Residency Steam Room at Workshop Foundation

In the frame of the Creative Crossroad activity, Steam Room was selected by brain store project to receive a 2 years structural support by the LLB network.

This support includes structural and co-production support by brain store project, a residency at STUK Leuven, a residency at Workshop Foundation and a residency during CoFestival Ljubljana, hosted by NDA Slovenia.
The final premiere of the latest work "Drag On" is in March 2020 in Sofia.

STEAM ROOM is an artistic and cultural non-formal group within the field of choreography, dance and performance, initiated by Aleksandar Georgiev (SWE/MK/BG), Zhana Pencheva (BG) and Darío Barreto Damas (SWE/SP), three choreographers/dancers actively operating in several European localities.

STEAM ROOM is formed out of the wish to facilitate conditions and environments that contribute to the development of the work in the field of choreography, dance and performance in different localities, with an intrinsic international vision. STEAM ROOM aims to open spaces for reflection and a wider field knowledge through artistic proposals and cultural initiatives.

dragON is a coauthored choreographic TRILOGY project initiated and lead by Aleksandar Georgiev, Zhana Pencheva and Darío Barreto Damas aka STEAM ROOM. The project deals with the protest and celebration body in dragging scenes, exploring their relation within dance and choreography. 

dragON is structured in three choreographic pieces that deals with dance, sound and site specific, respectively: dragON aka PONY// dragON, one night only// dragON who spits fire.

Until now, the team has focused in the creation and production of the first work of the trilogy, dragON aka PONY throughout:

 

ARTISTIC RESIDENCIES:

 3^rd– 17^thFebruary 2019 
Artistic residency at Zagreb Dance Center, Zagreb

10^th– 17^thMarch 2019 
Artistic residency at BAZAAR festival, Prague 

16^thSeptember – 13^thOctober 
Artistic and production residency at Youth Cultural Center Burgas, Burgas, organised by STEAM ROOM. 

4^th– 30^thNovember 2019
Artistic residency at JSKD, Ljubljana, organised by Nomad Dance Academy Slovenija:

Residency during CoFestival 2019 in Ljubljana

 

It was a pleasure to host Garage collective as our Creative Crossroad exchange. Both of the parties were looking forward for this experience and in collaboration we plan step by step the whole residency. As NDA SI is a small organization with unstable finances, the finances were ensured and fixed rather late in the year. For this reason, we encouraged the Garage collective to apply for a residency apartment. Next to that, NDA SI framed their staying and presentation in November when most of our yearly activities are planned in frame of CoFestival, which has 4-year programme money from the Ministry (in collaboration with Kino Šiška) and so, at least basic finances are guaranteed. As this is not sufficient for longer staying, NDA SI applied for additional grant at the Ministry to enabled valuable conditions for the Collective that granted them with more sufficient financial support. The residency with following the work of the collective was a great pleasure, seeing the members growth and development, spending some additional time with them and engaged them in the local artistic circles. 

Garage review on their residency: “During the artistic residency period for dragON aka PONY we had access to studio work on daily basis, very valuable feedback sessions with members from the organisation and full access to the cultural scene of Ljubljana, (with free entrances to shows and events, exclusively arranged for us). We call it full access because it seems that NDA Slovenia has great contacts and overview of the scene in Ljubljana, so we had the possibility to follow someone’s work or attend some cultural activities every single night.

NDA Slovenia organised our participation at ŽIVA festival where we presented our work dragON aka PONY in front of wider audience which was great possibility for us to get feedback and meet with audiences from the wider context. Such procedures of exposing the work in its processes make a huge impact on its contextual awareness and its articulation, both conceptually and practically, for further realisation.

As hosts NDA Slovenia were extremely efficient, before, during and after the residency:

•   Before the beginning of our residency, they came with amazing proposals of expanding the financial and facility-based possibilities for the residency period.

•   As the studio provided by JSKD was too small for our work, NDA Slovenia reacted instantly for finding space that fit our needs. Even though this arrangement can be very difficult in countries that have very little spaces for dance, NDA Slovenia solved the issue flawlessly. The efficiency of solving situations as such was on very high level which created for us amazing circumstances to focus on the work and not the practicalities of it.

•   NDA Slovenia has been following our work during the residency and organized two feedback session, while Dejan Srhoj spend additional two days as outside eye to guide and suggest additional material implementations. After the residency, the members stayed in touch with us. Still curious, still generous, still interested, they show impeccable work ethics, building trust and friendship within a professional context.”

Garage collective (Alexandar, Dario, Zhana)

The process of the artistic work during the residency:

“Our focus during the residency was to strengthen the physical skeleton of the piece, already built in September 2019. We worked mainly in two layers:

1.  How physically, (dance-wise), can we relate to the interests and questions we want to trigger with this work?

2.  What are the reformative subtleties that need to be stressed in order to get closer to the interests and questions we want to trigger with this work?

To do so, it was an urgent need to present the work in front of smaller and larger audience that created the possibility to reflect over its means when it is exposed. The context of ŽIVA festival was extremely useful.

The work left to-be-done once we finished the residency was to conclude the final touches of music, costumes and stage.

We are extremely thankful to NDA Slovenia for making this process one of the greatest working periods in our production history.” Further, Steam Room presented "Moonlight" at Kino Siska on 25 November during the residency.

 

PREMIERE DATES:

13th October 2019
Era of Aquarius Festival, Burgas. 

19th October 2019
Moving Body Festival, Varna. 

4th March 2020
DNK space for contemporary dance and performance, Sofia. 

FURTHER PERFORMING DATES: 

14th November 2019
ŽIVA Festival, Ljubljana. 

28th December 2019
Festival de Danza Canarios Dentro y Fuera, Tenerife 

13th March 2020
Festival Soplo de Letras, Tenerife. 

10th May 2020 - postponed
Antistatic Festival, Sofia. 

 

Information about dragON aka PONY:
dragON aka PONY is a choreographic work that presents a playground charged with multiple dance references from the past and present arriving from Western and Eastern Europe, creating a space of constant transition, unfolding intimacy and exposing humble co-existence. Within a frame of contemporary POP, the work revives geometrical choreography through the prism of classicism and the usage of folklore as a ritualistic form. dragON aka PONY has a little bit of Isadora and a lot of MTV or VH1. 

 

dragON aka PONY synopsis: 

(this is for all my people)

is choreography claiming transition
not at all interested in your perversion
in what it becomes and what it creates, brings, makes, clears and shades
it brings the water for making you wet
it leaves the tea for another day so we can all deserve what we get 

it is a dance at work
is working as a dance twerk
it is dance that works
it works for me for them and for you so, it is a dance that tends to satisfy your BO 

Cause everything burns, everyone screams, burning their lies, burning my dreams
All that you care, all that you swear, burning your eyes, while braiding my hair 

(dragon fire) 

and if it is the folklore that is people’s dance contained in memory of traditional chance
let it be, let it be, and let me create my memory let me create my memory of dance
and do not ask me to persuade you while you hold your fence
and I repeat again, DO NOT ask me to persuade any of the experience YOU chose to relate to 

DO NOT 

Cause everything burns, everyone screams, burning their lies, burning my dreams
All that you care, all that you swear, burning your eyes, while braiding my hair 

however, you will tend to touch everything that moves, grows, slides and falls
this still proposes to disidentify your goals
still will be dance, still will be a fall that will (definitely) satisfy your holes 

and this is for all my hoes, honeys...let it burn for all 

(dragon fire) (dragon fire) (dragon fire) (dragon fire) (dragon fire) (dragon fire) 

if you are still wondering if you should come just think twice
cause if I don’t see you there

(from tomorrow) 

do not look at me in the eyes 

Cause everything burns, everyone screams, burning their lies, burning my dreams
All that you care, all that you swear, burning your eyes, while braiding my hair 

 

Credits: 

Cause collective authorship is not what you think of, but rather what you dream of. Cause Aleksandar Georgiev, Zhana Pencheva and Darío Barreto Damas, (aka STEAM ROOM), choreograph, dance and perform.
Cause we do not play music, we invited Tsvetan Momchilov to make it.
Cause we do not perform naked, Ralitza Toneva created the costumes and the stage, didn’t fake it.
Cause we do not use whoever for our media visuals, we invited Gjorgji Despodov to take care of it. 

Cause we do not produce we co-produce with Garage Collective, Brain Store Project, Life Long Burning and Nomad Dance Academy Slovenija.
Cause we do not play fair, we care.
Cause we are not paid fair, we share.
Cause we are so proper, here it comes another needed sentence:

This project is realised with the financial support of Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria.

Cause all our supporters took a great care: Creative Crossroads in the framework of the Life Long Burning project supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria, National Cultural Fund of Bulgaria, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, City of Ljubljana - Department of Culture, Konstnärsnämnden (International Exchange Grant), I-portunus (Funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union), Zagrebachki Plesni Centar, BAZAAR festival, Youth Cultural Center Burgas, Hamalogika, Era of Aquarius Festival, Performance Room, Moving Body Festival, DNK - space for contemporary dance and performance, JSKD - Republic of Slovenia Public Fund for Cultural Activities, VIZ!, Jasmin.bg, Kafene.bg, LoveTheater.bg.

Cause we are sweet and sour, cause we deserve it: dragON aka PONY is nominated to IKAR prize 2020 of the Union of Artist in Bulgaria in the category “Contemporary Dance and Performance”.

In 2020, STEAM ROOM will be working on the creation of the second part of the trilogy “dragOn, one night only”– a choreographed music album. The team is invited to develop the work in the frame of artistic residencies at Tenerife LAV, (Tenerife), STUCK, (Leuven), Workshop Foundation, (Budapest), Kino Kultura, (Skopje); and several residencies organised by STEAM ROOM in Burgas and Sofia (Bulgaria) and Giessen (Germany).

dragON, one night only working dates:

13^thMarch – 5^thApril 
Artistic residency in several cultural spaces in Tenerife organized by Tenerife LAV.

Postponed:
6th - 19th April 2020  
Artistic residency at STUCK, Leuven. 

11th - 31st July 2020 
Artistic residency at Workshop Foundation, Budapest. 

Dates to be confirmed regarding the residencies in Skopje, Burgas, Sofia and Giessen.

In 2021, STEAM ROOM will be working on the third part of the trilogy, dragON, who spits fire. For the realisation of this work, the team is in communication with the venues of the localities they are involved with, (Skopje, Sofia, Burgas, Stockholm, Tenerife and Giessen), and the partners that have already supported dragON project.

The photos of this page are all from dragON aka PONY, taken by Bogdan Sarachev and Anka Simoncic at Era of Aquarius Festival and ŽIVA Festival, respectively. 

 

Websites:

steamroom.site
facebook.com/steamroombg
instagram.com/steamroombg
aleksandargeorgiev.com
zhanapencheva.com
instagram.com/dbardam

 

View their experience report in the upper right column.