What is Garage?

Promote the integration of Bulgarian scene into an international context and vice versa: working through denationalized politics, aiming for a complex and fruitful cooperation and coexistence, and building active and transparent partnerships with national, European and international organizations and institutions.

Garage – Collective Platform for Independent Artists

Garage Collective is a non-governmental organization working in the field of choreography and dance, legally based in Bulgaria and operating on an international scale. It is guided by principles of collective authorship, shared responsibility, and artistic autonomy.

Founded in 2011 by Aleksandar Georgiev, Zhana Pencheva, Denitsa Dikova, Irena Tsvetanova, and Nikolina Todorova, the collective originally served as a financial and legal structure for supporting the founders’ individual and collaborative projects.In 2018, Garage shifted its mode of operation and became the official legal host for the artistic work of STEAM ROOMand the Imaginative Choreographic Center (ICC). These initiatives are developed and led by Aleksandar Georgiev, Zhana Pencheva, and Darío Barreto Damas, who currently form the active core team of Garage Collective.

Our Purpose/ contribution

Garage Collective supports:

  • The creation of new artistic projects and experimental practices.
  • The development of critical-reflective thinking within and around the field of dance.
  • The formation of new relations between artists, audiences, and artworks.

The expansion of the choreographic field through cross-disciplinary, collaborative, and context-specific work.

Objectives

  • Promote the development and visibility of contemporary choreography and dance, both locally and internationally.
  • Encourage the integration of the Bulgarian scene into broader international contexts, through denationalized and intersectional approaches.
  • Advocate for fair labor conditions, transparency, and artists’ rights in the dance sector.
  • Support both emerging and established freelance artists, offering resources, platforms, and mentorship.
  • Work toward audience development and the cultivation of engaged, informed spectatorship.

Selected Projects

  • 2020 – ongoing: ICC (Imaginative Choreographic Center) – an artist-led infrastructure for choreographic support and experimentation.
  • 2019: Six Love Songs – a choreographic concert by Zhana Pencheva and Tsvetan Momchilov. Nominated for the IKAR Awards 2020 of Bulgaria (category Contemporary Dance and Performance).
  • 2018 – ongoing: STEAM ROOM – international artistic team initiated by Georgiev, Pencheva & Damas. Their works dragON aka PONY and dragON forever are nominated for IKAR Awards 2020 & 2024 of Bulgaria. For more info click here (link to linktree) 
  • 2019–2020: HOT Room for Audiences – a program encouraging artists to articulate and communicate their practices to audiences.
  • 2018: MOONLIGHT – choreography by Aleksandar Georgiev and Darío Barreto Damas.
    Nominated for IKAR Awards 2019 of Bulgaria.
  • 2016: Celebrate it! – a choreographic work by Georgiev & Pencheva with the Social Center Burgas and people with different abilities..
  • 2015: NEON – burlesque performance, choreographic work created by Georgiev, Pencheva & Tsvetanova. Nominated for IKAR Awards 2016 of Bulgaria.

Earlier works include:
Always Limonada (2014), Concerto for Three Bodies (2012), If You Don’t Have a Masterpiece, Do Something Else(2012), and Episode IV – Leisure Time Thoughts (2011).

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