Performance, dance, video art, and audience interaction merge in an expressive and surrealist event celebrating the female body. Stoyanova, a “neo-metal monster and a futuristic Renaissance queen,” demystifies the birthing body, presenting the truth of the flesh in this mostly nude show.

$20 / 60 minutes

What is Here[begin] Dance

Zornitsa Stoyanova is a performance artist, curator, writer, lighting and video designer based in Philadelphia, PA. A native of Bulgaria, she produces and presents performing art and video under the name Here[begin] Dance. Her work features interaction and nudity though which she questions the ideas of the constructed structures of performance and pushes the boundaries of social propriety. Mylar reflective material and custom lighting are integral part of her most recent work. Since becoming a mother in 2013 her work has focused on abstracting the female body, feminist ideas and imagery.

Pictured: Zornitsa Stoyanova   Credit: Mauri Walton

In 2008 Zornitsa was a fellow with Headlong Performance Institute. Later, her studies with Deborah Hay sparked an interest in performance presence and deconstruction of communication thorough posture and gesture. While an artist in residence at Meet the Next Generation program, part of eXplore Dance Festival 2011 in Bucharest, Romania, she studied with Meg Stuart. To this date Zornitsa uses Stuart’s methodologies in working with power dynamics and physical states in performance. In 2015 she was granted a three week residency at Stary Browar Nowy Taniec in Poznan, Poland. Zornitsa’s work has been presented in Philadelphia as well as at Joyce SoHo and Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church in NYC; Hubbart Hall in Cambridge, NY; Wanted Festival in Rennes, France; and her native Sofia, Bulgaria. She has danced with Graffito Works, Emergent Improvisation Project, based in Vermont, Lionel Popkin Dance, Cie Willi Dorner, Eiko and Koma, Boris Charmatz, Group Motion Dance, Idiosyncrazy Productions, Nicole Bindler and others in Philadelphia. While dancing with Emergent Improvisation Project, Zornitsa was featured on the cover of “Composing While Dancing” book by Melinda Buckwalter.

Pictured: Zornitsa Stoyanova   Credit: Will Drinker

In September 2015, she started a yearlong residency at space in Philadelphia exploring her identity as a birthing and ever changing female body. During the residency she produced a collection of photography and screendance films, Body Etudes, and performed a multimedia interactive event called Explicit Female. She is a supporter for a sustainable dance community. From 2006 until 2010, she was a member of Mascher Space Cooperative and is deeply invested in helping further conversation and collaboration. As Here[begin] Dance she has curated and produced Current: an evening of dance and art and Dance Cinema Projects from 2007 until 2011. She has hosted and organized multiple workshops for the community and taught free classes in making web sites for artists and budgeting. In February 2015, she started a community dance workshop in collaboration with space called Get What You Need. Her latest project is Moms Make Art residency in partnership with Mascher Space Cooperative and Fidget Space – a flexible residency for young mothers who create performance.