Contemporary Dance Retrospective 1
The Beginnings of Modern Dance (1925–1960)

OM Choreographic Center, in partnership with the Archive of the National Center for Dance Bucharest (CNDB), proposes a retrospective of contemporary dance spanning 1930–1990, presenting for the first time in the Cluj artistic context the activity of choreographers and dancers who laid the foundations of contemporary dance and revolutionized choreographic art in Romania through their own distinct movement languages. The retrospective features a selection of 20 video documents from the CNDB Archive, presented to the public by Corina Cimpoieru, coordinator of the CNDB Archive.

The beginnings of modern/contemporary dance in Romania are tied to the emergence of the first private dance studios starting in the 1920s. The absence at that time of a state educational system prepared to assume this type of training in the choreographic arts meant that these private studios became essential meeting spaces. Dancers and choreographers such as Floria Capsali, Iris Barbura, Trixy Checais, Gabriel Negry, Paule Sybille, Elena Penescu-Liciu, and Vera Proca Ciortea—trained in major European schools of dance (German, French, Russian, Italian)—created open spaces where future generations of dancers (Miriam Răducanu, Gigi Căciuleanu, Adina Cezar – Grupul Contemp) would be formed. They carried forward, during the communist period and often in marginal or experimental formats, the language of modern dance—marking and transforming these studios into sites of memory for the origins of modern dance in Romania.

• ● “Dance Entertainment” (1930). Duration: 05’51’’
• ● “Romanian Dances” (1939). Duration: 06’14’’
• ● “School of Choreography” (1946). Duration: 01’26’’
• ● “Young Talents” (1952). Duration: 02’28’’
• ● “Generations” (1965). Duration: 01’
• ● “(In)Visible Bodies and Stories” (2019). Duration: 15’
• ● “Lizica Codreanu. Le P’tit Parigot” (1926). Duration: 02’
• & Reenactment Lizica Codreanu
• ● “Reenacting Lizica Codreanu” (2015). Duration: 16’47’’
• & Reenactment Stere Popescu
• ● “Le marteau sans maître” (1965). Duration: 02’
• ● “The Hammer Without a Master” (2009). Duration: 30’

The screenings are preceded by discussions with the audience, moderated by our guest Corina Cimpoieru, artistic consultant and coordinator of the archive at the National Center for Dance Bucharest (CNDB).

Cultural project co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or for the manner in which the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding beneficiary.

Project carried out with the support of the Cluj-Napoca City Hall and Local Council.

Corina Cimpoieru is a researcher and coordinator of the Mediatheque and Archive at the National Center for Dance Bucharest (CNDB). In recent years, she has dedicated her time to recovering documents about dance and performance, conducting research in both private and institutional archives, with the aim of reactivating the history of dance and performance through archiving practices that reconfigure their potential for contemporary projects: performative reenactments, dance and performance exhibitions, editorial projects, and documentary films.