[ship of fools]

The madness in me greets the madness in you.

[ship of fools]
dance film, 20 minutes

Four dancers travel through a multitude of spaces, in an empathetic “boat”, which allows them to encounter complex inner worlds with patience and understanding, leaving aside expectations and stereotypes. They embrace the diversity of possibilities of being, finding in movement poetic and creative ways to encounter the unknown and make peace with the surrounding absurdity. Dance becomes a method of soul survival and diving into one’s own depths, a way of reconciliation with our chaotic nature.

Duration: 20 minutes

Concept and interpretation: Virginia Negru, Alexandra Bălășoiu, Denis Bolborea, Cătălin Diaconu

Direction and image: Gabriel Durlan

Image: Victor Păcurari

Editing and coloring: Adrian Stratulat

Musical composition: Cătălin Diaconu

Sound design: Denis Bolborea

Costumes: NoirMorphosis

Presentations:

August 4, 2021 @ARCUB, premiere in Bucharest
August 13, 2021 @Municipal House of Culture “Geo Bogza”, Câmpina
August 13, 2021 @Spitalul de Psychiatrie Voila, Câmpina – children’s ward
August 13, 2021 @Spitalul de Psychiatrie Voila, Câmpina – children’s ward
September 3, 2021 @Bucharest International Dance Film Festival, selection in the national competition
September 13, 2021 @Creating Dance Festival, Craiova
November 4, 2021 @UNAGE, Iasi

(ship of fools)
Instalație de Andrei Cozlac și Silviu Apostol

The installation outlines a series of temporal loops that explore the narrative of the film, integrating a series of realistic textures from the spaces and experiences of the performers. [ship of fools] We witness a conglomeration of timeless sensations and perceptions, caught in the game of kinetic and vector memory transfer, in a sculptural visual ensemble augmented by videomapping. This structure becomes a mechanism for observing time and body movement.

November 1 – 4, 2021 @UNAGE, Iasi
November 10 – 21, 2021 @AREAL – Space for Choreographic Development, Bucharest

“Where are we dancing?”
Workshop proposed by Alexandra Bălășoiu

Taken out of context, dancing can seem crazy. In a world on the run and thinking, choosing to be a dancer or show creator can sometimes seem like an aberrant and useless endeavor. But why do we do it? What lies behind our impulse to move, to move others or to invite them to watch us move? I believe it is essential for a creator to ask and answer these questions periodically. In this workshop, we will start from corporeality, where we will find a series of temporary responses that will represent the foundation of small choreographic fragments that we will share with others.

November 4, 2021, 16:00 – 18:00 @UNAGE, Iasi

Interventions in public
space April 29, Drumul Taberei

On International Dance Day,[ship of fools] embarked on a performative journey, in the Drumul Taberei neighborhood, as part of the artistic research project.

Today, we are the fools who allow ourselves to be carried away by the tide. Which turn differently through the channels and which sometimes take the risk of advancing towards the storm. We are the crazy people who have not found their place in the world, in hospitals, in homes, at tables and in cars. We are the madmen still floating in the sea, but not adrift, but in search of another way to construct meaning. We are the crazy ones who believe in change, in unpredictability. We are the ones who want to learn to listen carefully so as not to get lost in the illusion of continuity. We are those ready to embrace the unknown, the non-linear, the illogical.

We propose an artistic approach to befriending our chaotic nature. Dance and art are approached as methods of soul survival, of accepting the unknown, of diving into the depths of being. We start from the premise stated by Slavoj Žižek: “madness is a permanent background of human existence”. We come from a sea of ​​chaos and, day by day, we build machines, technologies, “boats of normality”, in an attempt to abstract from the “sea” from which we come. On the Ship of Madness, we make friends with our madness, calm fear, encourage diversity, learn to be patient.

Dance-therapy workshop

Alexandra Bălășoiu and Loredana Larionescu continued the dance-therapy workshops dedicated to psychiatric patients, started in the Movemental project, with a workshop inspired by the artistic practices developed in [ship of fools].

Dance/art as a method of soul survival.

Dance/art as a method of accepting the unknown.

Dance/art as a method of deep diving with safety equipment.

Dance/art as a method of reconciliation with chaos.

August 12, 2021 @Spitalul de Psychiatrie Voila, Câmpina – adult section

An Indie Box project, implemented with the support of Caleido.

[ship of fools] a cultural project co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.

[ship of fools] is a collective process of the artists Alexandra Bălășoiu, Virginia Negru, Cătălin Diaconu and Denis Bolborea, who proposed a choreographic approach to reconciliation with chaos and acceptance of the unknown. The dance film was created in dialogue with the director and cinematographer Gabriel Durlan, and the installation was developed by Andrei Cozlac and Silviu Apostol, as a way of recomposing the cinematic experience.