Memetics by Sergiu Diță. © Volker Vornehm

review

Brat autumn: Iridescent Festival Bucharest 2024

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8 min

Memetics by Sergiu Diță. © Volker Vornehm

Daria Ancuța

10 December 2024

Queer revolution, performance as lab experiment, and breaking the internet at Romania’s festival of contemporary dance ‘and other reconfigurations of the sensible’

Iridescent /ˌɪrɪˈdɛsnt/ = (adjective) showing luminous colours that seem to change when seen from different angles

From 1 to 27 November 2024, Iridescent International Festival of Contemporary Dance (‘and other reconfigurations of the sensible’) returned to Bucharest. Now in its third edition, Iridescent has already carved out a distinct identity. More than just a showcase of performances, the festival features conferences and workshops designed for professionals and dance enthusiasts alike. By connecting artistic practices from different geographical and cultural spaces, it seeks not only to enrich Bucharest’s artistic landscape but also to offer the local audience international creations that resonate with contemporary sociopolitical issues. This year’s festival, organised in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the National Center for Dance Bucharest (CNDB), explored the transformative power of movement and the body as a tool for revolution.

Iridescent Festival Bucharest. © Claudiu-Alexandru Popescu

A highlight of this year’s festival was its role in spotlighting CNDB’s ambitious transformation of Sala Omnia into a future permanent home for the institution. This historic building, once an emblem of Romanian modernism, is currently being refurbished and will soon be transformed into one of Bucharest’s most vibrant cultural spaces – a significant step in reclaiming a space of historical and social importance for the public and dance community alike.

Over the course of Iridescent 2024, I had the chance to experience three dance pieces and review them, trying to capture the essence of what this year’s edition was all about.

Unstable Comrades, Igor Koruga (Serbia)

Unstable Comrades, conceived and choreographed by Igor Koruga, aims to offer a bold, yet playful performative exploration of queer identity and the revolutionary power of non-conformity. The piece wastes no time in setting its tone. The sound of gum popping is the first thing you notice. Then, the cool detachment of five performers (Tamara Pjević, Jakša Filipovac, Mariana Gavriciuc, George Pleșca, Hunor Varga) in sunglasses, exuding a playful irreverence that hints at the show’s underlying defiance.

Gradually, the performers break away from the group. Each takes centre stage in lingering, sensual solos: they sway, glide and twist, holding eye contact with the audience. This first part of the show intentionally plays with this intimate, somewhat uncomfortable visual confrontation between performers and audience. The piece shifts into duets, with different gender pairings, reaching, pushing and yielding to one another in fluid, ever-changing, dynamics. One of the show’s most visceral moments comes in an explosive outburst: the performers grunt, kick, and punch the air in a shared act of rebellion before they all collapse into exhaustion to share a prolonged moment of collective stillness.

Under Vladimir Pejković’s immersive soundscape and Boris Butorac’s striking neon lighting, the stage becomes a pulsating, dynamic space. The sound alternates between sharp, percussive beats and ambient echoes, while the neon lighting bathes the stage in vibrant colours that evoke the atmosphere of underground rave clubs.

Unstable Comrades by Igor Koruga. © Claudiu-Alexandru Popescu

A spoken-word voiceover weaves through the performance, postulating a manifesto of queer revolution and delving into the stereotypes of queer representation perpetuated by mainstream culture and calling for the reclamation of queer voices and narratives. The conceptual backbone of the piece, this voiceover binds together a work that, dramaturgically, occasionally lacks coherence. Its fragmented structure means that some transitions feel abrupt, leaving certain moments of choreographic exploration disconnected. Nevertheless, seemingly anchored in the motto ‘We must stay unhappy with the world’, Unstable Comrades urges us to embrace discomfort as a catalyst for queer revolution.

Cyber-Body-Systems, Daniela Brill, Cip Făcăeru, Raluca Ghiță, Andrei Raicu (Romania)

Developed by a multidisciplinary artistic team (Daniela Brill, Cip Făcăeru, Raluca Ghiță and Andrei Raicu) in partnership with science and tech consultants Alexandra Sofonea, Sabin Șerban and Dan Făcăeru, Cyber-Body-Systems is less a dance performance and more a live experiment exploring the intersections of mind, body and machine in real time. Blurring the boundaries between physical movement and neural response, the show maps the intimate relationship between the body’s visible actions and the mind’s invisible neural patterns.

Structured in three stages, Cyber-Body-Systems begins and ends in a state of rest, mirroring both pre- and post-performance relaxation – the journey of the dancer (Raluca Ghiță) flows from calm to animation and back again. In the central phase, her movements, which progress from slow arm gestures to fully articulated body motion, are captured by small, flat electroencephalograph sensors placed on the scalp. These pick up the brain’s electrical signals and record them as wave patterns, which are projected on a screen for the duration of the show. Each movement and brainwave detected becomes part of the soundscape, transforming the performance into an auditory and visual reflection of Ghiță’s inner self. The live music – a modulation of the same five notes – is a direct product of both her movements and her mental state, giving the audience a glimpse into the resonance between physical and mental realms.

Work-in-progress performance of Cyber-Body-Systems. © Claudiu-Alexandru Popescu

This 20-minute performance, followed by a much-needed 40-minute post-show Q&A, is supposed to immerse audiences in an exploration of how bodily expression and brain activity coalesce. In the Q&A, the performance was described as a feeling of ‘being turned inside out’ – a fitting metaphor for a work that exposes both the conscious and unconscious rhythms of the body. The creative team also expanded on the artistic and academic motivations of the project, adding layers of insight into the work’s trans-disciplinary approach.

However, while striking, Cyber-Body-Systems is undeniably hermetic and likely to feel enigmatic, even inaccessible, to audiences without a grounding in the academic and technical foundations of the project. It isn’t designed to stand alone as a conventional dance piece, and whether it should be presented publicly or kept within research circles remains an open question.

Memetics – Sergiu Diță (Romania)

Upon entering Memetics, the audience first sees a hanging TV screen with the words ‘Break the internet’ in a low-res font on a lime-green background. Created by Romanian choreographer Sergiu Diță as a deconstruction of today’s internet culture, the show opens with a subtle, yet anticipatory nod to the aesthetic of British singer Charli XCX’s hit album Brat – the first in a long line of niche online references designed to tingle our dopamine-hungry, scroll-addicted brains.

Five dancers (Eva Danciu, Oana Jipa, Fatma Mohamed, Sofia Sitaru-Onofrei, Anca Stoica), dressed in loose sweatpants and workout bras, take turns lying in contorted poses across a weight bench, a pink square mat, and a pink exercise ball. Ring lights and microphones complete the livestream-inspired set-up. Add in elastic resistance bands, rhythmic back-and-forth movements, and an accelerating techno beat, and you get an enticing fusion of yoga poses, aerobic warm-ups and TikTok viral choreographies.

What follows is a collage of diverging reflections on digital culture. Hinting at its title, the show features a mini-TED Talk on what a meme is and how it spreads online just like a virus. Memetics also includes remixes of popular Romanian and international hits (including Queen’s Bohemian Rapsody, Baauer’s Harlem Shake and Strada Speranței by Corina Chiriac) with new lyrics that call out our internet addiction, as well as self-taped monologues about our carefully fabricated social media personae.

Too human to be robotic yet too robotic to be human, the five performers act as avatars navigating the liminal space of the internet. They make projections about a future in which we will no longer be physically present, the only traces of existence being our Google search histories and Instagram feeds. The line ‘This is the beginning of a mental breakdown’ echoes throughout.

Ultimately, the dark humour that plays with digital jargon and Gen Z references to engage one segment of the audience might inadvertently alienate another. Much of the show’s post-ironic commentary on our collective brainrot may be lost on those who are unfamiliar with online slang, current viral trends, dating app culture and iconic 2000s games.

Niche cultural references can foster a sense of inclusivity among some while simultaneously creating barriers for others

Beyond the stage

Memetics sparks much-needed discussions on audience reception, especially in the contemporary dance world, where the integration of niche cultural references can foster a sense of inclusivity among some viewers while simultaneously creating barriers for others. The same goes for transdisciplinary shows like Cyber-Body-System and for performative manifestos such as Unstable Comrades: the intent to entertain and provoke is realised through varying degrees of accessibility and relatability, highlighting ongoing challenges in balancing artistic expression with audience engagement. This sort of debate is especially necessary given the role of international dance festivals in widening the audience for contemporary dance, promoting engagement and critical approaches across different demographics and cultural backgrounds. Nevertheless, the existence of international dance festivals and events such as Iridescent is truly a breath of fresh air in Romania’s cultural landscape. Its continued growth is essential for a thriving, inclusive and forward-thinking dance culture. ●