The educational platform Without Distance 2023 will take place within the framework of the 16. Antistatic International Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance in Sofia, Bulgaria. Throughout the festival, three international workshops will be held, introducing the local scene to international choreographers and thus, expanding the knowledge and network оf the participants.

9–19 May 2023, Sofia

Educational platform Without Distance 2023 is part of the project Life Long Burning – Futures Lost and Found (LLB 3), and implemented with the financial support of the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, the Culture Programme of the Sofia Municipality, the National Culture Fund under the Programme Recovery and Development of Private Cultural Organizations, in partnership with the Goethe-Institut Bulgarien.

In his workshop, the choreographer Sergiu Matis will share some of the tools he has been using since 2013 in order to make dance. During the workshop, Matis will introduce the participants to the Visible Thinking Body (VTB) practice as a way of navigating the body, reflecting on the question What kind of thinking can be made visible in action and how does it become a dance?  On 10 & 11 May 2023.

Sergiu Matis is a Romanian choreographer born in 1981 in Cluj-Napoca. He received his dance education at the Liceul de Coregrafie in Cluj and the Mannheim Academy of Dance, and began his career at Tanztheater Nuremberg. He has been living and working in Berlin since 2008, creating his own works such as Keep It Real (2013), Explicit Content (2015), Neverendings (2017), Hopeless. (2019), UNREST (2021), DRANG (2022) and Blazing Worlds (2023). He has led workshops and educational activities at a range of institutions worldwide. In 2014 he completed his masters in Solo/Dance/Authorship at the Inter-University Centre for Dance (HZT) / Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). 

The space for critical reflection, part of Antistatic, aims to introduce participants to dance criticism and the basic concepts of contemporary dance theory (preparatory meetings will be held at the beginning of May), while reflecting on the performances from the festival programme and practice on creating publications for various media.

Dr. Angelina Georgieva graduated from Theatre Studies at NATFA Kr. Sarafov, where she is currently a senior assistant. She has specialised at the Free University of Berlin. She is co-founder of the Platform New Dramaturgies, co-editor of the online platform for contemporary performing arts dramaturgynew.eu, editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine and part of the editorial board of the theatre magazine Homo Ludens. She is author of numerous critical articles, co-organiser and contributor to number of initiatives in the field of contemporary performing arts.

Nothing Private is a workshop led by the Ukrainian choreographer Anton Ovchinnikov, focusing on the relationship between the public and the personal in dance. In this 3-day workshop, the participants will touch upon some relevant questions, such as the extent to which we are willing to share our personal experiences in public. They will be able to discover the depths of their experiences and share them with others through dance. On 13, 14 & 15 May 2023.

Anton Ovchinnikov is a multidisciplinary artist. He works as choreographer, performer, composer, lecturer, and organizer of the annual international dance festival Zelyonka Space UP in Kyiv. Ovchinnikov graduated from Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts, MA. Since 2008 he is the artistic director of the Black O!Range dance productions company. The company was recognized as one of the most distinctive and original dance projects in Ukraine. In 2015 Ovchinnikov cofounded All-Ukrainian Association Contemporary Dance Platform, striving to support young Ukrainian choreographers, integrate contemporary dance into the modern cultural life of Ukraine and establish a national center of contemporary dance. Since 2018 Anton Ovchinnikov is the member of the expert panel of Ukrainian Cultural Foundation.

The participants in Simon Meyer's workshop will surrender to the intelligence and wisdom in this body-mind alignment. They will touch upon three practices that the Austrian choreographer uses and will look for ways to the full creative and emotional expression, self-empowerment, with clear boundaries, flow, and consciousness. On  16 & 17 May 2023.

Simon Mayer, born 1984 in Austria, is a choreographer, musician, performer, lecturer, and curator. He studied at the Vienna State Opera Ballet School and at the P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels and was a member of the Vienna State Opera Ballet. As a musician and singer, Simon founded and played in various bands (Rising Halfmoon, C.O.P.), released audio performances of his stage productions, and continues to create his own music. As a dancer, choreographer and musician, he has been involved in productions by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker/Rosas (The Song), Wim Vandekeybus and Zita Swoon. His choreographic repertoire includes solos, duets, group pieces, operas, and socially engaged and immersive events. Simon curated the festival Spiel (Upper Austria) and was co-curator of festivals such as Tanzplan Ost (CH) and The Ecstatic Body Festival (Tanzquartier Vienna).