From 09th to 21st of May a committed and active, yet non-political election campaign will be held in Sofia: the 12th edition of Antistatic International Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance. Under the dense political agenda of today Antistatic is raising its voice thus: #VoteForDance!
A vote “FOR” art as a dimension not merely knowing well the past and understanding the lines of the present but as one that can and does create a better future.
For the third year in a row, Madame Bulgaria is the media partner of this incredible and unique event, Antistatic Festival. Every year, this fabulous international event offers a program completely new, and really atypical.
For this new edition 2019, the Antistatic Festival Sofia 2019 meets its audience with artists from Canada, Israel, Brazil, France and Germany and with participants from Croatia, Slovenia and Romania within its new programme Center/East.
Tickets for all the shows are already in sale at discounted price of 10 BGN online at Epay-Go. At the day of each performance the price will be 15 BGN at the box office of the National Palace of Culture.
On 9th of May at 7.00 pm Antistatic kicks off at KICK’S Bar with the premiere of vol. 1 of the brand new Magazine For Dance – the only annual printed edition in Bulgaria, dedicated entirely to presenting processes, personalities, events and ideas from the world of classical to contemporary dance and dance culture. The opening entrance-free concert of burning Romanian synth-pop band Karpov Not Kasparov begins at 9:00 pm at the same place. Describing themselves smilingly as “one of Eastern Europe’s most exciting musical projects” and having already played in 38 European countries, the band makes its music based on the rules and strategies of chess. And the output is always a very danceable tune.
On 10th of May at 7:30 pm at DNK – Space for contemporary dance and performance Manuel Roque (Canada) presents his awards-winning performance Bang Bang, which brought him Prix du Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for best choreographic work of the 2016/17 season as well as the Montreal dance award for best performer. A present-day study about surpassing oneself, Bang Bang is a stage creation for a “kamikaze” soloist that has resistance as a theme. The work follows a score that is also an ordeal.
On May 11th at 7 PM at Azaryan Theater it is time for love, mortality and need to be acknowledged with The Third Dance of Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor (Israel). Music by Mahler, flowers and a record player, playing ballads – the performance dives into romanticism (and clichés) to gradually uncover a basic human need that lies beneath these symbols.
On May 12th at 7:30 pm at DNK begins Paul Pi’s (Brazil/France) solo Ecce (H)omo, which is a desire to reflect in action on inheritance in dance through an interpretation of the dance cycle “Afectos Humanos” by German choreographer Dore Hoyer (1911–1967). From this piece only a black and white video, shot in 1967 in a television show, has survived till today. It provoked choreographer and dancer Pol Pi to experience what this dance could do to him, and what it can express.
Out There And In Here by Ana Kreitmeyer and Sonja Pregrad (Croatia) is a performance derivering from “the panic you feel but do not understand, from the anxiety of the world that lives on an edge…” as its authors describe it. They enter the stage of DNK at 7:30 PM to live through their radical meeting in dance.
On May 18th after 7:30 pm at DNK is very likely to encounter “tiny, flashing eyes with a dirty look, a stingy mouth that bites and make annoying sounds, a short dance for the imaginary cat and a kicking robot leg…” and a monstrous body that will integrate itself live in front of us, because this is what the choreography of Zrinka Užbinec (Croatia/Germany) explores and aims at her piece Exploded Goo.
On the right day – Monday, 20th of May – at 7:30 pm at DNK we will get to know why my saturday when pretty well until i realized it was monday with the artistic duo Hartmannmueller (Germany). Founded in 2011 by Simon Hartmann and Daniel Ernesto Mueller, the tandem is now considered one of the most intriguing dance artists based in the North-German capital of dance Düsseldorf. Based on experiments with their own human flesh, the performance appropriates Hamlet’s problems and transfers them to the bodies of today in an unexpected way.
The artistic program of Antistatic Festival No. 12 #VoteForDance concludes on 21st of May at 7:30 pm at DNK with the performance of Uroš Kaurin and Bojan Jablanovec from Via Negativa (Slovenia) Tonight I Celebrate. The title comes from the popular song by Michael Masser and Gerry Goffin “Tonight I celebrate my love for you” and by singing it, together with several other famous songs, the artists declare their love for the audience.
This is how the very engaged, artistic but apolitical campaign of #Antistatic2019 will develop. So, in May choose the antistatic festival bulletin and #VoteForDance!
For the latest news check http://antistaticfestival.org/ and follow Antistatic International Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. Also though hastags: #ГласЗаТанц, #Антистатик2019, #VoteForDance, #Antistatic2019.
Antistatic International Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance 2019 is organized by: Бbrain Сstore Пproject, Inform Bureau Association, Nomad Dance Academy – Bulgaria, with the financial support of Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria; Sofia Municipality’s Calendar of Cultural Events 2019; Goethe-Institut Bulgarien; French Institute in Bulgaria; Teatroscope Programme; Embassy of Israel in Bulgaria; The Red House Center for Culture and Debate; Nationales Performance Netz (NPN) International Guest Performance Fund for Dance, funded by the Federal Govermment; National Cultural Fund, Migrating body international program of DNK; DNK – Space for contemporary dance and performance; Azaryan Theater, National Palace of Culture; Jameson Irish Whiskey and KICK`s bar.
Enjoy !
To have a look on the previous editions, find here our all articles about the Antistatic International Festival in Sofia.