writing

We enter DNK: Space for contemporary dance and performance, and right at the door, we are greeted by the three co-creators and performers Aleksandar Georgiev, Zhana Pencheva and Darío Barreto Damas. Smiling and warming up, the dancers thank us for attending the Sofia premiere of their new piece, “dragON aka PONY.”

The dancers are strikingly dressed in costumes by Ralitza Toneva; an arresting and enigmatic scramble of blue, black, lace, mesh, neon, and off-the-shoulder fringe in three unique cuts. This first glance pleasantly jogs my memory of another colorful and quirky contemporary production at the Joyce Theatre’s 2018 NY Quadrille festival—Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener’s “Switch.” The neon bedazzled costumes, the soft greeting of the audience, the intimate seating encircling three sides of a thrust stage, the dancers casually warming up their joints followed by choreography that is both formal and rebellious. It is reassuring to see joyous, innovative work in the Bulgarian context and to recognize it as an astral twin of a performance from the other side of the Atlantic.

Read the full review at Fjord Review.