THE STARA ZAGORA OPERA – HOST OF THE FOURTH EDITION OF THE CHOREOGRAPHIC COMPETITION LINKAGE 29-30 OCTOBER 2023
LINKAGE is an international choreographic competition for contemporary miniatures – solos and duets with a duration of 5 to 13 minutes. In the preliminary selection there applied over 220 choreographers from Europe, Asia, North and South America. Some of the choreographers offer more than one miniature. The basic criteria according to which the selection of the finalists is held are originality of the conception, work with the performers, musical reading, choreographic lexis, technical level of the performance.
“What we sought is specific lexis and diversity of the styles because we can say that the contemporary dance is a dance without limitations in the usage of different techniques, devices, principles of movement and others. The task of the jury in the preliminary selection, consisting of: Angelina Gavrilova, Valeri Milenkov and Filip Milanov, was very difficult because of the exceptionally high level of a big part of the submitted applications. At the first stage of the preliminary selection were chosen about 50 choreographers, and at the second stage the jury chose 10 finalists and 23 choreographers, who entered the “Waiting List”. In it the choreographers were arranged in an order according to which they can take part in the final in case some of the selected finalists do not confirm their participation. Our idea is in the future to increase the volume of the competition so that we can invite as finalists more than 10 choreographers because every year we observe an increase in the interest in participation and a rise of the level of the candidates.
This year the finalists are from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Brazil, Argentina and China” – says Filip Milanov.
The jury which will assess the finalists of the Competition is different from the one for the preliminary selection, so that its members cannot have an already formed opinion and can impartially assess the live performances for the first time.
The head of the jury is the Prima Ballerina and Artistic Director of the Ballet of the Stara Zagora State Opera, and the other two members are: Zhivko Zhelyazkov – choreographer and Artistic Director of the Dance Company “Derida” and Vilislav Prager – choreographer, performer and co-founder of “Antistatic” – Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance.
The awards that will be given are the following:
The first place – 6 000 leva
The second place – 3 000 leva
The third place – 2 000 leva
There will be awarded and the special audience prize of the value of 1 000 leva.
The spectators will have the opportunity to vote and choose their favorite. There will be awarded special awards according to the judgement of the jury:
– 20-day-long creative residence in Sofia will be awarded by “Art Link” Foundation and Zhivko Zhelyazkov. The Residence will be held in 2024 in the space of “Derida” Stage.
– Creative Residence in 2024 for work with the ballet-dancers of the Stara Zagora State Opera. The selected choreographer will be invited to create an author’s dance work, which will be part of the repertoire of the Ballet.
On the first Competition evening on 29 October at 19.00 on the stage of the Stara Zagora Opera the spectators will be able to see the author’s choreographies of the nominated finalists and choose their favorite for the audience award.
On 30 October at 19.00 will be held the Award Ceremony and the closing Dance Galla Evening, at which the awards will be announced and will be presented the performances of the awarded artists, as well as of the guest-performers.