Author: renate.dinu

We are pleased that this year’s programme of the National Theatre Festival, held under the theme Fragile Borders. Fluid Histories includes two CNDB co-productions:

OMISSION POSSIBLE documentary by Mutual_Loop (Martina Tritthart/Holger Lang, Austria)
6 November | 16:00
National Theatre “I.L.Caragiale” in Bucharest, Sala Atelier

The film was made following the eponymous installation at SalaOmnia, a site-specific light and media intervention in which local artists were invited to participate with recordings (audio, video or photos) about the city. The event was developed in the framework of the s[a]it{life} project, in partnership with CNDB and with the support of the Austrian Ministry of European and International Affairs and the Austrian Cultural Forum in Bucharest.
More details here.

(anti)aging.after 10 years – concept, choreography and performance: by Mădălina Dan & Mihaela Dancs
12 November | 19:00
CNDB-Stere Popescu Hall

(anti)aging is a performance-archive in permanent construction, created in 2011 and conceived to have successive stages, over 30 years, until 2041, a framework performance in which time, the natural evolution of a 30-year collaboration and the course of personal/professional lives become performative material.
More details about the show and the two artists here.

Read also the article published in Scena9 by Oana Stoica here.

Borders. Risks. Emergencies – performative marathon
13 November | 15:00
CNDB-Stere Popescu Hall

Artists and writers from different areas will have an intervention of maximum 10 minutes, in which they will address an issue they consider urgent for their area of artistic interest.
More details about the event here.

We appreciate the argument of the curators of FNT 2022 – Mihaela Michailov, Oana Cristea Grigorescu and Călin Ciobotari for the nuanced lens through which they have assumed a selection “attentive to the capacity of the performances to question, in multiple ways, the present, taking the risk of unsettling and abandoning the predictable reflexes of easy entertainment.”

The Academy’s first invited teacher graduated with honors from the Paris Conservatory, danced at the Opéra Garnier, has performed on stages all over the world, from Morocco and Japan to Germany and the USA, and teaches top dancers from major national companies in South Africa, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Hong Kong, Israel, Scotland, Tahiti, Taiwan.

At our invitation, Lucas spends the whole month of October with the students of the Academy, to whom he proposes a workshop based on the most precise awareness of the body and its dynamics in space.

My teaching approach is based on the Jooss-Leeder method, developed by Hans Züllig and Jean Cébron, with a contemporary barre at the barre followed by a middle.

The precise consciousness of one’s body in space and its dynamics are the ground of this approach. The technical work at the barre allows the upper side of the body and the arms to flow by being well aware of the weight, the swing, the possible oppositions and dissociations. The center of the body is in the continuity of the barre. This technique uses both the movement quality and sensations, the objective being to master sensations for a better precision and understanding of movement.

Lucas Viallefond

More info about the Academy of Dance and Performance 2022-2023 here.

The second edition of the Academy of Dance and Performance, an intensive education and training program in contemporary dance for emerging dancers and producers, has been launched. The project’s mission is to integrate young artists and producers into the European professional circuit through intensive and long-term training. The Academy of Dance and Performance 2022-2023 is open to participants from Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and the Republic of Moldova.

This week, from Monday to Friday, we invite you on Radio Romania Cultural or on www.radioromaniacultural.ro, between 12:00-12:30. You can also access the broadcasts here.

Photo: Vlad Bâscă

23 September – 1 October 2022

In the framework of the European project RELAY – Thinking Artistic Material in Music and Dance (2021-2024), the National Center for Dance, together with the National University of Music Bucharest and the National University of Theatre and Film “I.L. Caragiale” Bucharest, organizes an Urban Camping for 18 participants from Denmark, Germany, Greece and Romania, including new students of the Academy of Dance and Performance. The Camping program includes workshops, presentations, visits, mentoring sessions and jam sessions.

Teachers/trainers: Mihai Mihalcea, Cătălin Crețu, Andreea Duță, Rasmus Ölme, Vera Sander, Jan Burkhardt, Konstantinos Tsakirelis

Guests: Dan Dediu, Floriama Cândea, Marian Zamfirescu, Ladislau Csendes, Lucian Zbarcea

RELAY is an interdisciplinary research and training project focusing on artistic and educational development in dance, choreography and music/composition, bringing together multiple interlinked perspectives:

THE ARTISTIC PERSPECTIVE – Inspired by the premise that movement can be a lens for investigating the supposed dualism between the material and immaterial, the project explores how dance and music can find common ground in such an approach.

THE PEDAGOGICAL PERSPECTIVE – Arts education has innovative potential in student-driven learning environments. This is pursued at the same time by investigating how principles of sustainability can be found and/or applied in the field of artistic research, teaching and art production.

SUSTAINABILITY – Dance and music are artistic practices that are independent of linguistic codes and therefore have immense potential for globalization, and their practitioners travel frequently. RELAY also offers participants a framework to explore how to work in a climate-conscious way with transnational and intercultural exchanges, which are fundamental elements in the development of these art forms.

MULTITUDENESS OF PERSPECTIVES – Geographically, RELAY brings together partners from northern, central, eastern and southern Europe, and also brings a difference in the form of organization that partners represent, mixing academic institutions with independent organizations.

All these are geared towards sustainable conditions for the work-life balance and career longevity of the practitioner, as well as greater awareness of local contexts and situated knowledge.

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During the Olympics in Rio 2016 the Japanese team unexpectedly won the silver medals in the men’s 4×100 meter relay final. The surprising part was that individually all team members ran slower than their competitors and the secret to their success was instead due to their work with optimizing the hand overs of the baton from one runner to the next, saving them precious seconds in the tight race.

The above story is a good analogy to the purpose of the RELAY project: to foster collaboration, intermediary relationships and transmissions between partners, the artists involved, and the audience they come into contact with.

RELAY - Thinking Artistic Material in Music and Dance is a project co-funded by the European Union and supported by the ERASMUS+ programme "Cooperation Partnerships".

To find out more details regarding the whole period of the project, please visit the dedicated section here.

“Reverse discourse”, created and performed by Ioana Marchidan, produced by Linotip –  Independent Choreography Centre Bucharest, is presented at MOLDOVA DANCE FESTIVAL CONTACT+, 2022 with the support of the National Centre for Dance Bucharest.

“Reverse discourse” is that what the title suggests. An inverted speech. Depersonalized. Offered naked. Fragile. Intimate. A performance about body politics in which Ioana Marchidan short-circuits the collective body memory, identifying and bringing to the surface deeply rooted gestures, in order to unarchive them and decompose them through a body slide towards an abstract choreography. This cataloging and re-editing of the memory of submission, of the suppression and repression of the meanings of gestures, integrates the public as a participant in the dialogue, as a submissive observer.

In “Reverse discourse” I wanted to provoke emotion without mediating the gaze. To challenge the public to recall their own experiences or those transmitted and retransmitted, perpetually perpetuated by external factors, whether we are talking about people or the media. I used the body as a means of visual connection to an absurd dialogue. A bodily dialogue exposed in lines with distinct temporalities, which almost never intersect. An organic dialogue that exposes the dominator-submissive perspectives in multiple hypostases that outline the past and the present. A somatic dialogue that animates the traumas stored in our collective and individual memory. A visceral dialogue about the assumption of power and its exploitation in predominantly dictatorial, manipulative directions.

– Ioana Marchidan

The initial idea of the project was developed by Ioana Marchidan and Hermina Stănciulescu, in 2018 within the framework of the creative residency EMOȚIONAL – initiated by Cosmin Manolescu in Lisbon, in partnership with Forum Dança, as part of a project co-funded by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund

Concept, choreography and performance: Ioana Marchidan
Sound design: Alexandru Suciu
Video projections and poster: Hermina Stanciulescu
Light design: Hermina Stanciulescu

On 22 September, from 7 pm, at the Luceafărul Theatre (Chișinău, Veronica Micle Street, 7).

PACT Zollverein offers creation and production residencies in 2023 (January – June). Running throughout the year since 2002, the residency programme is at the heart of PACT Zollverein’s daily work. Open to professional artists from home and abroad working in the fields of dance, performance, media arts or music, and closely linked to PACT’s other two main strands of activity – presenting work and facilitating research and development – the programme is a key element in PACT Zollverein’s profile as a House of Artists supporting the lively exchange between practice and theory.

While occupying their own designated space and working essentially independently, residents can choose to benefit from various types of production support such as dramaturgy, technical assistance, project management, and press and publicity.

Application deadline: September 15 2022

Complete information and announcement source here.

dansePlatForma#23 will take place in Montpellier in France in January 2023. This special edition dedicated to the theme of Acting for Peace is open to artists from Ukraine and Eastern Europe countries, near the Ukrainian conflict : Poland and Romania, as well as Russian artists who are dissident or opposed to the war.

Contemporary dance performances, open studio, artistic worshops, public talks, international meetings, and classes will bring together established and emerging artists from Eastern Europe.

Keeping the dialogue with artists in Europe is now more necessary than ever. Our commitment will be continued with the new edition of dansePlatForma, both transnational and deeply European.
dansePlatForma opens a new horizon with the language of dance as a universal expression between peoples.

Wanted:
– Solo or duet (25 – 40 minutes)
– Trio or quartet (40 min – 1 hour)
– Open to professional choreographers from Poland, Romania, Ukraine and Russian choreographers (resident and non-resident in Russia)
– Must be + 18 years old
– If there is text in the performance, provide subtitles in French
– A work created in the last 3 years or a new version of an older piece
– Pieces already submitted for the first edition of dansePlatForma will not be accepted

Technical conditions offered:
– 10 x 10 m stage with light and sound – possibility for video projections – Set up on the day of the performance (maximum 3 hours).
– Technical support for sound and lights
– Common stage space for all troupes

Required availability: January 2023

dansePlatForma#23 in Montpellier ensures:
– Promotion and communication
– Technical support
– Support for the artistic team of maximum 4 people (choreographer, dancers, musicians, other artists) : travel, accommodation and meals, fee in euros

dansePlatForma#23 also takes care of:
– Visa cost
– Transport of the set to the hold
– Fees, travel and meals for a team exceeding 4 people

Deadline : September 7, 2022

More information here.

“On The Road Again” International Call of the Federal Ministry Republic of Austria and Austrian Culturual Forums – Winner with this project for Bucharest.

TIME SCHEDULE

The project is conducted in 3+1 stages, of which the first three will take place in Bucharest:
April 2022 – research and location scouting, getting to know people and the city
April – August: finalizing preferred location, communication with everyone involved, collecting contributions from our local collaborators, preparation and organization of needed material and equipment
August 2022 – actual installation project on site – collaboration with partners
Starting in approx. August 11 with 2 weeks of preparations on site
August 26 – 31: Several days intervention – open to public
October 2022 – presentation of documentation, reflection, outcomes, etc. planned in a gallery in Bucharest.
In February – May 2023 a final element will take place in a group exhibition in Künstlerhaus in Vienna, when the documentation of our project will be presented as part of the larger initiative of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that will display all 23 projects that had been realized as winners of the “on-the-road-again” competition.

OMNIA HALL

• Working with a site includes various goals – to:
• create a possibility for “sightseeing” – “seeing a sight”
• to sketch out a community that exists only at/through a site
• to create an experience of a space that opens ideas and possibilities for new uses
• to generate an altered atmosphere by shifting the perception of elements of a space
• to relate to the history and, in particular – also to politics – also to fantasies
• to relate to our collaborators and their interaction with us

For the creation of the final content of the displays we cooperate with artists and other interested individuals from Bucharest   to combine individual artistic positions with collaborative efforts to shape this setting, while pursuing the following goals:

•     to increase the awareness of a community and interaction with each other
•     to create collaborative art as a transformational force to strengthen communication
•     to contribute to a reflection of identity and view of (history of) Bukarest and the location
•     to work with both – internal views / external views / and a combination in a fluid form
•     to be open to a neighborhood without barriers of costs and no expectations
•     to raising awareness for sustainability and environmental protection
•     to deal with issues of climate change, waste, recycling, electricity-solar, etc.

Our work with this specific site – Sala Omnia – will be in parts a interpretation and reflection of its political past, but even more so a projection into the future, a sketch of possibilities and potentials. Our site-specific interventions are created with projections, audio and light installations. They will be accessible for the public where and when possible, allowing exploration within the space. We keep closed with barrier/ropes/light-signs where necessary and direct the audience through parts of the building to present a scenography, a hinted script that includes several stops to contemplate.
At several rooms we make it possible to experience interventions with light and/or sound and/or video and/or projection, that express our above sketched out approaches, while the guides will provide additional information and historical backgrounds, related to each of the stops. Overall this will be a scripted tour through a virtual space in an actual building.

Partners
Austrian Cultural forum Bucharest, CNDB – The National Center for Dance Bucharest, Iosif Kiraly, Sever Petrovici-Popescu, Ina-Alice Danila and many more;

More infomation on Omnia Hall, here.
News source, here.

As this year we were inspired by iridescence, we’re now looking for a new colleague who understands what light does to a performance hall and how everything works in the technical department of a dance and performance culture institution.

The job nomenclature describes the position as Head of Stage Technical Office, and for us it’s mostly a professional lighting person, one that is skilled, thorough and cool.

If you’re interested or know someone who might be, read the ad for the full info:

The National Centre for Dance Bucharest announces a job competition for the position of Head of Stage Technical Office.

Interested persons are asked to send their CV to office@cndb.ro by 26 July.

Job description:

• Provides lighting/sound management for rehearsals, general rehearsals and performances and for other CNDB events, conferences, debates, meetings, etc., while ensuring the smooth rendering of the lighting effects of the performances;

• Coordinates, organises and plans the technical stage work;

• Carries out and posts the rehearsal and performance schedules;

• Contributes to the drafting of documentation for the organisation of travels and tours from a technical point of view;

• Gives timely notice of any changes to the performance and rehearsal schedule;

• Plans and keeps records of stage activities;

• Coordinates the work of setting up, handling, storing and the proper use of sets and equipment;

• Organises technical rehearsals (set handling) with the technical team of each play in order to achieve the shortest possible time for set changes;

• Provides technical solutions, in collaboration with the set designer, for the sets used in the performances or for the spaces in which performances will be staged on tours;

• Controls, by manipulating the console, how the lighting plan has been drawn up, whether the light sources have been placed in the indicated places and the console responds to commands, so as not having difficulty in carrying out the duties of the job;

• Knows the installation of the room (the electrical circuits that can be controlled by the light control and the direct electrical circuits for the intelligent lights), so that at all times they know how to use it;

• Maintains relations with the author-choreographers, performers and organisers of any event taking place at the CNDB or elsewhere;

• Regularly checks the lighting/sound equipment and its accessories and immediately reports any problems with its operation to the line manager;

• Draws up performance records (lighting memory, number of devices, stage signals, etc.);

• Draws up the technical rider for all shows produced, co-produced or in the current season;

Job requirements:

• Graduate (Bachelor’s degree required)
• Good knowledge of English
• Willingness to work unevenly distributed hours, evenings and weekends
• Ability to adapt to different types of people
• Thoroughness in performing work duties
• Ability to analyse and summarise; initiative; creativity; flexibility; punctuality;
• Ability to meet deadlines

Iridescent 2022 meant 21 events – 10 dance performances, workshops for professionals, conferences and discussions, collective dinners, audio sessions and DJ sets – that brought together 86 artists and guests from home and abroad, primarily providing a framework for exploring relevant and current concepts/topics through aesthetically and societally emancipatory discourses.

Thank you for joining us for this phenomenal first edition of the Iridescent Festival and we look forward to seeing you at CNDB events in the autumn.

Until then, find below how the 6 weeks of the festival looked and felt.

A holiday full of joy and relaxation!

See you soon, with love,

CNDB Team
Adnana, Alexandros, Ana, Andreea, Carmen C., Carmen R., Clara, Corina, Cornel, Cristi, Cristian, Ioana, Ionuț C., Ionuț Ch., Izabela, Linda, Maggie, Mihai, Petre, Renate, Tudor and Vava

In 2021, the Körber-Stiftung and Kampnagel Hamburg cooperated to launch the production residencies under the name EXILE TODAY. The residency programme focuses on art that is created under the conditions of exile. The aim of this cooperation is to bring the topic of exile to the stage, to make innovative artistic formats available to the public at large, to show the complexity of exile for artists and to anchor the topic into the context of a culture of remembrance.  This includes on the one hand to face the general and individual aspects of exile and on the other to open a multifocal and differentiated perspective on art in exile.

The residency aims to support the production or creation and subsequent performance of either new stage works or existing works adapted for the local context in the genres of theatre and performance or dance. Production and performance will take place at Kampnagel Hamburg.

This is an international call for proposals primarily addressed at artists with their own or family’s experience of exile. Due to the reality of their lives, artists living in exile have the knowledge and experience of living in different societies; precisely because of their multi-layered identities and their transnational character, they are in a position to become a motor of development for countries of origin and host countries. However, artists without their own experience of exile, who nevertheless deal with the subject of exile, are also motivated to submit applications. Awards will be made to artists working with innovative aesthetics and formats in the genres of theatre and performance or dance.

We explicitly welcome applications from people of all genders, with disabilities, Black, Indigenous and People of Color.
Closing date
This call closes on July 15, 2022
The artists selected will be informed of the jury’s decision by mid-September 2022.
Deadline for apllications extended until July 15 2022

Detailed information here.
Application form here.

K3 | Tanzplan Hamburg provides three paid eight-month residencies per season to choreographers, who are currently at the beginning of their career and have produced some choreographic work of their own. The residency begins in August and runs until April of the following year. The residency includes mentoring and dramaturgical, technical, and production related support. It moreover links the projects proposed by the choreographers in residence closely to the various other on-going programs of K3.

The goal of the residency is to develop and strengthen the connections between choreographic practice, research, artistic production, and qualification. The length of eight months should provide sufficient time and space for overcoming conventional rhythms of production and open up space for exchange with other artists and interested parties in order to receive new impulses and contacts. Over the course of the residency the three choreographers can each develop a full-length piece that is presented at the end of the residency on three evenings on the stages of Kampnagel.

For choreographers interested in applying to the residency programme, we offer two info zooms:
30 June – 10am (CET)
2 August – 5pm (CET)
Please register with your name and date: tanzplan[at]kampnagel.de

Application Requirements:
• The applicant must be at the beginning of their career and should have already implemented some projects of their own (outside of a university context).
• The applicant is available for the entire duration of the residency from August 2023 until April 2024 to stay in Hamburg.
• The applicant is willing to participate in K3’s outreach programme and other events at K3.
• The applicant is interested both in engaging in exchange with other artists, as well as with an interested audience.
• The applicant already has some experience in / is interested in dealing with choreography on a discursive level, reflecting their own work, as well as working in a self-organised manner.
• Only applications by individuals can be accepted. Applications by teams or ensembles cannot be taken into consideration.
• We accept applications in all choreographic fields (e.g. dance for young audience, public space) and from all nationalities. Applicants from marginalised communities are encouraged to apply.

Deadline: August 11 2022
Application form available here

Article sourse and complete info here.