BALLET BEYOND BOUNDARIES TRIPTYCH OF ORIGINAL CONTEMPORARY BALLETS

24, 25 July – 21.00, Antique Forum “Augusta Traiana”
PREMIERE
On 24 and 25 July, at 21.00, the stage of the Antique Forum “Augusta Traina” will welcome the premiere of the Triptych “Ballet Beyond Boundaries”. On the same evening, there will be presented the author spectacles of three world-successful Bulgarian choreographers Christian Bakalov, Kaloyan Boyadzhiev and Vladimir Angelov. The uniting title “Ballet Beyond Boundaries” includes in itself the idea, on the one side of art of the ballet without geographic borders, and on the other side – the creative freedom in the modern dance outside the limitations of concrete techniques, genres and styles.

Ode
Choreography Christiyan Bakalov (France)

“Ode” – is an ode about the disobedience of the dance and dancer as a temple of its essence.
“Nothing can stop the movement of ideas and beauty expressed through the body of a dancer. At a moment when people around the world are faced with the challenge to stand by their humaneness, consolidation and empathy one to the other. We, the dancers, will go on dancing the hope, the pain, the power and beauty, which unite us here and now. Nothing can stop us from being the mirror, which reflects the beauty of life and what makes it move – love.

After finishing the State Choreography School in Sofia CHRISTIYAN BAKALOV started his dance career in Paris with the Youth Ballet of France and the National Center for Dance in Nantes. Since 2009 he has been living in Brussels, where he participated in the opening of the independent space Volksroom of the artist Ivo Dimchev.

He is known for his performances in the productions by Yan Fabre, Ivo Dimchev and Miet Farlop, but he has also participated in productions by Robert Wilson, Jerome Bel, Florentina Holzinger and Vincent Riebeek.
In 2013, he started elaborating his first immersion performance installation BRIGHT, in which the audience plays the leading part. Blurring the boundaries between the performance action and the visual installation, Bakalov reveals a series of “immersion methods” for introducing the audience to a parallel world via the effect on their senses.
His performance installations of the Triptych ETERNIA, inspired by the conception of Spinoza for Eternity were presented in Paris, Brussels, New York, Venice, Sofia and Stara Zagora in 2019.

In Bulgaria, Christian Bakalov has staged  productions for the troupe of “Arabesque” Ballet and the Ballet of the Sofia Opera led by Silviya Tomova, invited by whom he restored his choreography of the “Next One” to a song by Jacques Brel for the Ballet of the Stara Zagora State Opera in 2019.

Christian Bakalov graduated in Pedagogy from the National Center for Dance in Paris, where he taught in the International Dance Academy. He acquired French citizenship in 1995 and holds the award of the Paris Opera.

Picture Perfect
Choreography Kaloyan Boyadzhiev (Norway)

The work which Kaloyan Boyadzhiev will present is Picture Perfect. It means the “Exquisite Painting”.
Actually it is a jargon expression, which is used when a photo is being taken. The photographed should freeze in an idea pose, he should be smiling, attractive, as if posing for a magazine cover. The idea was provoked by the significance which modern society has for the external appearance and the wild desire of people to look like super models. Society is in a hurry, makes its conclusions about a person through the momentary impression, making no effort to get to know him or her. No one is interested in what kind of person you are, but what you look like.

This inspires the aspiration to the perfect appearance. Beauty is down to a certain standard, while for me it is a complex notion, something which does not yield copying. Out of the offered by me titles, this is the choreography which Silviya Tomova chose. I have always tried to create choreographies for an odd number of dancers, and this work is no exception – there are seven participants. The music is electronic and minimalistic, it is a collage, which I selected myself” – shares the choreographer Kaloyan Boyadzhiev. The choreography which will be shown in Stara Zagora is the first other work which Kaloyan Boyadzhiev presents to a Bulgarian audience.

KALOYAN BOYADZHIEV is a disciple of the National School for Dance Art with the pedagogue Iliyan Drangazhov. As early as a student he participated in the spectacles of the “Arabesque” Ballet and the Sofia Opera and Ballet. He was barely 16 in 1993, when he was invited to be part of the cult troupe for modern dance “Amarant Dance Studio”.

The next year he was a finalist at the Paris International Ballet Competition and received an offer to work from two places – the Youth Ballet of France and the State Theater of South Africa in Pretoria. Advised by Iliyan Darangazhov, Kaloyan left for distant Pretoria, where he for less than five years rose to the position of the first soloists and danced central roles in almost all spectacles. Very young, our native talent had the huge chance to build upon his career with a repertoire of Bournonville, Ashton and MacMillan.

The escalation pressure in South Africa forced him to come back to Sofia. In the period 2000 – 2002, the Bulgarian audience had the chance to enjoy the mastery of our young star. As a soloist of the Sofia National Ballet Kaloyan danced in a multitude of spectacles – “The Nutcracker”, “Swan Lake”, “Giselle”. The most brilliant and memorable embodiments were in “Zorba the Greek”, James in “La Sylfide” and Basilio in “Don Quixote”. Kaloyan Boyadzhiev did not stay on our native stage.

In 2002, Dinna Bjorn, (at that time director of the Norwegian National Ballet) invited him for a casting in Oslo. Momentarily he got an engagement the same season, and six months later Kaloyan Boyadzhiev was a premier soloist in one of the richest and most prestigious ballet companies in Europe. Beside the central roles in the entire classical repertoire, he received the unique chance to dance in the choreographies of the American legends Goerge Balanchine, and Glen Tetley, to work with personalities like Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, Mats Ek, Nacho Duato, Alexander Ekman, Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon.

In 2005, the young premier soloist of the Norwegian Opera staged his first work “Open for Discussion”. In the following years, he staged ten titles in total for the Ballet in Oslo. In the period 2015 – 2028, he was a manager of the newly-created National Ballet of Norway 2 (the youth troupe of the theater). Kaloyan Boyadzhiev developed one of the most successful youth companies in the world, enriching it with classical and modern titles of world-famous choreographers. In 2016, Kaloyan Boyadzhiev staged in Oslo, his first entirely independent ballet spectacle of “The Nutcracker”, which became an important part of the repertoire of the Company, nominated by Dance Europe Magazine for the best premiere and received high assessment by the Norwegian ballet critics.

In the next season, Kaloyan Boyadzhiev was invited to be a choreographer with the Shakespearian work “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. The production was envisioned as a super production, for whose scenography the world architectural company “Snohetta” was invited, famous mostly for its realization  of the genius building of the Opera in Oslo, as well as the new library in Alexandria and the Memorial Monument “9/11” in New York.  His last creative engagement is a categorical proof of the high assessment of the talent and abilities of our countryman.

CacoPhony from Bach to Baby Shark
a playful and disturbing anti-ballet in one act
Choreography, directing and dramaturgy: Vladimir Angelov (USA)

Music: collage of Baroque and classical music delicacies by Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, George Frideric Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Antonin Dvorak, interpreted and modernized by a number of contemporary composers.

Duration of the ballet: 52 minutes

The new ballet production entitled “CacoPhony” is a one-act storyline comedy in the style of the contemporary dance-theater. It is about a young woman – Caco Phonia, who finds herself in a cacophony of unexpected circumstances and episodes on her way to a daily task. Overcoming many problems, she manages to achieve her modest aim, meanwhile learning many things about the people she comes upon, as well as about herself. She also finds new friends who help her and change her outlook of life.

This new work will be created specially for the Ballet Troupe of Stara Zagora, and this will be its world premiere. Choreographer, director and author of the original libretto and dramaturgy is Vladimir Angelov.
The dance lexis, the movement style and the choreographer by Angelov for the new production is a compilation of different dance genres throughout the centuries. The work will include classical, neo-classical, modern and jazz ballet, American hip-hop, ballroom dancing, dance-theater, and physical theater. The music includes Baroque and classical popular musical themes, which are modernized and electronized by contemporary composer.

About the new production, Angelov shares that “the new humorous work is a cacophony of dancing styles, polyphony, of contrasting ideas and symphony of optimism and hope.” Angelov shares that some of his inspirations come from the Greek ancient philosopher Aristotle, who mentions that a good spectacle has to captivate the audience emotionally and “make the audience laugh, cry and again laugh” in the period of one hour.
“In the sphere of choreography, comedy really is a great difficulty and is a well-known creative paradox” – Angelov continues:” It is easier to create tragedies and dramatic dances than comedies, and works with a sense of humor, which are unique and a rarity in the repertoires of the ballet troupes in the world.”

Vladimir ANGELOV graduated in the ballet profile of the State Choreography School in 1986 in the class of Krum Yankov. He was appointed by Margarota Arnaudova as a young dance in the “ARABESQUE “ Ballet, where he started experimenting as a choreographer. He received his first choreography recognition from the National Ballet Competition in Dobrich, for modern solo choreography of the performer Antoaneta Aleksieva. Creatively active, but also intellectually curious, Angelov enrolled to study “in the evening after work” the specialty of Philosophy in the Sofia University “St. St. Cyril and Methodius” – an event which had an enormous influence in his life.
In 1990, he left for the USA, where in 1996, he acquired the degree Master of Arts from the University in Washington, major Modern Choreography.

He presented works at many international festivals, among which; New Choreographers en Pointe, New York, Vienna Dancefest, Austria; Paris International Dance Festival, France; Dance Festival Kyoto, Japan; the Latin-American Ballet Festival, Puerto Rico and many others.

He created a multitude of modern one-act ballet productions and worked with American troupes such as Atlanta Ballet, Arizona Ballet, Indianapolis Ballet, Richmond Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Washington Ballet, as well as  with international troupes like Alberta Ballet, Canada; Mallet Manila, the Philippines; National Ballet of Mexico; Tokyo Ballet Japan, Mariinsky Ballet, in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

From 2003 to 2009 he was chief choreographer-ballet master of the Washington National Opera in Kennedy Center led by Placido Domingo. He worked directly with the world-famous tenor who conducted some of the performances. He created large-scale ballet canvasses for over 12 operas and operettas, among which “Sicilian Vespas”, “Samson and Dalilah”, “The Merry Widow” and many others.

He taught master classes and presented seminars for ballet troupes, universities and festivals in Austria, Bulgaria, Brazil, France, Finland, Germany, Mexico, Russia and Japan. From 2009 to 2014 he worked as a teacher in the University in Washington and continued actively to travel and stage in world-large scale. He is the holder of many awards, among which the Special Choreography Award of the American Ministry of Culture (the National Endowment of the Arts). Since 2015 he has been chief director of the first in world international network of information and the international organization for choreographers, based in Washington – Dance ICONS, Inc.