Alexandar Georgiev – Ace has been part of some formal and many non formal educational programs such as NOMAD (2009), DanceWeb (2010/2017), 50 Days Fly Low and Passing Through (2010), SPAZIO (2012/2013) and Critical Practice made in YU program (3rd generation) (2016/2017). He graduated from the Bachelor program in Dance Theatre at New Bulgarian University in Sofia/Bulgaria in 2008 and Master program in Choreography at DOCH in Stockholm/Sweden in 2014.
Previously he has been exploring nomadic approaches in terms of working base, constantly replacing himself, but it is in the last 4 years when, while working, he has defined four places he considers home/locality, (Stockholm, Sofia, Skopje and Tenerife). On one side this is quite a different approach than the nationalistic politics of production models in the cultural sphere of dance and choreography. And on the other side, it is rather the politics of parallel/holographic existing instead of constant self-shifting. This is also translated into his artistic interest, from long years of exploring principles of collective authorship, at the moment he is rather focusing on co-existing practices.
Lately, through the choreographic research CO-series, a research that works with different artistic practices and methods, exploring the ideas of co-existence, hyper and holography through the prism of dance and choreography, he has focussed on exploring and activating a concept line of anal politics and practice connected to it, called “reading from behind”. Recently he premiered the first choreographic proposal “THE POWER OF S” following the same concept line and he is interested in expanding further and articulating this choreographic and conceptual interest of mine.
Since 2008, he has been actively working in the field of dance and choreography through many different approaches. Apart from his authored artistic work, he is also part of the artistic team STEAM ROOM which deals with collective authorship format of operating and he is part of the project institution ICC (imaginative Choreographic Center), reimagining the institutions and processes of institutionalisation, and denationalising the artistic practices and processes, initiated in 2020 by him, Dario Barreto Damas and Zhana Pencheva.
His artistic and cultural work is artistically connected with building alliances and being part of a couple of formal and non formal networks in the places/spaces he operates. He has established strong work relation in the different contexts through being part of couple of legal bodies and relating to the people involved with them, such as: Garage Collective/Bulgaria, Lokomotiva – centre for new initiatives in arts and culture/North Macedonia, InterimKultur/Sweden, Autonomo/Spain (Tenerife).
More: aleksandargeorgiev.com
Darío Barreto Damas is a Canarian freelance dancer working in the field of dance and choreography. Darío is based in Sofia, Skopje, Stockholm and Tenerife.
His education takes place at Teatro Victoria, Tenerife; Institut del Teatre, Barcelona and DOCH, Stockholm. Darío has worked with Cullberg as a guest dancer and ccap / c.off, (lead by Cristina Caprioli), Aleksandar Georgiev and Ofelia Jarl Ortega among others.
Throughout his work, Darío focuses on the emancipation of dance and in spaces of de-contextualization/dis-identification.
Darío is co-creator, with Aleksandar Georgiev and Zhana Pencheva, of the artistic team STEAM ROOM and the project-institution Imaginative Choreographic Center (ICC). Darío is member of the NGOs Lokomotiva (North Macedonia), Interimkultur (Sweden), Garage Collective (Bulgaria), PiedeBase (Canarias) and TenerifeLAV (Tenerife).
More: dbardam.com
Zhana Pencheva is a dancer and choreographer from Bulgaria. After her education in NBU, Sofia, she continued through a series of workshops in dance practises and programs such as Nomad dance academy and DanceWeb. From 2010 she is actively working in the field, collaborating in diverse artistic projects as dancer and choreographer, but also starting teaching in educational structures.
In 2018, together with Alexandar Georgiev and Darío Barreto Damas, they created the international artistic team STEAM ROOM, which is moving between Burgas, Sofia, Tenerife, Skopje and Stockholm and realise and produce their artistic works in different European contexts.
From 2020 they initiated the long-term international project ICC / Imaginative Choreographic Center. In addition to her creative work as part of the ICC, she is involved in organising programs and events that aim to stimulate and nurture the stage of contemporary dance, choreography and performance in diverse contexts and countries.
In recent years, she has been busy with collective choreographic stage works, with her own artistic works and dancing for other choreographers. Zhana is currently busy as performer in several stage works and her last choreographic concert “Dance baby, dance” is on tour in 2022-2023.
More: zhanapencheva.com
Gjorgji Despodov is an artist and multidisciplinary designer based between Bulgaria and Macedonia. He mainly works in the visual arts field creating concepts through a wide range of disciplines such as graphic design, art direction, 3dvisuals and illustration. He graduated with a BA in Advertising Design in the National Academy of Arts in Sofia in 2019 and he currently works as a freelance visual designer. Gjorgji has a visual vocabulary influenced by pop art, 80’s cinematography and memphis design.
His work exists between physical and digital environments. He explores, through the use of different techniques (videos, installations, 3dvisuals and photographs), his relation to the images that nourished him from an early age. His work is mostly inspired from the bizarre late 80’s films, television and advertisements, strengthened with digital techniques and color composing.
Viktoria Kostova is based in Sofia, Bulgaria and works as a freelance content creator and cultural practitioner. She is very interested in the topics of cultural entrepreneurship, educational initiatives in culture, sustainability in the cultural sector and alternative ways of funding. She joins the team of ICC with many ideas to develop, mainly about intersectionality, equity and equality in the cultural affairs.
She is looking forward to working with ICC and contributing to the co-creation of experimenting content in the cultural field with strong alternative vision.She has graduated her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and is currently finishing her Master’s degree in Management of Cultural Institutions and Creative Industries. She is the senior coordinator of Elizabeth Kostova Foundation and has worked for different independent cultural and educational organizations like DA Lab Foundation, ONE Foundation for Culture and Arts, Gutenberg 3.0 Foundation, Radar Sofia Association, Open Arts Foundation, Theatre of Responsibility, Panic Button Theatre, new visions, etc. She has taken part in numerous additional trainings in the field of culture and project management such as “Academy for Cultural Management” by Goethe Institute and “International School of Project Management” in Italy.
Hector is a creative from Tenerife interested in graphic design and psychology. He’s graduated from BSc Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of Manchester and works on the intersection between psychology and media. For ICC, he’s worked on the web design and graphics along with Gjorgji Despodov.
His main interest at the moment is on the psychology of communication and the way in which we convey messages. At the moment, he’s exploring the relationship between personality and typography.
More: hectormangas.com
Eliza Kancheva is a freelance dance artist based in Bulgaria.
Her professional experience in the field of dance and choreography starts by being a part of Dune Dance Company (Bulgaria) and expands with taking part in different artistic projects and dance programs in Bulgaria, Germany, Portugal, Moldova and Croatia.
Her practice as a dancer is mainly focused on channelling the inner desire, curiosity and drive to move and the exploration of movement as a vital and universal necessity. She is deepening her research by giving classes, sharing her practice with people by guiding them into connecting to the flow and pleasure of dance. Aside from her movement exploration, she is passionate to continue broadening her practice, visions and experiences in the context of art, education, dance and choreography.
More: instagram.com/elizza.ka