PSR Magazine for Dance Vol. 1/2019
Magazine for Dance Vol. 1/2019, premiere on May 9th, 2019 in the frame of Antistatic Festival at Kick`s space, Sofia.
CONCEPT
Magazine for Dance is an annual edition that aims to offer a contemporary perspective on dance today in all its forms covering ballet, contemporary dance and performance as well as dance culture. The project was launched in 2019 as an initiative of Brain Store Project within Performance Situation Room programme line of Life Long Burning and has been carried out in partnership with Nomad Dance Academy Bulgaria. The first number of the annual magazine was co-financed by Culture Programme of Sofia Municipality and by National Culture Fund.
Magazine for Dance is the only Bulgarian print media entirely dedicated to dance. Its mission is to build bridges between different genres, dance communities and audiences, between the international and the Bulgarian scene, and to be a platform for discussing and presenting the processes, ideas, events and personalities that shape the face of the diverse dance world today.
The aim of the magazine is to be accessible to wide and diverse audiences and in 120 full-colour pages to offer a variety of content that highlights current processes and events and presents interesting perspectives on important issues and ideas in dance. It engages international and Bulgarian authors from different generations and uses different genres - reviews, interviews, essays, portraits, theoretical and research articles, etc.
The print run of Magazine for Dance #1 is 1,000 copies. It is distributed in specialized book stores, dance centres, venues and events.
CONTENT
The cover topic of Magazine for Dance #1 is Beauty in Dance. The art of dance has always been associated with a normative ideal of a beautiful human body. It is expected to represent the beauty of the movement, to be emotionally expressive and to have impactful imagery. With this widely recognized topic, the magazine raises the question of how beauty in dance is evaluated and how the conception of it has changed in the course of historical transformations of this art form. A feature article written by the dance researcher Mira Todorova discusses this subject matter. Next to it, in a special survey on the topic 12 Bulgarian and international contemporary dance artists and one philosopher give their answer to the question “What is beauty in dance, choreography and performance for you?”. Among the respondents are Galina Borissova (BG), Willy Prager (BG), Christian Bakalov (BG/BE), Mark Tompkins (USA/FR), deufert&plischke (GER), Doris Uhlich (AUT), Dimitris Papaioannou (GRE) a.o.
The content of the magazine is divided in several rubrics.
The rubric HIGHLIGHTS outlines some current processes and events. Here the German dance writer Arnd Wesemann presents some of the most interesting “masters of choreography” in the contemporary European dance scene. The editor-in-chief Angelina Georgieva conducts interviews with Mira Todorova, artistic director of DNK-Space for Contemporary Dance and Performance in Sofia, and with Zhivko Zhelyazkov, artistic director of the newly opened Derida Stage for dance and performance, who talk about their year’s programme and about the challenges in running spaces for independent contemporary performing arts nowadays. A special interview with the initiators of Magazine for Dance – performance artists and organizers Iva Sveshtarova, Willy Prager and Stephan Shtereff – discusses the needs for such publication and presents their work within the European network Life Long Burning. The rubric includes also articles on some important for Bulgarian dance accents – such as the revival of the state ballet company in the city of Stara Zagora, the situation of the independent contemporary dance in the city of Burgas as seen from the perspective of the artists etc.
The rubric PROFILES features dance artists who have drawn the attention in the current season or who will have guest-performances by the end of the year. In #1 these are Petya Koleva from Ballet Arabesque (Sofia); the Canada based Bulgarian choreographer Maria Kefirova who will be artist-in-residency at DNK this autumn and a special portrait article is dedicated to Steam Room collective which has become part of Creative Crossroads programme line of Life Long Burning project.
The rubric IN THE STUDIO aims to present new ways of working in the field of dance and choreography. It starts with the figure of the dramaturge which is not that popular in Bulgarian context. It is discussed in an interview with the renowned dramaturge in the field of dance and choreography Ivana Ivkovic from BAD Co, Croatia.
The rubric REVIEWS aims at fostering the critical writing about dance and publishes reviews on new productions in the sphere of contemporary dance and ballet by emerging and established dance critics.
The rubric THEORIES presents provoking ideas in the field of dance theory. Magazine for Dance # 1 publishes a translation of Marten Spangberg famous text “Postdance”.
The rubric PERSPECTIVES is dedicated on new developments in dance education in Europe and Bulgaria.
The rubric DANCE CULTURE presents some new styles who have been recently introduced in the Sofia urban dance scene and the people who work passionately to make them popular and to build various dance communities around them.
The rubric FESTIVALS gives a preview on forthcoming important international dance festivals in Bulgaria.
The rubric CALENDAR recommends to the audiences a selection of dance events in Bulgaria and Europe that take place by the end of 2019.
The main material in the rubric TRADITIONS is an article by the dance artist and historian Stefan Hristov on some not quite known facts around the beginnings of professional ballet in Bulgaria in the 1920’s and the role of international ballet artists and teachers in this process. The 100thanniversary of Bauhaus is also highlighted here with a photo of the VR-installation “Das totale Tanztheater”.
The aim of the last rubric in the magazine – ANTOLOGY –is to offer for the first time in Bulgarian emblematic texts about dance in 20thand 21stcentury. It starts with a translation of an excerpt of John Martin’s “Characteristics of Modern Dance”.
PUBLICITY
The Magazine had a premiere with a public presentation in the frame of Antistatic Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance. It drew a lot of attention in the media and within the wider dance community and public and the premiere was attended by ar. 100 people. The appearance of the first issue of this new publication was covered by more than 20 publications in ca. 10 local and national media, including interviews with the producers and with the editor in-chief for the Bulgarian National Television.
The public presentations of the Magazine at dance events and festivals gave a wider publicity and visibility. The magazine was presented at the following public events:
+ Presentation of the Magazine in the frame of the festival “Water” in Burgas, Bulgaria, 31st August, 2019
+ Presentation of the Magazine in the frame of One Dance Week, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 21st September, 2019
+ Presentation of the Magazine in the frame of Moving body festival, Varna, Bulgaria, 19th October, 2019
+ Presentation of the Magazine at State Opera, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, 5th December, 2019
+ Presentation of the Magazine in the frame of Sofia International Literary Festival, 12th December, 2019
Besides the print edition, a website of Magazine for Dance was launched under dancemag.eu. It presents the concept and the content of the current edition, gives free access to some of the articles and publishes news about events featured in the magazine and about its public presentations. The Magazine maintains contact with its audiences throughout the year also through its profiles on Facebook www.facebook.com/dancemageu/ and Instagram www.instagram.com/dancemageu.