Bucharest, October 5 – November 9, 2014

Along over 2 years of existence of the ZonaD studio, we understood that our audience enjoys change and that they are always in search for and eager to discover and try out new things. This is also the challenge that we want to respond to through the projects we make happen and the events we programme together with our artists, collaborators and partners. “Reinvent” – the motto that governs the second edition of the E-Motional Festival, organised as part of the “E-Motional: rethinking dance”, comes from here. During a period longer than a month, we offer a diverse content to the Bucharest audience, in the shape of performances, lectures, debates, film screenings, workshops, over 15 events, which all have in common subjects that show an ongoing interest of the artists for themes connected to identity, memory of the body or memory of places, as well an interest to explore the performative potential of other spaces than the classic ones.

Through the proposed programme, we continue and expand a reflection endeavor in regards to contemporary artistic processes and contents, by organising workshops and debates on the history and theory of contemporary dance and performance art, held by artists, theoreticians and dance writers from Romania and abroad. These gatherings aim at informing the audience on a variety of artistic practices and aesthetics in the field of contemporary dance, trying to offer a context for the performances produced and/or presented in Romania, and to contribute to the development of critical perspectives and discourses in regards to these. We invite both the larger audience and dance professionals to the festival events, complemented by meetings and debates in a light, café format, in which we can learn together about new and old things and discuss in a relaxing manner.

The festival brings together over 25 artists and dance professionals, participants and event guests, from Romania, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Portugal, USA.

The E-Motional Festival is presented and organised by Gabriela Tudor Foundation.
Associated partners are National Dance Centre Bucharest and lorgean theatre.
Event in the frame of the “E-Motional: rethinking dance” European programme, organised with support from the Culture programme of the European Union. Cultural project funded in the frame of Bucharest 555 cultural programme of ARCUB – the Centre for Cultural Projects of Bucharest Municipality. Cultural project funded by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund.

Media partners: Șapte Seri, Zeppelin, Scena.ro,  Modernism, ArtAct magazine, ArtClue, România Pozitivă, Sub 25, The ONE, Feeder, Veioza Arte

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DETAILED PROGRAMME [by category of event]

PERFORMANCES

> Piece with limited responsibility
05.10/ 19:00/ CNDB

After an idea by: Cosmin Manolescu, Mihaela Dancs, Ștefania Ferchedău
Artistic direction & performance: Mihaela Dancs & Cosmin Manolescu
Production: ZonaD/ Gabriela Tudor Foundation
Producer: Ștefania Ferchedău
Funder: Administration of the National Cultural Fund
With support from: National Dance Centre Bucharest
Duration: approx. 50 min.

The performers are auditioning for an absent choreographer, trying to give their best to be chosen to perform in an ideal piece. A show in which two artists are permanently negotiating their common process, their identities and limits being questioned and swaped along the piece. An experiment about the roles we play and what we would like to be for real.
“Performers and watchers alike we are all released of the any moral coming out of this show, of any deep meaning generated by symbols or encoded gestures. Things are what they are, and their pure simplicity, their repetition, the honesty of the frontal unconditioned exposure of the limits of the bodies exposed to physical exhaustion – all of these create an authentic, unsimulated exchange of energies.” – review by Cristina Modreanu (Scena.ro magazine, April 2014)

***

> … After all
05.10/ 20:30/ CNDB

Artistic direction: Vava Ștefănescu
Performers: Carmen Coțofană
Stage design: Adrian Damian
Costumes: Paul Dunca
Video: Irina Stelea
Production: Colectiv A Association in the frame of Temps d‘Images Festival
Coproducers: Zamek Ujazdowski (Poland), National Dance Centre Bucharest
Thanks to: Romanian Cultural Institute Warsaw
Duration: 50 min.

“My/One’s body has the tendency to become an archive; a virtual archive.
What can you do with all these things which piled up? At some point, you wish you could shake them off, but you can’t throw them away. A change would be appreciated.
Take another body; open its valves; select the archived debris; put aside the recyclable items; notice these are very few; place them carefully in various parts of the new body; put dreams aside; only few will accomplish; throw them randomly in the new body; wait a little; if nothing happens, have some patience; in the meantime, choose the accessories; when everything is ready, add the accessories to the new body; should they be rejected, don’t worry, it’s a normal effect, the body will get accustomed to some and keep them, while others will become invisible; when everything is done, watch carefully; find an appropriate frame at an antique shop – it’s very important; frame the result and turn on the TV: you will be watching a very enjoyable cartoon.” – Vava Ştefănescu

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 > magic mystery domestic tour  [showcase]
09.10/ 15:00–21:00 / lorgean theatre

A special day is dedicated to an increasing cultural phenomenon in Bucharest, that of the apartment performance developed by curator & artist Jean-Lorin Sterian. He was invited to choose a series of 4 performative experiences for the 9th of October, programmed in 3 different locations. The audience is invited to travel between the different locations. The access shall be made in the limit of the space available by reservation at lorgeantheatre@gmail.com.  Entrance is free, but audience is invited to bring an object at its own choice.

1. a dog day afternoon
09.10/ 15:00 / lorgean theatre

Artistic direction: jean-lorin sterian
Performers: maria mora, jean-lorin sterian
Production: lorgean theatre
Funder: Administration of the National Cultural Fund
Video: dog luv, ciprian mureșan
Duration: approx. 75 min.

dogs are everywhere, almost everywhere that I go. sometimes I have to wonder about the dog in me (pulp, dogs are everywhere)

2. abandonment into probabilities… without knowing almost anything, a performative experience
09.10/ 17:00/ lorgean theatre 

Artistic direction & performance: iulia sima
Production: lorgean theatre
Duration: 25 min.

The experiences, composed of multiple physical and symbolic objects – momentary choices and interactions, of conscious and unconscious impulses, manifest themselves, regardless if we want it or not, in a “dynamic system” – using a concept created by the scientists from the field of complexity studies. I am interested in how the future is being built, and how it takes shape through the expression of the present, with its multiple challenges. Might our obsession for a structured life limit our experience? What happens when you don’t have any plan? What happens when you let yourself be driven by the energy of the people around you – by their breathes, emotions, silences – when you let yourself be carried by your own emotions, ideas and thoughts you have in THAT MOMENT. What kind of performative future can you create from such a momentary feeling? What happens when you don’t want to know what will happen?

3. private life [work in progress]
09.10/ 17:30/ lorgean theatre 

Artistic direction & performance: adriana gheorghe
Production: lorgean theatre
Duration: 35 min.

There is this defensive positioning and its main structure consists of what Adlerian psychotherapy calls private logic. Through therapy, the subject is encouraged to leave the private logic and reposition the self as part of a community, stressing the social dimension of his/her existence. But this “private logic” is in fact not at all sign of a poor existential attitude since it does not even exist. It is a nonsense trying to name a reality – that the subject knows that his/her existence is safe and “real” only when confirmed by the interaction with other subjects. Sometimes this interaction becomes too much. Between the fiction of the “private logic” and the reality of the “public logic”, there is this intermediate position that cannot be spoken of since it is essentially intermediate and dynamic, in constant state of dissolving/diffusing itself from inside to the outside. It is “the private life”.

4. trying to change a small element
09.10/ 20:00/ lorgean theatre

Artistic direction & performance: cătălina gubandru, cristian nanculescu, marin voica
Duration: 40 min.

Statement: The ongoing of a performance can be decided much during its happening rather than in advance, during the preparation.
The performance will start with a conversation between the three performers. They will search for themes. The themes can be performed or not.
The following ideas can be discussed or performed during the piece:

1. Two of the performers will act and the third will assure the clarity of the message towards the public.
2. A performance where everybody feels uncomfortable, including the performers.
3. Performers entering the room, counting the money from the tickets of the show and then leaving.
4. Performers re-enacting a performance.
5. Someone in the room will not harm you. Guess who?
6. The performers start with an idea and then they disagree.
7. 500 Ron in 1 Ron bills are counted between the performers.

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> The Moon [premiere]
14.10/ 19:30/ CNDB

Concept & artistic direction: Irinel Anghel
Performers: Irinel Anghel, Cristina Lilienfeld, Smaranda Găbudeanu
Music: Irinel Anghel
Live electronics: Rufi
Production: ZonaD/ Gabriela Tudor Foundation, George Apostu Cultural Centre Bacău, George Enescu National Museum, “Dumitru & Alice Rosetti Tescanu – George Enescu” Department, in the frame of the “E-Motional: rethinking dance”
Funders: Culture programme of the EU, the Administration of the National Cultural Fund
With support from: National Dance Centre Bucharest
Duration: 60 min.

“I have no idea what ‘The Moon’ is. It is dance, theatre, music, film, performance art. If I give it a single description I loose its chance to be what it is. The Moon is a mystery. The Moon is an illusion. The Moon is an experimental-surreal journey into a world governed by the female energy, which is the very force of creation. That is, a mystery. Designed as an ‘all-round’ show from the common space of all arts, ‘The MOON’ dance theatre-music performance has a filmic structure and an experiential end, which offers an individual sight to each spectator.” – Irinel Anghel

 ***

 > Nordic blondes  [work in progress/ residency sharing process]
18.10/ 18:00/ ZonaD

Choreography: Steinunn Ketilsdóttir
Performers: Steinunn Ketilsdóttir, Snædís Lilja Ingadóttir
Production: GALDUR Productions
Funders: residency in the frame of the “E-Motional: rethinking dance” programme organised by Gabriela Tudor Foundation, with support from the Culture programme of the EU, Tjarnarbíó Theater, Islanda
Duration: 30 min.

“Nordic blondes” is a project lead by Icelandic choreographer Steinunn Ketilsdóttir. The work is an evening length dance work for 4 female dancers premiering in Tjarnarbíó Theater in Reykjavík Iceland in the fall of 2015.

In Nordic blondes the group will research self-image and existence within both individuals and particular social groups. Exploring what it is people see and sense simply by observing other people and their actions, their impressions and how they perceive and experience others. Concurrently researching our own perceptions and experiences of ourselves; how we view ourselves in relation to a community and in an international context.

Within the context of self-image and existence we will specifically examine the stereotypical Nordic blonde; our own personal relationship to the cliché, how other women perceive the idea of the Nordic blonde and how the rest of the world experiences the idea of her.

The presentation is complemented by an introduction to the artistic practice of Steinunn Ketilsdóttir and to the contemporary dance scene in Iceland.

 ***

>  [FRAGILE] [avanpremiere]
01.11/ 18:00-22:00/ secret location
08-09.11/ 17:00-20:00 @ secret location
                   20:00-21:00 @ CNDB 

Artistic direction: Cosmin Manolescu
Performers: Cristian Nanculescu, Giselda Ranieri, Tanja Andreeva
Producer: Ștefania Ferchedău
Production: ZonaD/ Serial Paradise Company, Gabriela Tudor Foundation in the frame of  the “E-Motional: rethinking dance” programme
Partners: Fabrica de Movimentos (Porto), Association of Professional Dance Choreographers of Latvia
With support from: Fellowship from Bogliasco Foundation (USA/ Italy), National Dance Centre Bucharest, lorgean theatre
Funders: Culture programme of the EU, Administration of the National Cultural Fund, Bucharest 555 cultural program of ARCUB

A performative game inspired from our everyday lives,  Tihno Segal, Marina Abramović, Lewis Carroll and many more.

“My name is Tanja and I’m gonna perform Giselda’s fragility. / My name is Giselda. Once I fell in love with a woman and I touched my female identity. I used to hate the pink colour, then I discovered my male personality, now I can use whatever colour I want. / My name is Cristian and I’m afraid of Argo. / My name is Cosmin and I believe this performance is an act of love. / Please take care of me while being Cristian. / When you enter this space, first you have to die in order to rebirth in somebody else’s skin. / Yesterday I had the feeling of melting in space. And I wanted to take off the clothes. / Go beyond your limits. / At the beginning I felt some kind of danger, but then when I was taken inside I felt very safe. And free.  / This is our masterpiece.”  –artists’ diary excerpts

The performances on November 1^st, 18:00 to 22:00 and on November 8 & 9 between 17:00 to 20:00 shall take place in secret apartments around the city. To get access send a text message at +40 722 322 366 with your name, age, gender, profession, mentioning the day you choose. You will get a text answer with the exact hour and address of the location. The secret location performances on Nov 8 & 9 are followed by a stage performance from 20:00. The entrance to the secret location is free, but participants are invited to bring a fragile object with them.
* The performance may contain nudity and interaction with the audience.

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ZonaD LOUNGE

ZonaD launches in autumn 2014 a new series of events including conferences, film screenings, workshops and debates on the history and theory of contemporary dance and performance art, held by artists, theoreticians and dance writers from Romania and abroad. With a regular frequency, these gatherings aim at informing the audience on a variety of artistic practices and aesthetics in the field of contemporary dance, trying to offer a context for the performances produced and/or presented in Romania, and to contribute to the development of critical perspectives and discourses in regards to these. We invite both the larger audience and dance professionals to a series of gatherings in a light, café format, in which we can learn together about new and old things and discuss in a relaxing manner.

> Dance/Crossing/Experiences/Portugal [lecture]
07.10/ 19:00/ ZonaD

Lecturers: Joana von Mayer Trindade, Joclécio Azevedo, Rogério Nuno Costa, Alberto Magno

In this presentation 4 Portugal-based artists will speak of their experiences in making, producing and showing dance, or dance related works. This will be a moment to reflect upon diverse personal perspectives of both making and discussing dance. The format of the lecture will not, for the reasons above, conform to conventional cannons, but move towards a more broad conception of sharing personalized history and experience. Event organised in connection with the E-Motional Reflection Platform.

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> Contemporary dance – speed dating and lifelong affair
13.10 & 04.11/ 19:00/ ZonaD

Conceived and conducted by: Adriana Gheorghe 

The content proposed by Adriana Gheorghe in the frame of these meetings starts from a concrete example common to all participants – a text read, a performance seen together, recorded or live, and by delivering information from particular to general on the pattern of references. The debate is based on identifying and gradually defining the concepts and notions from the art theory or contemporary dance history that show up within the shared experience of the meeting participants.

Let us meet to try and understand the kind of meeting dance makers propose to their audience. We shall contextualize and stretch contemporary dance history to and from. Since the future is probably far more interesting to learn than even some of the big moments that (re)shaped contemporary dance and performance. (Remember any?) The same kind of wild stretching will apply to the above concept of unaccountable meeting between the artistic intention, the work and the audience. We will build a hermeneutical emergency kit – to be willingly ignored or not later. This is going to be a quest and will not lack, paradoxically, exercises from the compositional perspective (the line between where composition ends and hermeneutics begins being so challenging). Anyways, compositional or dramaturgical thinking and the terminology around it are tools that cannot ruin the flirtation of an even speed date affair.

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 > ZonaD FILM
12+17+23.10/ 19:00/ ZonaD

The festival includes a programme of dance films and video or media projects presentations created by Romanian and international artists in three dedicated events. We will present in Bucharest the best video productions of the last years, the selection including documentary and short length movies awarded in international competitions, such as dance on screen on tour. The programme shall also include a series of original productions created in the frame of the E-Motional programme.

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WORKSHOPS

> Workshop “Nordic Blondes”
13 & 15.10/ 19:00–21:00/ ZonaD

Icelandic choreographer Steinunn Ketilsdóttir will give a workshop in connection with the residency and thematic of her piece “Nordic blondes”, open to both amateurs and dance professionals. The workshop will include a performative session in which the artist will present live or in video format a short fragment from one of her piece, explaining its concept, the intentions and the work process as well as the result she obtained. Registrations are open at contact@e-motional.eu.

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> Workshop–Performance “Reinvent”
20-30.10/ 19:00–21:00/ ZonaD

A workshop held by choreographer Cosmin Manolescu will be open to audience members willing to initiate themselves in contemporary dance techniques and to contribute to the development of a performance. The content of the workshop will be built starting from the affective memory of the participants in connection with the city – secret places, personal stories in connection with certain streets and spaces, forgotten and rediscovered histories. The workshop complements the [Fragile] performance developed by Cosmin Manolescu, aiming at recovering and valorising unknown stories of the city and tranform these into performative material. The working period will conclude with a presentation open to the audience on the last day of the workshop. Registrations are open at contact@e-motional.eu.

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REFLECTION PLATFORM
05-12.10/ ZonaD

Participants:  RO – Cosmin Manolescu (choreographer), Vava Ștefănescu (cchoreographer), Jean-Lorin Sterian (artist & curator), Oana Stoica (theatre and dance critic), Ștefania Ferchedău (producer); PT – Alberto Magno (artist & festival director), Joana von Mayer Trindade (choreographer), Joclécio Azevedo (choreographer & curator), Rogério Nuno Costa (artist/ critic); LV – Olga Zitluhina (choreographer & festival director), Inta Balode (dance critic), Maija Pavlova (manager), Elīna Lutce (choreographer).

The festival programme includes a unique format of research and collaboration within the Romanian and European choreographic scene, aimed to contribute to their development, in the form of several creative and brainstorming residencies between the 3 partner countries of E-Motional – Romania, Latvia and Portugal. The first gathering of the platform was held in Porto in June 2014. The reflection platform continues for 7 days in Bucharest bringing again together a mixed group of dance professionals – artists, managers/ producers, curators and dance critics, 4 or 5 participants from each country, also involved in a variety of events presented in the festival. The platform includes daily encounters and discussions between participants, visits of art spaces, meetings with local artists, public lectures and performance attendance.

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SHORT PROGRAMME [chronological order]

05.10
| 19:00 | CNDB |Performance: Piece with limited responsibility, by/with Mihaela Dancs, Cosmin Manolescu
| 20:30| CNDB |Performance: … After all, by Vava Ștefănescu, with Carmen Coțofană

07.10
| 19:00 | ZonaD | Lecture: Dance/Crossing/Experiences/Portugal, with Joana von Mayer Trindade, Joclécio  Azevedo,  Rogério Nuno Costa, Alberto Magno (PT)

09.10
| 15:00–20:00 |Showcase: magic mystery domestic tour
| 15:00 | lorgean theatre | Performance: a dog day afternoon, by jean-lorin sterian
| 17:00| lorgean theatre | Performance:abandonment into probabilities… without knowing almost anything, a performative experience, by/with iulia sima
| 17:30| lorgean theatre | Work in progress: private life, by/with adriana gheorghe
| 20:00| lorgean theatre | Performance:trying to change a small element, by/with cătălina gubandru, cristian nanculescu, marin voica                                                                                                    

12.10
| 19:00 | ZonaD Film | Film screening

13.10
| 19:00 | ZonaD Lounge | Interactive: Contemporary dance – speed dating and lifelong affair, with Adriana Gheorghe

14.10
| 19:30 | CNDB | Performance / premiere: The Moon, by Irinel Anghel / with Irinel Anghel, Cristina Lilienfeld, Smaranda Găbudeanu

15-16.10 
| 19:00-21:00 | ZonaD | Workshop: Nordic Blondes, conducted by Steinunn Ketilsdóttir (IS)

17.10 
| 19:00 | ZonaD Film | Film screening

18.10
| 19:00 | ZonaD | Residency sharing process/ work in progress: Nordic Blondes, by Steinunn Ketilsdóttir, with Snædís Lilja Ingadóttir, Steinunn Ketilsdóttir (IS)

21-29.10
| 19:00-21:00 | ZonaD | Workshop: Reinvent, conducted by Cosmin Manolescu

23.10 
| 19:00 | ZonaD Film | Film screening

30.10
| 19:00-21:00 | ZonaD | Workshop presentation: Reinvent, conducted by Cosmin Manolescu

01.11
| 18:00-22:00 | secret location | Performance / avanpremiere: [Fragile], by Cosmin Manolescu, with Cristian  Nanculescu, Giselda Ranieri (IT), Tanja Andreeva (NO)

04.11 
| 19:00 | ZonaD Lounge | Interactive: Contemporary dance – speed dating and lifelong affair, with Adriana Gheorghe

08-09.11
| 17:00-20:00 | secret location |
| 20:00-20:00 | CNDB| Performance / avanpremiere: [Fragile], by Cosmin Manolescu, with Cristian Nanculescu, Giselda Ranieri (IT), Tanja Andreeva (NO)

LOCATIONS

• ZonaD –  Serial Paradise studio (3 Iulia Hașdeu St., btw Calea Griviței & Popa Tatu)
• CNDB – National Dance Centre, Stere Popescu Hal (80-82 Blvd. Mărășești)
• The addresses of the apartments used for the performances proposed by lorgean theatre, as well as the secret locations of the [Fragile] performance are disclosed only to participating audience.

ACCESS

Entrance to the events held al ZonaD studio is made based on a 10 lei suggested donation. The funds raised from donations are used to cover the maintenance costs of the space. Details on the events and workshops at
contact@e-motional.eu & http://zonadstudio.wordpress.com or www.e-motional.eu.
The cost of the tickets to the performances presented at CNDB is 25 lei or 15 lei. Reservations at> rezervări@cndb.ro or online at www.cndb.ro.

TEAM

Cosmin Manolescu, executive director, Gabriela Tudor Foundation
Ștefania Ferchedău, festival producer
Daniela Pălimariu, logistics & communication assistant
Laura Orlescu, production assistant

Special thanks to the E-Motional volunteers.

The E-Motional Festival is presented and organised by Gabriela Tudor Foundation.
Associated partners are National Dance Centre Bucharest and lorgean theatre.

Event in the frame of the “E-Motional: rethinking dance” European programme, organised with support from the Culture programme of the European Union. Cultural project funded in the frame of Bucharest 555 cultural programme of ARCUB – the Centre for Cultural Projects of Bucharest Municipality. Cultural project funded by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund.

E-Motional: rethinking dance is a programme created by Ștefania Ferchedau and Cosmin Manolescu and lead by Gabriela Tudor Foundation (Bucharest), as project leader, in collaboration with the Association of Professional Dance Choreographers of Latvia (Riga), Fabrica de Movimentos (Porto) and “George Apostu” Cultural Centre (Bacau), and in association with Centre de Création Chorégraphique Luxembourgeois – TROIS C-L (Luxembourg) and “George Enescu” National Museum (Bucharest).