PETEC is an interdisciplinary platform for production, research and education in the field of contemporary performing arts, focused mainly on dance. “2020 has put on hold the usual courses and the distribution of shows in the portfolio. However, it was a year of extensive international projects, designed on several levels. A year of collaborations, of openness to related artistic fields, of film production, of installation and multimedia show, of creating contacts with the music scene. We hope that by 2021 all the extended antennas will bear fruit, not forgetting the resources closest to us – the dancer’s body and presence. ” – Smaranda Găbudeanu, president of the PETEC Association.

Supporting our friends and partners was essential. We hope that in 2021 we will meet at least as beautifully in a new series of creations!

Until then, here is the retrospective of the 2020 PETEC Projects:

“ÎnLOCUIT / inHABITED” – international choreographic project produced by PETEC and financed by the Ministry of Culture. The artistic direction of the project and the direction are signed by Smaranda Găbudeanu, the music by Vlaicu Golcea and Kinga Ötvös and a large artistic team consisting of Mădălina Dan – dance, Benno Voorham (Sweden) – dance, image, Denis Bolborea – dance participated , Sveta Bird (Svitlana Pashko, Ukraine) – dance, Simona Dabija – dance, Laura Vlad – dance, project coordination, Daniel Dragoescu – image, editing, Răzvan Bumbeș – image, editing, production, Tania Cucoreanu – image, editing & animation .

The starting point – the theme (in) living – generated a series of searches and a dialogue between the 3 different artistic environments (dance, music and film), an effervescence and an extraordinary variety of answers materialized by:

  • The contemporary dance film INHABITED whose cinematic approach captures every movement of thought and emotions, proposing a choreography of the interior spaces, enhanced by the sound compositions signed by Vlaicu Golcea and Kinga Ötvös. The online premiere on TIFF Unlimited on 26.08.20 was preceded by a round table with the project team and the winners of the contest, moderated by Cosmin Manolescu.
  • The inLOCUIT / inHABITED contest, which challenged the participants to create a dance film starting from the given musical composition or vice versa, to compose a soundtrack for the given dance film. 78 remarkable works have been inscribed which show us how great and valuable the art scene in Romania is. The winners are Eugen Curelici with the dance film Day (D) in the category Inhabited dance music and Andrei Petrache with the musical composition “The house from the sleeping forest” in the category Inhabited dance music.
  • The ro website – a reference with rich multimedia content that presents ideas, artists, sources of inspiration, pieces of footage, music themes, photo gallery and everything about the contest: concept, proposed pieces, judging criteria, winners and finalists with their pieces, their artistic motivation and the opinions of the jury, link to the gallery that includes the vast majority of the works submitted.
  • Dedicated youtube channel – which hosts almost all the works entered in the contest and the video productions of the project
  • INHABITED_the attic – a 5 minute excerpt from the film INHABITED was selected in the Bucharest International Dance Film Festival 2020, within the national competition. The jury gave him a special mention because “he manages to create an intimate and personal world by creating connections between visuals, poetry and symbolic realms.”
  • Audio-video installation – in which the viewer (re) discovers the contemporary dance film INHABITED through an immersion in its deconstructed space. Presented for the first time during the CORP season on 12 and 13 September 2020 in Pavilion 32, the Goethe Institut, thanks to the appreciations received, will be resumed soon.

The communication and promotion campaign of the project included the launch of 2 press releases, 3 facebook campaigns, 3 newsletters, the current update of the PETEC and Instagram Facebook pages. The information was taken over and disseminated both by the project partners (Romanian Music Information Center (CIMRO), Bucharest National Dance Center (CNDB), Gabriela Tudor Foundation, Indie Box, Delazero Association, Idanceyou) and by third parties (Days and Nights , COOPerativa Urbană, Radio France International, Radio Romania International, Radio Romania News. Goethe, with an international audience among professionals from 15 European countries.

Digital media monitoring:

  • ro – 4124 visits, 14,601 pages viewed
  • Inhabited youtube channel – 74 videos, 50 subscribers, 7900 views
  • PETEC Facebook – over 30 posts, with a reach of 130,000 and 6800 engagements (including paid promotion)
  • Instagram PETEC – 18 posts with 157 likes
  • TIFF Unlimited – 433 online viewers at the premiere, 178 online viewers at artist talk, TIFF newsletter sent to 14,000 addresses, dedicated event on Facebook with a reach of 23,900 and 335 responses
  • Partners and third parties – 5 radio interviews, 5 premiere spot commercial broadcasts, 2 newsletters, 15 internet pages, 32 Facebook posts / downloads

“ALIENATION or the desire for intimacy”, an international choreographic project that revolves around the 3 key words – alienation, desire and intimacy – is the result of the collaboration of the Swedish-Dutch choreographer Benno Voorham with an artistic team from Romania consisting of: 3 dancers Cristina Lilienfeld , Smaranda Găbudeanu and Simona Baciu), a musician (Andrei Petrache), two video artists (documentary – Cătălin Munteanu, respectively show video projections and dance films – Răzvan Bumbeș) and a light designer (Bogdan Gheorghiu).

ALIENATION, or the desire for intimacy is produced by PETEC in partnership with LAVA-Dansproduktion. Project co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration and the Konstnärsnämnden – the Swedish Arts Grants Committee.

Under the sign of continuous adaptation, conditioned by the evolution of the pandemic, the project came to life in 3 distinct forms:

  • Live performance at MARe / Museum of Recent Art on 5.11.20, also broadcast live on Facebook;
  • The show on the Unteatru stage followed by an artist talk with two specialists from the humanities: Ovidiu Telegescu, psychologist-sexologist and Fidelie Kalambayi, sociologist, broadcast live on 7.11.20 and
  • The dance film made in the space of the BRD Scena9 Residence and broadcast online on 18.11.20 in the series of dance films together with the documentary project “Close Enough” made by Cătălin Munteanu and the short film “Connection” made on the same theme by our partners from Ireland North, Echo Echo Dance Theater Company.

The 3 events had a total audience of about 50-60 people physically present at MARe and over 1500 online (number of views of the 3 online events) of which about 40% was international.

The rich activity of the project was supported by a tailored communication on the channels of PETEC and the cultural and media partners, which ensured us a constant presence on the Internet and social media pages, as well as in the press. Media monitoring includes 4 interviews (on Radio Romania Cultural, Radio France International, Nașul TV, Zile şi Nopți) and the appearance on 23 web pages, over 210 posts on social channels (Facebook and Instagram) with a reach of over 70,000.

In addition to the strategic support provided by the cultural partners (MARe, Unteatru, BRD Scena9 Residence and CNDB) for the staging of the project, all partners supported us in its promotion through their own media channels: Radio Romania Cultural – main media partner -, CorPoetica (Milan, Italy), PerfocraZe International Artist Residency -p IAR (Kumasi, Ghana), Ruban Production ITP (Kiev, Ukraine), MOVE2Collective (Belgrade, Serbia), FEEDER.ro, Munteanu, Days and Nights.

“Captain Recluse” is a contemporary play with elements of conceptual choreography, the subject being based on political, social and institutional-diplomatic architecture themes, all treated in a neo-absurd way. The production includes sound & light design and video projections, as well as pre-recorded dialogue sequences. The song is conceived / produced by Cristian and Gabriela Fierbințeanu, and co-produced by the PETEC Association. Directed by Cristian Fierbințeanu and Alexandros Raptis. Cast: Cristian Fierbințeanu, Smaranda Găbudeanu and Cristina Lilienfeld. Choreography: Smaranda Găbudeanu and Cristina Lilienfeld. Light Design: Alexandros Raptis. The show was filmed without public access (due to the pandemic) on March 10, 2020 at the Marin Sorescu National Theater in Craiova.

“AREALAB – PERSPECTIVES IN MOVE” – Bucharest, 17.11-20.12.2020 – is a laboratory initiated by Virginia Negru in which we analyze and explore the mechanisms of improvisation in dance. The artists Cristina Lilienfeld, Smaranda Găbudeanu, Alexandra Bălășoiu, Filip Stoica, Mariana Gavriciuc, Fabio Maria, Mădălina Dan, Virginia Negru and the musician Cătălin Diaconu participate. The laboratory takes place within the 4 Bodies program Dance Collective, a cultural program co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration. At the end we invite you to follow us in this fragile process of improvisation in which we change and we are changed by the space in the dance, in which when it seems that nothing happens in the next second EVERYTHING happens.

Balance in Imbalance is an improvisation course in contact dance given by Virginia Negru in February at Linotip- an independent choreographic center. We proposed a course through which to awaken the specific senses of the art of improvisation in dance, overcoming motor automatisms, going beyond the level of the first impulses and random movements. To achieve this we approached our study from three angles inspired by several contemporary dance practices: _Real-time composition (specific parameters Viewpoints, Poetic Movement, Butoh, Improvisation Technologies Forsythe). _Movement efficiency techniques (Axis Syllabus, Feldenkrais, Ideokinesis, Alexander technique). _Contact Improvisation. It ended with the jam session Maybe this is watched.

“Movement and dance for parents and children” – January-March 2020 Weekly course format for children aged 0-6, parents and grandparents initiated by PETEC in collaboration with Indie Box. Children become curious when adults are interested and involved in what they do. We move and dance by including the little ones in our learning process. We dance in a circle, then in lines, then spread around the room. We jump, roll on the floor, lie down, breathe together and learn to stay calm in the middle of the storm. Adults are invited to dance and move primarily for themselves, children will follow suit.

The project “CORP Season [about community, politics and choreographic histories]” was an AREAL collective project organized by Andreea Belu PFA, Gabriela Tudor Foundation, Indie Box, PETEC Association, Delazero Association, in partnership with Goethe Institut Bucharest, Austrian Cultural Forum, Created by Teatrelli, Bucharest National Dance Center, Tangaj Dance & Bucharest International Dance Film Festival, European Dancehouse Network within a cultural project co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration. The project took place between September 11 and November 15, 2020 and included the presentation of a number of 6 outdoor shows, nature, museums and online, 2 discussion sessions about the contemporary dance scene, the presentation of 4 film programs in the environment online, organizing a contemporary dance module with performances and workshops in Busteni. Also, within the project were offered 2 scholarships for young Romanian creators – Denisa Anastasiu, Iulia Mărăcine, an international conference “Re-thinking dance | new ways of working internationally in dance ”with the participation of 8 guests and over 40 participants and the premiere of the choreographic project“ Eighty Five Percent Of What You Remember ”took place in the form of a filmed show.