
Press release
12 December, Bucharest
The National Center for Dance Bucharest awarded four trophy-bricks at the CNDB 2022 Awards
This year, the CNDB Awards were granted, non-hierarchically as usual, for outstanding contributions to the development of choreographic culture in Romania to four professionals in the field, during the award gala that took place last night, December 11, at the Atelier Hall of the National Theatre Bucharest, which was presented by poet and journalist Răzvan Cosmin Țupa, together with Vava Ștefănescu, manager of the institution.
At the opening of the gala, Mr Lucian Romașcanu, Minister of Culture, declared that in the coming year dance, through the CNDB projects, will find its place among the other strategic fields of culture, and this will be materialized through a support that will be appropriate.
The first of the CNDB Awards was handed by the Minister of Culture to the independent artist Maria Beatrice Tudor, for her contribution to the construction of contemporary dance and choreographic culture, through her work in Timisoara, within Unfold Motion. The Unfold Motion Association, whose driving force is Lavinia Urcan, is actively involved in the cultural scene of Timișoara, contributing through its projects to the consolidation of the cultural-artistic network of the city and seeking to offer the widest possible cultural experiences to the public, which is constantly being formed. Contemporary dance is at the heart of this structure, where Maria Beatrice Tudor is an associated artist and the generator of an energy that contaminates and brings people and ideas together.
The second award reminded that for Romanian artists involved in the development of contemporary dance it has never been enough to be exclusively concerned with what they have to do on stage. To get there they have always had to create the conditions themselves, to generate the contexts, to structure and maintain spaces, to find and manage scarce resources. Often dancers and choreographers take on multiple roles in order to get to dance or present a performance. They are also managers, they also do administration, they clean their own spaces, we meet them when they greet the audience, but also up on the stage setting up spotlights, they write applications, they send press releases… The CNDB award, presented this time by the Cultural Counsellor of the French Embassy in Romania, Mr Julien Chiappone-Lucchesi, went to one of those who contribute consistently to the life of a living organism such as the LINOTIP Independent Choreographic Centre, the founder and manager Arcadie Rusu.
If without allies, friends and partners everything becomes much more difficult, and sometimes potential partners have to be seduced, won over, convinced, this is not the case of the next laureate, who since the beginning of his mandate as manager has shown the vision and openness with which he has understood to enter into dialogue with contemporary dance, but also with other arts, contents and artistic formats.
The CNDB award, the traditional trophy-brick, presented this time by Simona Deaconescu, associate artist of the CNDB in 2022, was given to Mr Alexandru Boureanu, manager of the “Marin Sorescu” National Theatre in Craiova, for his contribution to supporting contemporary dance and implicitly for creating a space favourable to a broad dialogue between the arts.
Every year, in addition to the prizes it awards, the CNDB wishes to highlight, in a specific way, the extraordinary results of the work of one of its team members. This award, presented by Mihaela Michailov, went to Ana Papadima, for the seriousness, dedication and attention with which she builds, accompanies and takes care of the Education and Training department she leads. The Performing School for Children, the Academy of Dance and Performance, the very diverse courses and workshops are aimed at children, non-professionals of all ages, but especially at those who are in constant need of consistent and current information, training and expansion of knowledge.
The CNDB Awards Gala then continued with the screening of RAMANENJANA, a co-production Germany-Romania-Madagascar by Simona Deaconescu in collaboration with Gaby Sarranoufi (MG), about a dance that literally made history.
We invite you to watch below a retrospective film of the activity of the National Center for Dance Bucharest from 2022.