BodyMeld – new choreographies Contemporary dance, choreography and dance workshops by Zornitsa Stoyanova
BodyMeld – new choreographies
Contemporary dance, choreography and dance workshops by Zornitsa Stoyanova

TRILATERAL DANCE ARTIST EXCHANGE

Budapest |  Sofia | Philadelphia

BodyMeld – Sofia, Workshop Foundation – Budapest, and Philadelphia Dance Projects – Philadelphia announce the pilot program of the Trilateral Dance Artist Exchange.

The Trilateral Dance Artist Exchange is an artist-led cultural exchange residency that takes place in Budapest, Hungary; Philadelphia, USA and Sofia, Bulgaria.  One artist from each city will be invited through an open call to participate in a 7-10 day residency scheduled at three different times over the span of one year. 

All three artists will be in the same city at the same time. The content of the residency will be designed in collaboration with the selected artists and the local presenters.  There is freedom in the residencies, so it is understood that artists need not produce new work, but can share their ideas through informal and formal discussions, teaching, showings, and social interaction. They can tailor the residency to the environments of each city.  It is anticipated that the residency artists will stay in communication throughout the year.

The Trilateral Cultural Exchange is a pilot project coming from the Bilateral Budapest/Philadelphia exchange. 


The program is supported by the Trust for Mutual Understanding.

ANNOUNCING SELECTED TRILATERAL ARTISTS 23/24

Silvia Cherneva

Sofia

Tamara Zsófia Vadas

Budapest

Christina Gesualdi

Philadelphia

Trilatelar dance artist cultural exchange kicks off in Budapest, Hungary in November 2023.

Christina Gesualdi/Philadelphia and Silvia Cherneva/Sofia will join Tamara Zsòfia Vadas in her home city of Budapest for a 10-day residency of interaction with each other and the arts community as well as exploration of Budapest culture, sites, and history. There will be practice-sharing workshops and informal social events. They will attend the festival dunaPart.

Read the artists’ bios.

Silvia Cherneva tries to maintain an air of mystery by combining different forms and genres so that none of them reveal what her real skills are. She graduated with a BA in Architecture from the University of Cambridge in 2016 and an MA in Contemporary Dance from the London Contemporary Dance School in 2020. In London, she created several short dance films and worked extensively with dance practitioner and scholar Angela Andrew on performing, researching, and teaching in the genres of lindy hop and vernacular jazz dance.

Since 2020 Silvia has been living back in Bulgaria and enjoying space for creative exploration with wonderful collaborators. She has been a co-organizer, teacher, and artist at the award-winning Focus: Screendance program, has co-organized and performed as part of PIC – Platform for Improvisation and Composition, has been co-running the cultural program at Hod Movement Laboratory, has been working on a full-length documentary film and has also premiered her choreographic stage debut Critical Mass, co-produced by Toplocentrala Center for Contemporary Arts.

Tamara Zsófia Vadas, Budapest-based dance maker, performer, and choreographer studied choreography and pedagogy at the Budapest Contemporary Dance School and is a graduate of the Budapest Contemporary Dance Academy. Tamara has worked with choreographers such as Márta Ladjánszki, Gyula Berger, Adrienn Hód/Hodworks, and was a member of The Symptoms for three years. With the collective Csaba Molnár and Viktória Dányi she co-created the piece SKIN ME (2013) which was awarded the Rudolf Lábán Prize in 2014 and was shortlisted within the 20 Priority Companies of the 2014 Aerowaves Spring Forward Festival. She has participated at the iDANS Festival in Istanbul and Impulstanz Festival in Vienna among other venues and festivals. The recipient of numerous awards including the Viktor Fülöp state grant from the Ministry of Human Resources in Hungary for 2017. As dance educator she teaches creative movement for children, and improvisation and composition classes for teens and adults. She has been a guest teacher at the physical theatre director faculty of the Academy of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest.

Christina Gesualdi is a Philadelphia-based dancer, choreographer, improviser, and yoga teacher. She has danced in projects of Annie Wilson, Zornitsa Stoyanova, Megan Bridge, Curt Haworth, and Nicole Bindler. Christina has shared her own dance work in Philadelphia as well as Portland, Detroit, Asheville and Poznan, Poland. All into the process soup goes: attending to sensation, gentleness, listening, failing/flailing, queering, patience, and indirectness. Christina is a past member of Mascher Space Cooperativeand newly a member at The Art Room Studio. Check out both of those spaces and the amazing artists that keep them both thriving! Christina’s recent improvisational performances have been in collaboration with sound artist Jesse Kudler. She also premiered a new group performance piece as part of Cannonball Festival / Philly Fringe Festival this year entitled 2023 at the Icebox Project Space. She hopes to continue research and work on this process and piece. 

Trilateral Dance Artist Exchange is a pilot program. Please stay tuned for more information and hopefully for another open call in 2024. To see the past open call for artists go here.