PSR Magazine for Dance Vol. 4/2022
The 4th number of the annual Dance Magazine issued by Brain Store Project and Nomad Dance Academy Bulgaria will premiere on 28th April at Toplocentrala Centre for Contemporary Arts in Sofia. The feature topic of the edition is “Dance and Music: new relations”. It presents a new generation of Bulgarian electronic music artists collaborating with contemporary choreographers. American music theoretician Peter Price and choreographer Megan Bridge discuss the influential ideas of John Cage on dance and music and the relevance of music minimalism on postmodern and contemporary dance. Composer Alain Franco gives his perspective on music dramaturgy within dance performance. Karen Joosten, dance programmer of STUK – House for dance, image and sound in Leuven, speaks in an interview about the special profile this institution has. In its other sections the issue includes an interview with internationally acclaimed Bulgaria-born choreographer Dimo Milev, gives insight into the creative process of In C by Sascha Waltz & Guests on Terry Riley composition on the occasion of its Sofia premiere with Bulgarian dancers and offers many more topics on 120 pages dedicated to dance.
CONCEPT
Dance Magazine is an annual edition in Bulgarian language about ballet, contemporary dance and dance culture. It was initiated in 2019 by Brain Store Project Foundation in the frame of Performance Situation Room programme line of Life Long Burning European network and since then it has been published in partnership with Nomad Dance Academy Bulgaria. The fourth number of the magazine for 2022 was co-financed by the National Culture Fund, Bulgaria.
Dance Magazine is the only Bulgarian print media entirely dedicated to dance. Its mission is to build bridges between different dance genres, communities and audiences, between the international and the Bulgarian scene, and to be a platform for discussing processes and ideas that shape the diverse dance world today.
The aim of the magazine is to be accessible to wide audiences and in 120 full-colour pages to offer a variety of content that highlights current events, presents outstanding artistic personalities and interesting perspectives on questions that move the dance scene. It commissions texts to international and Bulgarian authors from different generations featuring different genres - reviews, interviews, essays, portraits, theoretical and research articles, etc.
The print run of Dance Magazine #4 is 500 copies. It is distributed in specialized book stores, dance centres, venues, events and educational institutions.
CONTENT
The feature topic of Dance Magazine #4 is “Dance and Music: New Relations”. We use as a starting point the fact that a new generation of composers associated with electronic music and the club scene has entered contemporary dance in Bulgaria, creating lasting collaborations with choreographers. Angel Simitchiev, himself a composer, researcher and producer of electronic music, conducted in-depth interviews with four of them – Tsvetan Momchilov, Emilian Gatsov-Elbi, Stanislav Genadiev-Genda and Ivan Shopov. A special photo session was made with them. We look at the processes today also in a broader historical and cultural perspective. One of the leading Bulgarian composers, Assen Avramov, talks about the experimental spirit of the 1980s and some of the first attempts at interaction between electronic music and dance in Bulgarian context. American music theorist Peter Price and choreographer Megan Bridge write about the revolutionary significance for dance of John Cage, musical minimalism and club music. Belgian composer Alain Franco, a collaborator with some of the biggest names in European contemporary dance, discusses the notion of musical dramaturgy through the practice of editing and the complex idea of history it contains. We also give the floor to the choreographers – leading Bulgarian dance artists Mila Iskrenova and Galina Borisova, for whose work music is very important, but in a very different way, write about their approach to it. Karen Joosten, dance programmer of STUK, Leuven, explains in an interview the concept behind the interdisciplinary institution she represents that brings under one roof dance, music and visual arts.
The complex and changing interrelations between dance and music are tackled also in some of the other thematic sections in the number. In "Dance Culture" we follow with a photo-story how the new music of the 1980s and Western influences changed the bodily expression in socialist Bulgaria and hybrid dances such as "new wave choro" for example emerged at rock concerts around Bulgarian cities.
In “Anthology” section we publish for the first time in Bulgarian some of the influential essays by Jon Cage on dance and music.
The magazine opens with the section HIHGLIGTS dedicated to special events and current processes in the dance field. Here we pay attention to the opening of Toplocentrala – Centre for Contemporary Arts in Sofia and question its strategy towards presenting and producing dance. We interview Vesela Kondakova and Yuriy Valkovsky, deputy-ministers of culture in the back then new government. The number also presents the production “May B” by French choreographer Maguy Marin on the occasion of its guest-tour to Sofia as well as the work of Bulgarian choreographer Dimo Milev who has successful international career in contemporary dance and ballet.
The section PROFILES features dance artists who have drawn the attention in the current season. Here we present the new artistic director of the ballet company within Sofia National Opera and Ballet – Alexander Alexandrov, as well as German dance and visual artist Julian Weber in relation to his participation at Antistatic Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance in Sofia.
The rubric IN THE STUDIO is dedicated to reflecting on the creative process in dance and choreography. Here we publish a text by Sasha Waltz about her choreographic project “In C”. The occasion is its premiere at Toplocentrala Centre in Sofia with Bulgarian dancers. Her text is followed by reflection on the working process of some of the participants in the Sofia version of the piece.
The section REVIEWS aims at fostering critical writing about dance and publishes reviews on new productions in contemporary dance and ballet in Bulgaria and abroad by emerging and established dance critics.
The section THEORIES presents topical ideas and concepts in dance theory. Here we commissioned Bulgarian philosopher and performing arts practitioner Snejanka Mihaylova to write a text on voice in regard to its socio-political dimension and aesthetic value in dance practices.
The section PERSPECTIVES offers an article on how partnership in European projects strengthens Bulgarian organizations and producers in the field of dance and its impact on the local scene.
The rubric CALENDER recommends a selection of dance events in Bulgaria and Europe that take place by the end of 2022.
In the rubric TRADITIONS an article talks about Bulgarian ballet choreographers who denied to follow the official regulations in ballet in socialist Bulgaria before 1989.
The issue came out in April 2022 and had a public premiere at Toplocentrala Centre in Sofia.
Its appearance was announced in several local and national media as well as with interviews with the editor in-chief for the Bulgarian National Television and the Bulgarian National Radio.
The website of Dance Magazine - dancemag.eu - was updated. It presents the concept and the content of the current issue, 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 https://www.instagram.com/dancemageu
Pictures from the Premiere © Teodora Simova
GALLERY
