CNDB Awards 2021

Info

2021 was the year in which CNDB’s efforts to reach others have intensified.  The prolonged health crisis limits our options and actions, but it also allows us to rethink the way we build and develop our relationships, the ways to reach the public and artists. In such difficult circumstances, there are many who fall into the trap of considering culture and artistic creation as “non-essential”. The CNDB team is stubborn to believe even more so in the role of art. In troubled times, art amplifies important voices and messages, allows us to understand the present and imagine a better future, but also creates well-being in our daily lives.

Since its establishment in 2014, the CNDB Awards have the role of highlighting the special contribution made to the construction of contemporary dance. Over the years, choreographers, dancers, theorists, journalists, people who contribute to the development of choreographic culture in Romania have been awarded. As we stated in last year’s edition, neither work nor talent are ever dislocated from the collectice space, the community and the society in which they are developed and recognized, and behind those who are most visible there are consistent presences whose contribution is not always notified or sufficiently appreciated. However, CNDB is closely following the activity of all professionals.

This year also, being the second one, like many other sectors of activity, the performing arts were severely affected not only by the pandemic, but especially by the lack of adequate responses from the authorities. Freelance artists, as well as many other cultural workers who contribute consistently to cultural life and are also self-employed, are the ones who feel the effects of the pandemic extremely powerful. Together with them we develop every project that reaches the public, and this year was the year in which our efforts to reach out to others intensified considerably. Many of the CNDB projects included a large number of artists, structures and collectives from all over the country. We have tried more than ever to create partnerships with entities from outside Bucharest and to generate projects that will make the whole ecosystem that supports dance more visible.

The 2021 edition of the CNDB Awards comes out of the formal patterns of a festivity recognizing those who contribute to the development of choreographic culture. This year’s event also includes the second edition of the “Three-Day Laboratory”, a format designed to maintain and intensify dialogue and collaborative reflection processes to support artists in their creative process. At the invitation of CNDB, a group of 15 choreographers and dancers from all over the country will participate in presentations given by Radu Umbreș (anthropologist), Mădălina Dan (choreographer), Mihaela Michailov (art critic and author), Miki Braniște (cultural manager and curator for performing arts and interdisciplinary projects) and Florin Fieroiu (choreographer).

The workshop will take place on December 10 and 11, and participation is by invitation.

The CNDB 2021 Awards Gala will take place on Sunday, December 12, at 19:00, and will be live-streamed on the CNDB Facebook page.