Auditions: September 14 and 16, 2026
(registration required at cursuri@cndb.ro)
How does a child learn to dance? How do they learn to observe dance, understand it, and find their own way of communicating through movement?
Starting September 21, 2026, the National Center for Dance in Bucharest will launch a new year of its Performing art school for children, an arts education program dedicated to children and teenagers ages 7 to 18.
For nearly a year, participants are invited to explore contemporary dance from multiple perspectives: technique and physical training, through creation and repertoire, as well as through meetings with artists, film screenings, specialized readings, and discussions about dance and the performing arts. In addition, public performances will take place throughout the year as a result of the creative processes, tailored to the students’ level of experience.
To form the groups, enrollment is based on a preliminary selection process in the form of auditions. Auditions are open to children and teenagers between the ages of 7 and 18. Groups will be organized according to age, experience, and skill level.
For the 2026–2027 school year, the School’s core teachers consist of Catrinel Catană, Eva Danciu, and Andreea Belu, supplemented by guest teachers throughout the school year.
The auditions will take place on September 14 and 16, 2026, according to the following schedule:
September 14
– 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. for the 7–9-year-old group
– 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. for the 10–15-year-old and 16–18-year-old groups
September 16
– 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. for the 7–9-year-old group
– 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. for the 10–15-year-old and 16–18-year-old groups
Auditions will take place at the National Centre for Dance in Bucharest – “Stere Popescu” Hall (80–82 Mărășești Blvd., Bucharest)
To register, please send an email to cursuri@cndb.ro. Please specify the day and time slot you prefer.
The Performing art school for children program is structured into five modules, so that the learning process can evolve gradually, from technical work and physical exploration to encounters with guest artists and the development of choreographic pieces.
SCHEDULE
MODULE I
September 21 – October 23, 2026 (5 weeks)
classes taught by the school’s teachers
MODULE II
November 2 – December 18, 2026 (7 weeks)
hybrid format, with the school’s teachers and guest choreographers for advanced-level groups*
MODULE III
January 11 – February 12, 2027 (5 weeks)
classes taught by the school’s teachers
MODULE IV
March 8 – April 23, 2027 (7 weeks)
hybrid format, with the school’s teachers and guest choreographers for advanced-level groups
MODULE V
May 4 – June 18, 2027 (7 weeks)
hybrid format, with the school’s teachers and guest choreographers for advanced-level groups
HOURS & CLASSES
Monday
5:00 p.m. – 6:15 p.m. – Contemporary Dance Technique for Ages 10–15 – Intermediate Level (Catrinel Catană & Andreea Belu)
6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. – Contemporary Dance Technique for Ages 10–15 – Beginner Level
(Catrinel Catană & Andreea Belu)
Tuesday
5:00 p.m. – 6:10 p.m. – Contemporary dance technique for ages 7–9 – beginner/intermediate level (Eva Danciu)
6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. – Contemporary dance technique for ages 9–11 – intermediate/advanced level (Eva Danciu)
Wednesday
5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. – Contemporary dance technique for ages 15–18 – beginner level (Eva Danciu)
7:15 p.m. – 8:45 p.m. – Contemporary dance technique for ages 15–18 – advanced level (Eva Danciu)
Thursday
5:00 p.m. – 6:15 p.m. – Contemporary dance technique for ages 7–9 – beginner level (Catrinel Catană & Andreea Belu)
6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. – contemporary dance technique for ages 10–15 – advanced level (Catrinel Catană & Andreea Belu)
Friday
5:00 p.m. – 6:15 p.m. – choreography class, ages 7–9 – guest instructor
6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. – choreography class, ages 10–15 – guest instructor
*The intermediate and advanced groups will consist of children who have participated in previous editions of the Performing art school for children.
PRICES
To participate in the courses, you can purchase passes for each module or single-session tickets.
5-Week Modules – I and III
- 5 sessions: 450 lei
- 10 sessions / 2 courses combined: 780 lei
7-Week Modules – II, IV, and V
- 7 sessions: 630 lei
- 14 sessions / 2 courses combined: 1,100 lei
Ticket for one session: 100 lei
For Friday’s choreographic culture class:
- External participants – 450 lei / 5-session module
- School students – 350 lei / 5-session module (combining 2 courses)
- School students – 300 lei / 5-session module (combining 3 courses)
*The discount for combining multiple courses also applies to children from the same family enrolled in the program.
**Children from disadvantaged social groups are eligible for free enrollment, provided they fully participate in at least one module.
Subscriptions and tickets will be available for purchase starting September 19, after the results of the preselection and the formation of the groups have been announced:
- online, through the Kompostor platform, by the day classes begin
- at the “Stere Popescu” Hall, with payment (cash or card) at least 30 minutes before the class begins.
Launched by the National Centre for Dance Bucharest in March 2018, the Performing art school for children is the first local training and artistic education programme in contemporary dance and performing arts. The Performative School runs throughout the school year and integrates courses in contemporary dance, creation and improvisation, as well as other workshops and artistic education activities for children.
The Performing art school’s program for 2026–2027 places greater emphasis on a comprehensive curriculum in which children have the opportunity to explore a variety of perspectives on contemporary dance, the performing arts, and culture in general.
In this edition, the permanent teachers of the Performing art school for children are working alongside several guest choreographers and artists, particularly with the advanced groups. This means that students do not stick to a single method or physical language throughout the year, but rather have the opportunity to encounter different ways of thinking, exploring, and creating dance.
Friday becomes a day dedicated to exploring contemporary dance: you don’t just practice it, but you also learn to watch it, contextualize it, and talk about it. The classes combine practice and theory: physical and musical techniques, the active history of dance, films, performances, and choreographic analysis.
For more information, please contact us at cursuri@cndb.ro or call 0758 101 945.
“Taking on a children’s art education programme involves a ritual of directing attention to the body on a regular basis. The assumption has a double meaning: parents and children on the one hand and teachers on the other. The multi-component programme is not intended to produce specialists in one discipline, but to develop the ability to convey multiple types of information and artistic body training.
The school of performance provides the framework to generate an individual type of acuity of observation and use of bodily resources, the development of pleasure in using the intuitive baggage with which all children are endowed, the activation of the child’s bodily and visual imagination in structuring an artistic discourse of their own, but also a complex bodily training that relates to other artistic fields and current cultural expressions.
What distinguishes dance from sport is the ability/capacity to create artistic communicative meanings, in which mind and thought are one with the body; the cultivation of bodily skills serves a type of performance that has the vocation of communicating ideas.
At the Performing art school for children, dance is a form of learning and of adapting to the context, to the world”.
(Vava Ștefănescu—choreographer, manager of the CNDB)
Teachers’ Biographies
Eva Danciu has a background in classical dance, a bachelor’s degree in acting, and a master’s degree in choreography. She graduated from the Academy of Dance and Performance at the CNDB and the Daanasana School of Yoga at Move On. Over the years, she has performed in ballet, musicals, opera, contemporary dance, and performance art, collaborating with various institutions and independent venues.
She is currently active as an emerging performer and choreographer in Bucharest, teaches at the CNDB’s Performing art school for children, and leads yoga workshops.
“Drawing on posture and technique—which stem from my experience in yoga and classical dance—I work with children through exercises that foster body and spatial awareness, attention, memory, improvisation, and creativity. I like to maintain a balance between discipline and play, between structure and the freedom to explore.”
Andreea Belu is a former choreographer and contemporary dancer. She is currently focusing on movement research. Her work is driven by an interest in cultivating individual and bodily awareness, and in developing bodily intelligence by preparing the body for a wide variety of movement patterns.
She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in choreography from the Faculty of Theater at the “I. L. Caragiale” National University of Theater and Film (UNATC) in Bucharest and her bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences, also in Bucharest. He is currently conducting research as a doctoral student at the University of Theater Arts in Târgu Mureș.
She has consistently taught contemporary dance, Contact Improvisation, Pilates, and yoga for over 10 years.
For 13 years, she has collaborated as a performer, teacher, choreographer, and student with the National Dance Center in Bucharest, the Gabriela Tudor Foundation, the 4Culture Association, Fabrica de Pensule, The Workshop Foundation (Hungary), North Karelia College (Finland), Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (Germany), the University of Arts in Târgu Mureș, CiNETic—the International Center for Education and Research in Innovative Creative Technologies, Tangaj Dance Collective, the German State Theater in Timișoara, the Matei Vișniec Theater in Suceava, and the Museum of Recent Art in Bucharest.
She was co-coordinator of the +2017 project [on the body, love, and contemporary dance] and of the DanceCloud platform, curator and moderator of the public dialogue series “Present Histories in Uncomfortable Spaces,” and a co-founding member of the choreographic research space AREAL.
She has created stage movement for theater productions, collaborating with institutions such as: the Szigligeti Theater in Oradea, the National Theater in Bucharest, the National Theater in Târgu Mureș, the Comedy Theater in Bucharest, the Metropolis Theater, the Matei Vișniec Theater in Suceava, and the Țăndărică Theater.
From 2019 to 2024, she led the workshop series “What Kind of Body Do I Think With?”, which explored the connection between somatics, proprioception, and communication within artistic creation groups and amateur movement groups. She currently teaches in the educational programs of the National Dance Center in Bucharest (the Academy of Dance and Performance and the Performing Arts School for Children) and at the Film School, an educational project launched by director Florin Șerban, and is a doctoral candidate at the Doctoral School of the University of Theater Arts in Târgu Mureș. For her, movement is a direct and sincere way to connect with people.
Catrinel Catană is a contemporary dance teacher, performer, physical therapist, and practitioner of integrative therapies, with a pedagogical approach in which art, movement, and body awareness intertwine.
She has been working with children and young people for many years, leading contemporary dance and body awareness classes and workshops in schools and nonprofit organizations, including for people with physical or intellectual disabilities. At the heart of her teaching is the child and their unique way of discovering the world through movement.
Through dance, Catrinel encourages children to explore their creativity, expressiveness, and their own range of motion, to gain confidence in their bodies, and to develop a healthy relationship with space, with others, and with themselves. Her methods are tailored to the age, pace, and needs of each group, aiming for balanced development—physically, emotionally, and creatively.
She is a graduate of the “I.L. Caragiale” National University of Theater and Cinematography, Department of Choreography, and holds a master’s degree in Choreographic Art. Since 2007, she has participated in training programs and workshops in contemporary dance, choreographic dramaturgy, and movement therapy. Wishing to deepen her understanding—from a scientific perspective—of how the body develops and functions, she subsequently specialized in “Kinesiotherapy and Special Motor Skills” and completed training in anthroposophical integrative therapies.
This multidisciplinary approach allows her to create learning experiences in which dance is not just about technique, but also about curiosity, freedom of expression, creativity, and the joy of “being at home” in one’s own body.
In 2020, the National Center for Dance in Bucharest awarded her a prize for her contribution to the development of contemporary dance.
