DEAD SOULS

a dance performance by Gergana Dimitrova

Premiere of ONE DANCE WEEK 21.05.2023

Upcoming date: 28 and 29.11.2023 at 19.30
TOPLOCENTRALA / SOFIA

Duration: 70 min.

Production of Contemporary Alternative Art and Culture Organization - 36 Monkeys, ONE DANCE WEEK, RCCA Toplocentrala

Exploring the Soul at War: Gergana Dimitrova's new performance is inspired by Nikolay Gogol's novel-poem of the same name and our contemporary times.The performance combines dance, theatre, contemporary circus, opera and photography.

Idea, director, playwright, choreographer: Gergana Dimitrova

Choreographer, tutor: Angelina Gavrilova

Scenography, costumes, video, poster: Nikola Nalbantov

Music: Veselin Veselinov-Eko*

*in the production are used author's arrangements and performance of Gnossienne No.1 by Eric Satie and "Habanera" from the opera "Carmen" by Georges Bizet - the aria is performed live by Ioanna Kadijska 

Voice-over by Alexander Mitrev

Production Assistant: Mihail Zhekunov

Photographer: Vassil Tanev 

Cast:

Angelina Gavrilova, Vyara Bolgradova, Yoana Kadiyska /Anita Dafinska, Philip Milanov, Tsvetan Peychev, Mihail Ivanov

Adriana Dimitrova, Valeria Koleva, Eva Atanasova, Emilia Radicheva, Katya Kirova, Olexandra Kircheva, Olexandra Timoshenko / Lucas de Koning, Slaveya Slavcheva, Borislav Vylov, Yordan Vyrbanov, Martin Vyrbanov, Piotr Krzeminski, Sergey Zhiganyuk, Toni Karabashev, Ruanda

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Inspired by Nikolay Gogol's novel-poem of the same name, Dead Souls is a contemporary exploration of the soul at war.

When does the soul die? Which souls are dead? Those whose bodies are killed or dead or can souls die before bodies? Is the dying of the soul a one-time and one-way act? If you kill or harm someone, does that hurt your soul? Can you be born without a soul?

Gogol sought answers to these questions more than a century and a half ago. Against the backdrop of what is happening today in Ukraine, his homeland and the setting of his novel Dead Souls, we cannot help but ask them again. And in his tradition of portraying the small but very telling details of a man's behavior, surroundings, and clothing, we will explore the mark of war on body and soul.

Short portraits of people from one city. 

People of different ages, with different social status and occupations.

They pass by us, in front of us.

One is in a hurry for school, another is shopping.

A third is at home and getting ready to go out.

A fourth is sick and a fifth is in love and eating ice cream.

Someone is riding a bike, another is walking his dog.

We see them on the same day.

The day they all meet death.

The pictures of the war in Ukraine shocked the whole world. It is the visual documentary materials of the events there that are the basis on which the movement scores and the images on stage are developed. The show explores the language of bodies in wartime to try and understand what happens to the soul in such an extreme situation.