this thesis and explores whether less is still more or nothing.” – shares the author of the next performance from the the Antistatic Festival 2021 programme.
On June 5th at 7:30pm, Less might be more, but sometimes less is just nothing
Less Might Be More, But Sometimes Less is Just Nothing is the latest choreography project of Willy Prager, inspired by the Spanish disco dance troupe Ballet Zoom, formed in 1973. For its realization, Prager works with students from the Academy of Dance and Performance organised by The National Center for Dance Bucharest and its result will be enjoyed on June 5th on the Derida Stage. There is no better ending for a festival than a performance that sums up its philosophy. Click here for more info on the performance.
On June 6th at 7:00pm, Choreomaniacs
Choreomaniacs is the work of choreographer and dramaturg Simona Deaconescu (Romania), which we will see in June at the DNK space for contemporary dance and performance. The performance is dedicated to one of the most mysterious phenomena in Europe in the beginning of the 16th century. Then, at Strasbourg’s central square, a dance epidemic broke out. In time, scholars will name it St. Vitus Dance, Chorea Lasciva, dance mania, or choreomania, mixing pseudo-science, theology, and medieval science-fiction. Deaconescu and her team create a performative docufiction of the events and focus on the historical record, marking the perspective of the
observers of the epidemic and never the perspective of those who experience it. Click here for more info on the performance.
Stay connected
More details on Antistatic’s programme can be found at antistaticfestival.org, as well as on Instagram, Facebook, and Antistatic’s YouTube channel. For additional information and interviews: Ina Doublekova and Kremena Hristova (А25 Cultural Foundation) : 0889 61 61 43 or at info@a25cultfound.org
Get your ticket
Tickets for all performances will be on presale at EPAYGO at the special price of 10 lv, as well as on site at Ticket Center – NDK, Derida Stage, Easy Pay and on the day of the performance online at EPAYGO.BG for 15 lv.
Expect a live, passionate, and exciting edition that brings back that much needed sense of proximity!
The Antistatic festival programme will be held in accordance with the current anti-epidemic measures.
The Antistatic Festival 2021 is organized by: the Brain Store Project Foundation, Inform Bureau Association, Nomad Dance Academy Bulgaria, with the financial support of National Culture Fund; Sofia Municipality; Goethe-Institut Bulgarien; Nationales Performance Nets – International Guest Performance Fund for Dance, which is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media; National Palace for Culture, DNK – Space for contemporary dance and performance, the Derida Stage, and Sofia
Arsenal – Museum for Contemporary Art.
Without Distance Platform is part of the project „Life Long Burning (LLB) – Towards a sustainable Eco-System for Contemporary Dance in Europe”, co-funded by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union and National Culture Fund. It is realized in partnership with the Tempus Fugit project, which is organized by the Goethe-Institut Bulgarien and the French Institute of Bulgaria, based on an idea from Metheor, in the frame of the French-German Cultural Fund.
The Media partners
The Bulgarian News Agency, bTV Radio, Dir.bg § Impressio.bg, Jasmin.bg web portal , Kafene.bg , Portal for culture, arts and society “Culture”, Vij! Sofia Magazine for art and culture, Madamebulgaria.com, Uspelite.bg, Atrakcia.bg web platform, Licatanagrada.bg web platform, web platform Mika Magazine, Lovetheater.bg platform for theater, website for culture Въпреки.com, Sofia in your pocket city guide.
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