Honesty and Other Fiends – performance

Date and time: 29 January 2026, 19:00 (Sofia) · Toplocentrala, Sofia

Bulgarian

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Honesty and Other Fiends

show by Zornitsa Stoyanova (US/Bulgaria)

Bulgarian Premiere Jan. 29th, 2026

19:00h. Hall 2 at Toplocentrala

Concept and performance by Zornitsa Stoyanova.

Coaching and dramaturgy by Jeanine Durning(USA) and Lou Cope (UK)

"Pre-recorded music: Cuckoo and Other Birds by Drakir Nature & PONY by Ginuwine"

"Sliding scale tickets:"

€8 for students and colleagues.

€ 10 -12, pay what you can afford at the moment.

This performance is not externally funded; all proceeds go directly to the artist.

"Buy here:"

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The latest solo by international choreographer Zornitsa Stoyanova, "Honesty and Other Fiends", blends contemporary dance, stand-up, poetry, and visual effects. Premiered in the USA in 2024 and performed in the Netherlands, the show is now also in Bulgaria. Through humor and irony, "Honesty and Other Fiends" exposes the horror of humanity's obsession with greatness. In the age of "alternative facts", the performance raises the question of honesty as both a personal and societal value, turning the thinking body into an act of resistance.

Stoyanova fuses movement, personal stories, and absurdism in a raw and entertaining solo that confronts the death of "Truth" and unveils what remains. She dances, plays games with the audience, and reveals layers of her communist identity in a meditation on truth, power, and the female body.

"***The performance is in English."

"–BG–"

Най-новото соло на международния хореограф Зорница Стоянова "Honesty and Other Fiends" (Честност и други злодей) съчетава съвременен танц, стенд-ъп, поезия и визуални ефекти. С премиера през 2024 в САЩ, и представяния в Нидерландия, представлението е вече и в България. Чрез хумор и ирония, Honesty and Other Fiends, разкрива ужаса на човешката мания за величие. Спектакълът поставя въпроса за честността като лична и обществена ценност в епохата на „алтернативни факти“, превръщайки мислещото тяло в акт на съпротива.

Стоянова слива движение, лични истории и абсурдизъм в сурово и забавно соло, което се изправя срещу смъртта на «Истината» и разкрива това, което остава. Тя танцува, играе игри с публиката, разкривявайки слоеве от комунистическата си идентичност в медитация върху истината, властта, и женското тяло. Това е смело, ново политическо соло, смесващо съвременен танц и стендъп комедия.

"***Представлението е на Английски език."

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"Who is Zornitsa Stoyanova:"

Zornitsa Stoyanova (USA/BUL) is an interdisciplinary choreographer, who works with movement, text, sound, light, objects and live feed special effects. In 2006 she graduated from Bennington College, USA with a degree in Choreography and Sound design. After she moved to Philadelphia, USA, where she produced and presented performances and videos under the name BodyMeld. Since 2020 she lives primarily in Bulgaria and continues to run BodyMeld's projects in both her locales.

As a dancer she has worked for Zhana Pencheva, Willy Prager and Iva Sveshtarova, Sasha Waltz & Guests, Eiko & Koma, Boris Charmatz, Cie. Willy Dorner, and many others.

Her performance AndroMeda was commissioned and presented by the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2020), and the solo performance Explicit Female was awarded the Philadelphia Rocky Award for Contemporary Dance. Since living in Bulgaria, she has created Alternative Stage Festival, BodyMeld Performance Research Academy, and has presented her work in Antistatic Festival, Leap OFF Page Festival, and her own Alternative Stage Festival.

Stoyanova presents her stage works in traditional and non-traditional spaces, including St. Marks Church in New York City, Live Arts Festival in Philadelphia, DNK and National Gallery KVADRAT 500 in Sofia, Toplocentrala Gallery in Sofia, TAM in Veliko Tarnovo, Wanted Festival in Rennes, France. She has been invited to choreographic residencies in Poland, Romania, the USA and Bulgaria. Her latest genre-defying solo Honesty and Other Fiends (a.k.a. Brutal Honesty) premiered at the Cannonball International Festival ‘24, in Philadelphia, USA.

Her most influential teachers are Deborah Hay, Meg Stuart, Ishmael Houston Jones, and Danny Lepkoff. Her screendance films have been shown in festivals across the U.S. and in Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Bulgaria, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Bangladesh. In 2023, Zornitsa had her first solo month-long exhibit of her visual art and films at Toplotcentrala Gallery in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Zornitsa is also a supporter for sustainable dance community and is deeply invested in helping further conversation and collaboration. As BodyMeld she values the exchange of ideas and sharing of methodologies, rigorous research, and experimentation in the field of performance. She strives to create a community curious and excited about the blending of genres in performance, experimentalism and surviving, and thriving in hard political climates.

She teaches Improvisation Technique for Performance, Dance on Camera and Composition and has done so in Philadelphia, France, Hungay, her native Bulgaria and online. Zornitsa is also an editor for

and a mother of two. In 2025 she obtained her MA in Choreography in the Netherlands and opened BAZA – a space for choreographic research in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Original Facebook event