In the context of celebrating 20 years of existence, the Bucharest National Dance Center (CNDB) is extending the International Dance Day for April. Thus, spectators will be able to watch international dance performances presented for the first time in Romania and national choreographic productions and participate in discussions with the artists.
Included in the month’s calendar are three shows from Hungary, the Netherlands and Belgium, selected from the international Twenty23/24 program, organized by the European network Aerowaves:
FATIGUE [Hungary]
April 17, 7:30 p.m
Creation and interpretation: Viktor Szeri – a symptom show
Choreographer Viktor Szeri comes to the CNDB for the first time with the visceral show „Fatigue,” which blurs the boundaries between the stage and the hall, inviting us into intimate realities in which the audience has an active role. „Fatigue” shows mood swings, slowed reflexes, and dizziness: burnout’s various physical and psychological symptoms infiltrate everyday life unnoticed. What can an artist do in this state of exhaustion in a world where work gives meaning to existence? The Hungarian independent performing arts scene awarded the performance the Rudolf Lábán Award 2023.
MOVEMENTS OF SOUL [Netherlands]
April 24, 7:30 p.m
Concept, choreography and performance: YAV
Another premiere in Romania is „Movements of Soul,” in which choreographer YAV brings together elements from the dynamic worlds of dance, music and fashion. YAV deliberately chose not to accompany the show with a description to challenge our preconceived notions and conditioning, as we often confuse the message with the messenger. „Movements of Soul” is a reminder that art doesn’t always need words.
DOUBLE BILL: 3/4 FACE TOUJOURS! [Belgium] + REVERSE DISCOURSE [Romania]
3/4 TOUJOURS!
April 29, 7:30 p.m
On this date, International Dance Day, initiated in 1982 by UNESCO, is celebrated, and spectators can see two performances from Romania and Belgium. 3/4 TOUJOURS!
Choreography and interpretation: Loraine Dambermont – a survival guide with a sense of humour.
The show is the last premiere scheduled by CNDB in April. Not without humour, the Belgian choreographer presents an energetic solo in the form of a live tutorial, revealing her best secret self-defence skills. The performance challenges the performer’s physical and mental virtuosity, pushing the limits of a constrained body between a marathon of hyper-fast karate moves and the extreme precision of her musicality. The 20 minutes turn into a survival guide with humorous accents through movements directed towards the outbreak of self-irony.
REVERSE DISCOURSE
April 29, 7:30 p.m
Concept and choreography: Ioana Marchidan – assumed fragility vs the destructive force of abuse of power
„Reverse Discourse” is a show built as an inverted, depersonalized, fragile, and intimate discourse. It is a performance about the politics of the body in which Ioana Marchidan short-circuits the collective bodily memory, identifying and bringing to the surface deep-rooted gestures with the aim of unarchiving and decomposing them through a bodily slide towards an abstract choreography.
In addition to international productions, the public is expected to attend the CNDB and other events in April. The month begins with (anti)aging, an archive show under permanent construction, created in 2011 and designed to have successive stages, lasting 30 years until 2041. The show, in the choreography and interpretation of Mădălina Dan and Alexandra Mihaela Dancs, is scheduled for April 2. Coreomaniacii, a performative docufiction in the choreography of Simona Deaconescu, chronologically follows the events that marked the dance epidemic of 1518 in Strasbourg and will be able to be seen at the CNDB on April 14.
„Casual Wednesday – ideas affirmed performatively” returns to CNDB in a special edition on Saturday, six and Sunday, 7 April. Perhaps the most well-known project of the CNDB and the one that attracted a large audience during the years when the institution operated in the building of the Bucharest National Theatre, „Miercurea lejeră” is a format initiated and designed by the artists Eduard Gabia and Maria Baroncea, and presented in collaboration with Paul Dunca/Paula Dunker. The event functions as an open platform where anyone can test, on stage, their ideas regardless of age, profession, education and training. The stage thus becomes a democratic space accessible to all, which creates the conditions for meetings and dialogues without borders beyond disciplines, environments, and experience.
All the events take place at CNDB – Stere Popescu hall (Bulevardul Mărășești 80-82).
In 2024, CNDB will complete 20 years of existence, being the only national institution whose primary mission is the development of choreographic culture in Romania and as has as its primary mission the development of choreographic culture in Romania and which functions as a producer and host of shows while also assuming equally essential missions, such as research, documentation and archiving, but also the development of artistic education and professional training programs and projects.
