The Association for Theatre and Books (PETEC) and the Echo Echo Dance Theater company from Northern Ireland present the international co-production All in Good Time, which resulted from the research and creation process within the project No reason to dance? – poetics of closeness and which will be seen in September in Chisinau at the Eugene Ionesco Theater (September 7, 7:00 PM), in Iași at the House of Museums (September 18, 7:00 PM) and in Bucharest at the National Dance Center (September 26, 7:30 PM).

All in Good Time – an intimate, warm, multi-layered world – a dance performance that seeks its source in the poetic sensitivity to movement that we all share.

"What if we looked at dance closer to poetry, than to the visual arts or theater?

Each movement – the opening of a world, a language with its own meanings?

Each pause – an attentive wait, a space full of meaning?

Each performance – a complete work, equal to itself, without the need to justify itself through the mediation of other arts?

What would it be like if dancers and choreographers worked freed from the influence of music and textual narratives, armed with the confidence that their artistic language is sufficient for itself, also accessible to the audience?"

These are the perspectives from which the exploration of the international group of dance artists from Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Northern Ireland started, within the project No reason to dance? in April 2024 at the National Museum of Romanian Literature in Iași. The first stage included a conference, an artistic research laboratory and a series of workshops open to specialists, but also to the general public, and the laboratory hosted by the "Vasile Pogor" House formed the basis for the creation of the show All in Good Time, which premiered in July 2024 at the Echo Echo Dance Theater Company in Ireland.

No reason to dance? started from the desire to bring to fruition the collaborations that had taken place over several years, of five artists from Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Northern Ireland. Steve Batts is a choreographer and dancer with over forty years of experience in dance practice and theory and the artistic director of the Echo Echo Dance Theater company, in Derry, who developed a perspective according to which dance has its own artistic integrity, supported by the intention to create its own meaning, without being a second language to music or literary narrative. Alexandra Soshnicova and Serghey Golovnea are a duo from the Republic of Moldova, who have been creating, teaching and dancing together since 2000, and Virginia Negru, together with Cătălin Diaconu, performs, facilitates and organizes dance and Contact Improvisation workshops in Romania and abroad. The five share common artistic perspectives and sensibilities, thanks to a long dialogue and exchange of experience, and in No reason to dance? they have brought their forces together in a larger project.

The research at the heart of the project was based on extensive theoretical research, which starts from the premise that movement is never random, or just for the sake of movement, but that it does not appeal to music, text or theatrical dramaturgy to justify its existence. The show approaches dance as a compositional perspective on the world, a meditation on how performers are transformed by their actions. Just as the pauses between the words of a speech are not accidental, the artists invest even the pauses between movements with presence and meaning. In this endeavor, they try to answer questions on the border between philosophy and art, such as "what is the grammar and syntax of time and space?".

Created and performed by: Alexandra Soshnicova, Serghey Golovnea, Catalin Diaconu, Virginia Negru
Sound composition: Colin Norrby
Lighting design: Barry Davis
Concept and choreography: Steve Batts

The project is a co-production of Echo Echo Theatre and PETEC, co-financed by AFCN.

Partners: National Museum of Romanian Literature Iași, Iași City Hall, Destination Iași, UNAGE, CNDB.

Media partners: Radio România Cultural, Radio România Internațional, Viva FM, Ziarul de Iași, Spotmedia, Zile și Nopți, Ziarul Metropolis, Revista Golan, Bookhub, Happ.ro, life.ro, Palindrom, Observator Cultural, The Institute, Capital Cultural.

The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or for the way in which the project results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding beneficiary.