BLOT performance & short dance film screening

Dance & performance
+16
The performance will be presented in English with subtitles and open captions in Romanian
The performance is followed by a screening of short dance films

Performance duration: 42 min.
Screening duration: 48 min.

18.06.2025

Wednesday

19:00

CNDB – Stere Popescu hall (Bd. Mărășești 80)

Tickets

Spectacol BLOT & proiecție de scurtmetraje de dans

18 iunie 2025 Ora: 19:00

CNDB - Sala Stere Popescu

The sale for this event finished in 18 iunie 20:00.

Info

Our bodies carry unique microbial fingerprints that give us a strong microbiological identity. BLOT explores movement in relation to bacteria in the human body. Conceived in a hybrid format, juggling between a lecture and a choreographic performance, BLOT speaks to the similarities between humans and other animals, addressing physiological processes such as sweating, smelling, reproduction, exercise and immunity. From the microscopic to the planetary, the show addresses how bacteria influence these processes and connect us to the planet. Stripped of the social meanings imposed by language, in BLOT the body is redefined through a constant dialog about coexistence. The performance analyzes human existence through the prism of addiction and control, focusing on the subtle boundary between what is beneficial and what is toxic in nature and in the human body.

Initiated in 2020 by choreographers Simona Deaconescu and Vanessa Goodman, BLOT began as a multidisciplinary research project, presented as an installation and video performance at the 13th Vancouver Dance Biennale. In 2022, the Bucharest National Dance Center commissioned the Romanian-Canadian creative tandem to create a performance with a Romanian cast, consisting of Simona Dabija and Maria Luiza Dimulescu. Analyzing their own bacterial cultures under the microscope, the two performers are in a continuous process of researching the body, exploring its movement from the perspective of the biological processes that keep it alive.

With immersive music by Ukrainian Monocube and an industrial installation conceived by visual artist Ciprian Ciuclea, the performance enjoys the dramaturgical contribution of curator Olivia Nițiș and the artistic consultancy of artist Marta de Menezes.
BLOT addresses the body as a living system that cannot exist outside the crowds it contains.

So far, BLOT has been presented in various festivals and spaces for contemporary art and dance in Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Germany, Poland, Germany, Sweden, Mexico and Canada, and will be presented in 2025 in two extensive tours in Eastern and Central Europe, as well as an extensive tour in the British Columbia region of Canada and Seattle (USA).

The show was part of the official selection for the 30th Internationale Tanzmesse in 2024, as well as being selected as one of the 10 productions presented at the Moving Balkans international exhibition platform in 2025.

Body Landscapes
short dance film screening, 48 min
Co-presented by BUCHAREST INTERNATIONAL DANCE FILM FESTIVAL

An international selection of five cinematographic productions invites the audience to delve into the profound interplay between the body, its surroundings, and its capacity to navigate, transform, and transcend limitations. Each film examines the body as a site of resilience, memory, and connection, defying the norm and pushing against physical, environmental, and existential boundaries.

From the freeing touch of water and earth to the struggle between survival and extinction, the beauty of aging, surreal myths of the body, and reflections on collective movement, these films invite you on a journey through nature, time, and the human spirit, celebrating different corporalities and stretching the boundaries of dance.

Line up
NOORA (Anna Kekkonen, 8 min, 2024, FI)
SOMBER TIDES (Chantal Caron, 12 min, 2024, CA)
SHELLS (Marie Magdalena Kochová, 9 min, 2022, CZ)
SOMA (Arturo Bandinelli, 11 min, 2023, UK)
FIBONACCI (Tomáš Hubáček, 8 min, 2020, CZ)

The synopses are available HERE.

By: Simona Deaconescu and Vanessa Goodman
With: Simona Dabija, Maria Luiza Dimulescu
Music: Monocube
Artistic consultant: Olivia Nițis
Object design: Ciprian Ciuclea
Lighting design: Ionuț Cherana, Marius Costache

BLOT – Body Line of Thought project started in 2020, produced by Tangaj Collective Association and Action at a Distance, co-funded by AFCN – Administration of the National Cultural Fund and Canada Council for the Arts and supported by Cultivamos Cultura, Biofriction, Left of Main, plastic orchid factory and CNDB.

This presentation is happening with the support of Perform Europe as part of the Body Landscapes. An Ecofeminist Perspective project.

Perform Europe, supported by the European Union, is a funding scheme for the European performing arts sector. It facilitates international networking and supports inclusive, diverse, and eco-friendly touring projects across the 40 Creative Europe countries. Perform Europe emphasises practices rooted in sustainability and inclusivity, aiming to transform the performing arts sector and ensure a balanced distribution across the continent.

Perform Europe is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union and implemented by a consortium of six organisations: IETM – International network for contemporary performing arts, European Festivals Association (EFA), Circostrada, European Dance Development Network, Pearle * – Live Performance Europe and IDEA Consult.

Main media partner
Radio Guerilla

Media partners
Adevărul, Agerpress, Elle, Happ.ro, Liternet, TVR Cultural, Radio România Cultural, Revista Arta, The Institute, Zile și nopți, Zeppelin, ISCOADA, Revista Golan, Feeder, Visit Bucharest, Ziarul Metropolis, Scena9, IQads, Ceașca de Cultură, Modernism.ro, Haute Culture Magazine, munteanurecomanda.ro, Daily Magazine