A Decade of Movement, Meaning, and Transformation
24 October – 2 November
In the context of global conflicts, social breakdowns, and climate disasters, culture is increasingly seen as a tool with an economic or tourist function. In Bulgaria, it has been left without a vision, without a sustainable policy, and without strategic support. Independent artists work in conditions of uncertainty, systematic underfunding, and institutional neglect.
In this landscape, Moving Body Festival #10 is not celebrating an anniversary—it is taking a stand.
The program brings together artists from the Czech Republic, Italy, and Bulgaria who use dance and movement as a gesture of resistance and memory—against silencing, against forgetting, against the devaluation of the human body and experience.
Support the independent scene. Support culture as a public value.
Join us as we reflect on a decade of artistic exploration and boldly embark on the next chapter.
#TheWayWeMoveMatters
Enjoy cutting-edge performances by leading choreographers and performers who push the boundaries of contemporary dance and the art of movement.
TREATMENT OF REMEMBERING, contemporary dance performance by POCKetART collective, Czech Republic
30.10.2025, 19:30-20:30, City Art Gallery
Nature is dead, and there is no turning back. Do you remember how we felt when we could breathe together? When we could bury our feet in the grass? When raindrops fell on us? Three performers take the audience on a ritualistic journey down memory lane to a time when nature, exhausted by humanity, no longer exists. Set in an artificial imitation of the world, Treatment of Remembering encourages us to look inside ourselves and reflect on our relationship with nature and the environment.
Artistic team: CHOREOGRAPHY Sabina Bockova, Johana Pockova, Inga Zotova-Mikhina | PERFORMERS Eliska Benesova, Tereza Holubova and Tereza Krejcova | MUSIC Lukáš Palan | SOUND DESIGN Jakub Šturáč | LIGHTING DESIGN Michal Horaček | DRAMATURGICAL COLLABORATION Petra Hauerová
Co-producers:
Produced by: POCKETART collective
Co-produced by: Tanec Praha z.ú., PONEC – dance hall
Funding and support:
Financially supported by: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, State Fund for Culture of the Czech Republic, Municipality of Prague
Supported by: BAZAAR Festival, Plum Yard Malovice, REZI.DANCE Komarice, Moving Station Plzen
https://www.pocketart.cz/en
The POCKETART collective is a team of artists working in the field of contemporary dance and physical theatre under the direction of choreographers Yohana Potskova and Sabina Bochkova. Within their projects, the team brings together artists from the fields of dance, music, scenography, fine art, and lighting design. The team’s work is characterized by addressing themes that transcend the individual’s personal experience and address societal issues such as manipulation through the media, global environmental threats, stress in a competitive environment, or the position of the individual in the corporate work system. The creators attempt to approach these themes holistically through detailed work with all theatrical components. Through their distinctive poetics, visual clarity, and strong original music, the performances aim to evoke a spiritual experience and make the audience think about our society.
30.10.2025, 19:30, City Art Gallery
- contemporary dance performance by POCKetART collective, Czech Republic
LAST MOVEMENT OF HOPE (IV), contemporary dance performance by Adriano Bolognino, Italy
31.10.2025, 19:30-20:30, City Art Gallery
“I want to create a dance that serves as a soundtrack to what we all experience—our relationships with ourselves and with others, which unfold in the same space, whether in the past, present, or future. The same fears, the same struggles, and the same final movement of hope. It is an adventure, a journey into weakness, perhaps even into the meaninglessness of the human condition. But despite all this, we find great strength in those who rise again when everything seems to be in ruins.”
The Last Movement of Hope (IV) represents a surge of new energy and awareness as we run together toward a future with less darkness.
Artistic team: CHOREOGRAPHY Adriano Bolognino | PERFORMERS Rosaria Di Maro, Roberta Franchini, three Bulgarian dancers
Co-producers:
Produced by: Adriano Bolognino
Co-produced by: Moving Body Festival
Funding and support: National Culture Fund of the Republic of Bulgaria, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria, Moving Body Festival
https://www.bologninoadriano.com/
Instinctive, abstract, rhythmic, picturesque: the dance of Adriano Bolonino, the thirty-year-old Neapolitan choreographer who made a name for himself on the Italian scene, is the result of speed and discipline. Blessed with dramatic sensitivity and creative perfectionism, Bolonino has created a significant body of work in a very short time. After his early distinctions and awards, Marie Chouinard invited him to create a choreography for the Venice Dance Biennale, and he was selected for Aerowaves 21 with Gli amanti.
Among his latest projects is the sextet SAMIA, which uses micro-movements, fragmentation, and emotional depth to transform the struggle for freedom and quality into choreography; inspired by the tragic story of Samiya Yusuf Mar, the young Somali athlete who died in the Mediterranean Sea while trying to reach Europe and pursue her Olympic dream. Last but not least is Bolonino’s sensitive relationship with music: he sees himself as a choreographer whose works are defined by surprising moments, silence, and pauses that set the rhythm of the dance, and his latest choreographic series, Into us – bruciare, is dedicated to great musicians, starting with Chopin. His long-awaited new production for 2026/2027, nominated for the prestigious Fedora – Van Cleef & Arpels Dance Prize 2025, will be dedicated to Ravel.
IN THE DARK THERE IS A CHANCE WE WILL GET LOST, audio installation, Iskra Prodanova, BG
31.10.2025, 20:00-20:30, City Art Gallery
IN THE DARKNESS THERE IS A CHANCE TO BECOME LOST or to know the ordinary means to be haunted by all the things it will not say.
The work is interested in the potential of darkness, in the potential of the moment when you “don’t know” what will happen.
The Varna audience is invited to immerse themselves and relax in the “deep,” in the intimate space of the author’s thoughts, in a gentle and relaxing way.
Artistic team: CONCEPT AND TEXT Iskra Prodanova | VISUAL ENVIRONMENT Hristina Ivanova | SOUND AND RECORDING Iskra Prodanova
Co-producers:
Produced by: Performance Room
Co-produced by: Water Festival for Contemporary Art
https://isanova.myportfolio.com/home
Iskra Prodanova (b. 1988, Varna, Bulgaria) is a multidisciplinary artist and researcher with a background in contemporary dance and performance art. She is the co-founder, curator, and artistic director of the Moving Body platform (est. 2016, Varna). Her latest research explores (inner) UTOPIA as resistance and resilience, investigating art, identity, memory, colonial legacies, collective healing, and justice through the lens of the present. She focuses on liminality, slowing down, (un)learning, and listening to embrace new ways of being.
31.10.2025, 19:30, City Art Gallery
- contemporary dance performance by Adriano Bolognino, Italy & audio installation by Iskra Prodanova, Bulgaria
MICROWORLSD, movement and object-based performance for 4 years+ by Jazmína Piktorová and Sabina Bočková, Czech Republic
01.11.2025, 17:00-17:45, Puppet Theater Varna
Our earth is full of worlds within worlds. Each of these micro-worlds lives its own unique life. Through micro-movements, a landscape of bodies and small objects, the performance focuses on the small things before our eyes that often go unnoticed. Against the backdrop of a fast-paced and vast world, viewers are invited to re-evaluate the small and vulnerable things in everyday life. This playful and poetic performance explores the fragility of our existence and captivates both adult and young audiences alike.
Artistic team: CHOREOGRAPHY Yazmina Piktorova, Sabina Bochkova | PERFORMERS Yazmina Piktorova, Sabina Bochkova | SOUND DESIGN Václav Kalivoda | DRAMATURGY Maria Danadova | VISUAL COLLABORATION Simona Gotierova | LIGHTING Jiří Šmirk | CONSULTANT MAGIC TRICKS: Ales Hrdelicka | RESEARCH: Monika Kovacova, Alessandro Lumare, and Simona Lobefaro – Segni mossi
Co-producers:
Produced by: ZDRUHESTRANY
Co-produced by: Studio ALTA, DRAK Theatre, PIKI Theatre
Funding and support: Center for Choreographic Development SE.S.TA, REZI.DANCE Komařice, Studio TEP39, Punctum, Slovak Institute in Prague, SNG Schaubmarov mlyn, CNK Záhrada Banská Bystrica, as well as with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the Prague City Council, the City of Brno, and the Slovak Council for the Arts.
Choreographer and performer Jazmina Piktorova, who lives in Prague, was born in Slovakia. She graduated from the Physical Theater department under the guidance of choreographer and philosopher Pierre Nadeau and circus artist and clown Daniel Gulko. She creates her own works as part of the ZDRUHESTRANY collective, which she co-founded with Viktor Chernitsky and Tomas Janicka. She is interested in the intersection between movement training and the creation of works for young audiences and is engaged in long-term research on topics that challenge both her and her audience. Her latest work, Microworlds, received the Czech Dance Platform 2023 Award and the Audience Award, as well as a nomination for the Thalia Awards. She brings movement and creativity to schools as a lecturer in the art education project Dance for Schools, produced by Dance Prague.
01.11.2025, 17:00, Puppet Theater Varna
- movement and object-based performance for 4 years+
- family ticket - adult + 2 kids
COME NEVE, contemporary dance performance by Adriano Bolognino, Italy
01.11.2025, 19:30-20:00, City Art Gallery
Well-being means protection, sharing, and the fertility of creation. Intertwining these elements, the performance brings the viewer a sudden snowfall of moving bodies, pausing time before the calm contemplation of the conscious intertwining of threads that gives rise to new forms. In fact, the poetry that transforms yarn into a dress is a mirror of the dancer’s artistic creativity, as both are capable of giving life to something unique, like a snowflake falling to the ground.
Artistic team: CHOREOGRAPHY Adriano Bolonino | PERFORMERS Rosaria Di Maro and Roberta Franchini | MUSIC “For Now I Am Winter” – Ólafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm, “The Bottom Line” – Ólafur Arnalds, Josim | COSTUMES Club dell’Uncinetto (Crochet Club), Naples
Co-producers:
Produced by: Körper
Funding and support: Orsolina 28, Italian Cultural Institute in Oslo, Italian Embassy in Norway
Gli Amanti, contemporary dance performance by Adriano Bolognino, Italy
01.11.2025, 19:30-20:45, City Art Gallery
“How long will you remain hidden behind a clay statue?”
Inspired by the clay cast “The Lovers,” depicting people frozen in an eternal embrace during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, this work reveals a love suddenly interrupted by the powerful force of nature, but preserved forever. The embrace in which the two lovers were found is eternal, a moment frozen in time. For years, this artifact from Pompeii remained hidden from the public, with many questions about their true identities. Were they a man and a woman, a mother and child, or two young men?
What is certain is that love has kept them together for more than 2,000 years, overcoming death. Let the audience’s imagination wander through the dream of absolute love – regardless of who they were. Visit them and witness a love that has lasted through the centuries.
Artistic team: CHOREOGRAPHY Adriano Bolonino | PERFORMERS Rosaria Di Maro and Roberta Franchini | MUSIC Akira Rabble
Co-producers:
Produced by: Anghiari Dance Hub
Funding and support: Anghiari Dance Hub, Aerowaves 2021
01.11.2025, 19:20, City Art Gallery
- contemporary dance performances by Adriano Bolognino, Italy
Screening of the documentary “Obsessed with Light” and closing of the festival
02.11.2025, 18:00-19:30, Campus 90, Varna
‘Obsessed with Light’ is a meditation on light and the enduring obsession with creation. The film lifts the veil on Loie Fuller, an exceptionally original performer who revolutionized visual culture in the early 20th century. Creating a dialogue between the past and the present, the documentary explores the astonishing influence Fuller’s work has had on contemporary artists, including performers such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Taylor Swift, Bill T. Jones, Shakira, and William Kentridge. In the process, the film reveals the commonalities that connect these creative luminaries to Fuller and to each other.
Artistic team: DIRECTORS Sabine Krienbuhl, Zeva Oelbaum | DANCE AND CHOREOGRAPHY Jody Sperling | CAMERAMEN Bob Richman, Claudia Rashke | EDITING Sabine Krienbuhl | CAST Cherry Jones, Jody Sperling, Erin Anderson, Claire Dodin, Andy Ingles, Guillaume Le Bourhis, Hugo Pierre Martin, Jean-Michel Riche, Joy Lin Shaw, Letitia Grimaldi Spitzer, Gail Van Cotte
Co-producers:
Produced by: Zeva Oelbaum, Sabine Krayenbühl, Christian Pop
Executive producers: Susan Margolin, Elizabeth Rodriguez Chandler, Denise Benmosche, Ruedi Gerber
https://www.obsessedwithlightdocumentary.com/
02.11.2025, 18:00, Campus 90
- documentary about Loïe Fuller by Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum
Confession of Sigh, performance – installation by Iskra Prodanova, Bulgaria
24.10.2025, 19:30-20:30, Campus 90
In a world that extracts articulation, optimizes breathing, and mechanizes every movement, what would happen if we surrendered to the unspoken—to that which refuses to be anything other than escaping air? What would happen if, instead of speaking, we sighed?
In her new work, Iskra Prodanova, together with her collaborators, explores the sigh as a phenomenon, as a silent rebellion, on the threshold, in between, where the air is refusal and escape from punctuation, from the dualistic structure of language, and becomes the language of the unspoken. The sigh, where it intertwines with other sighs, creates a polyphonic sound analysis of the feelings within us.
Artistic team: AUTHOR Iskra Prodanova | PERFORMERS Iskra Prodanova, Maria – Magdalena Arnaudova, NoiSing Factory | SOUND ENVIRONMENT AND DESIGN Viktor Prodanov | SOUND ARTIST – CONDUCTOR Soundpainter Zheni Petrova | DRAMATURGICAL COLLABORATION Diego Agullo
Co-producers:
Produced by: PERFORMANCE ROOM
Funding and support:
Financially supported by: National Culture Fund of the Republic of Bulgaria, Creative Projects Program; IFA Institut für Auslandsbeiziehungen, Slavs and Tatars Residency
24.10.2025, 19:30 - 20:30, Campus90
- Iskra Prodanova, Bulgaria
Experience the power of film as a means of conveying the beauty, complexity and variety of movement. Each screening is meant to inspire, provoke thought and expand your understanding of the body in motion. Our curated selection includes films that span genres, cultures and themes, each capturing the essence of movement in its own way. From the intricacies of contemporary dance to the raw power of physical performance, these films challenge traditional notions of the body and movement. The screenings are with free enrty.
Official Teaser
Dance and movement workshop lead by Sabina Bočková and Tereza Krejčová from the Czech artistic collective POCKETART.
The workshop is open to all levels. The working language is English.
TEAM:
The POCKETART collective is a team of artists working in the field of contemporary dance and physical theatre under the direction of choreographers Yohana Potskova and Sabina Bochkova. Within their projects, the team brings together artists from the fields of dance, music, scenography, fine art, and lighting design. The team’s work is characterized by addressing themes that transcend the individual’s personal experience and address societal issues such as manipulation through the media, global environmental threats, stress in a competitive environment, or the position of the individual in the corporate work system. The creators attempt to approach these themes holistically through detailed work with all theatrical components. Through their distinctive poetics, visual clarity, and strong original music, the performances aim to evoke a spiritual experience and make the audience think about our society.
31.10.2025, 10:00 - 15:00, Campus 90
- POCKETART collective, Czech Republic
*The festival is realized with the financial support of the National Culture Fund, the Ministry of Culture, as well as with individual donations and the help of loyal friends and partners
