The 13th edition of Antistatic International Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance is happening in Sofia. Until November, in portions. The motto is “Life is LIVE”. Its program includes many different events that deserves to participate if you like dance and art.
“With the inherent power given to every number “13”, the 13th edition of Antistatic International Festival politely demands life to safely get back on track, so that we can all return to where we want to be: artists on stage, and audiences together with us in the performance space. That is why we invite you to shut down your screens, at least for a little while, and to meet up LIVE outside the world wide web. To ensure a smooth and fulfilling adaptation process, 2020’s edition of Antistatic will happen as a series of different events throughout October and November.“ – share the organizers of the festival, the artists Iva Sveshtarova, Willy Prager and Stephan A. Shtereff.
Madame Bulgaria is, for a new year, one of the media partners of the Antistatic International Festival. Thanks for that. This event established and held for the first time in Sofia in April 2008. It was initiated in the context of the efforts of the Balkan network for contemporary dance Nomad Dance Academy. The project is to promote and to develop this art form in the Balkan region, by making it one of the vital dance centers in Europe.
Antistatic International Festival : Program October 2020..
On the 10th– 11thof October, the festival kicked-off with the International Choreographic Convention Movement Research (part of the program Choreographic Convention of the European Project Life Long Burning – Towards a Sustainable Eco System for Contemporary Dance in Europe).
During this convention, through discussions, presentations and performances, established artists and theoreticians deliberated practices and discourses in movement research from a broader perspective. The event took place at Goethe-Institute in Sofia. Did you miss it ? You can watch it in streaming on Antistatic International Festival’s Facebook page.
On 10th of October, the dancer and choreographer Jurij Konjar (Slovenia) presented his performance “Goldberg Variations”, inspired by Walter Verdin’s video work, ‘Goldberg Variations’, based on the 1986 Steve Paxton’s performance “The Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach, played by Glen Gould, improvised by Steve Paxton”.
Konjar begun working on the piece in 2007 by watching the video and performing it every day for a year. In the process, he started giving himself the freedom to fill in the gaps that appeared. He answered to the questions that emerged with his own imagination and findings. At the end, it became an ongoing improvisation practice that provides a basis for a rich unstoppable dialogue.
On 11th of October, the artistic team Aleksandar Georgiev, Zhana Pencheva and Darío Barreto Damas aka STEAM ROOM presented their choreographic work “dragON aka PONY”. It has been nominated for the 2020 National ICARUS Award for Contemporary Dance and Performance. Within a frame of contemporary Pop, the work revives geometrical choreography through the prism of classicism and the usage of folklore as a ritualistic form. That way “dragON aka PONY” offers a little bit of Isadora Duncan and a lot of MTV or VH1.
… And in November 2020
The Artistic Program of Antistatic International Festival continues in November. Will be presented the performances of artists from Germany, Austria, USA and Japan.
From the 6th to 8th of November, the second “Bulgarian Dance Platform” will occur, showing no more, no less, than exactly 13 performances. They have all be created in recent years. The platform is intended for all audiences who are curious about, or already in love with, the Bulgarian contemporary scene, as well as specially invited festival selectors, managers of artistic spaces, directors of funding bodies and various other international guests.
Here is the program :
Vol. 2 of the annual “Dance Magazine” will also have a ‘premiere’ at the festival. Its main theme is “Dance and Other Arts”. However on its pages one can find a variety of entries, from untranslated essays of Merce Cunningham to details about K-pop.
“So, grab your most beautiful face mask and be with us, because while COVID-19 taught us many lessons, the most important is that Life is LIVE.”
The organizers of the Antistatic International Festival
The tickets for all performances are in sale online at referential price.
More about Antistatic International Festival
Antistatic International Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance 2020 is organized by: Brain Store Project Foundation, Inform Bureau Association, Nomad Dance Academy Bulgaria, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria; Sofia Municipality’s Calendar of Cultural Events 2020; Goethe-Institut Bulgarien; Austrian Embassy in Sofia; DANCE ON TOUR Austria – a project by Tanzquartier Wien in cooperation with the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs; in partnership with National Palace for Culture, DNK – Space for contemporary dance and performance, Azaryan Theater, Derida Stage and Black Flamingo Bar.
Choreographic Convention V: MOVEMENT RESEARCH, Sofia 2020 and Without Distance Educational Platform are 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, “Culture” Programme of Sofia Municipality and Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria, in partnership with the Goethe-Institut Bulgarian.
Bulgarian Dance Platform is financially supported by “Culture” Programme of Sofia Municipality and Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria.
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