After another year in which the performing arts were severely affected by the pandemic, the awards offered this year by the National Center for Dance Bucharest brought into question the pitfall of considering culture and artistic creation as being “non-essential”. This year’s edition of the CNDB Awards highlighted the role of art, recalling that it is what allows us to understand the present and to imagine a better future, while it creates well-being in our daily lives.
This year, the CNDB Awards were given, as usual non-hierarchically, to three winners. The event presented last night, December 12, by the actor Alex Bogdan could be watched online, marking the end of the “Three Days Laboratory”, a format designed to support artists in their creative process, in which, at CNDB’s invitation, choreographers and dancers from all over the country participated.
The first CNDB Award was given as a form of encouragement for “New Voices in Contemporary Dance”. The prize was awarded to Eliza Trefaș, a very young artist who is already showing her presence in several artistic projects on the Romanian choreographic scene, but also in international contexts.
The second award was granted for the outstanding contribution in the construction of contemporary dance and was received by Ștefania Ferchedău, freelance cultural manager, co-founder of the Institute of the Present and a professional with a long experience in developing projects in the fields of performing arts, management and politics, but also in education and cultural intervention, some of which contain international cooperation as an important component. Ștefania Ferchedău has been accompanying many different artistic phenomena for many years now. She is a researcher, editor, writer and creator of ideas, contributing to exhibitions and publications and creating contexts for others and their creations, so that they appear in the best possible light. She is not just an administrator, but a woman with vision, who with sensitivity and knowledge contributes to the design and implementation of many consistent projects in the field of visual and performing culture, without which the local scene would be much poorer.
The third prize awarded by CNDB was also granted for the outstanding contribution to the development of contemporary dance and went to Jan Burkhardt, German artist and international pedagogue, a connector of people and institutions from different geographical areas, a creator of opportunities and frameworks and production of knowledge. Jan Burkhardt is the one who supported the Romanian contemporary dance scene by coordinating the workshop program of the CNDB Academy of Dance and Performance and the one thanks to which the academy benefited from the presence of international teachers. Jan Burkhardt continues to create links between structures, artists and institutions from several countries and it is also due to him that in 2022, CNDB together with the National Theater University “Ion Luca Caragiale” and the University of Music Bucharest will participate in a large international cooperation project called “Relay”.
Last but not least, many thanks went to the audience that was alongside CNDB once again this year and that gives meaning each time to the entire cultural sector.
