Vortex

The performance Vortex continues the line of choreographic research initiated by choreographer Oana Mureșan in the performance Sculpting Space (2022), where the entire space becomes a sculpture marked by instability and precariousness—charged by the vibration produced by the fact that stillness and movement are decisive, foundational elements of this presence in space. Vortex proposes a deepening of the relationship between body, spatiality, and time through the lens of a natural phenomenon: the vortex.

In this vision, the vortex becomes a body reflecting the centrifugal movement of the phenomenon, mirroring both the force of nature and the present time with its speed and intensity.

The vortex is also viewed in its cosmic dimension: a phenomenon that exists in the universe in varied forms, a shared vertigo that encompasses us all.

The investigation of present time and of the space of encounter within a vortex also led to questions about proximity and approximation, as well as about the continuous flows of the present—social, political, technological—in a global context marked by crises and transformations. Who are we and where are we heading?

Proximity, because at least two entities/currents/bodies/consciousnesses must enter a proximal/common space. Approximation, because whatever takes shape inside and between these entities/bodies/consciousnesses can never be fixed—only a temporary form, a sketch in motion.

A precise form of the space of encounter can be outlined only when the event of the encounter has already acquired its own memory. Thus, the proposal for the aesthetic dimension of the vortex—imagined as an “emptiness full of possibilities”—is a stratification of fragments.

The relationship that emerges between these fragments and bodies, and within the space that supports them and makes their existence possible and visible, gives rise to multiple configurations (possibilities) of reflection and refraction.

The vortex also opens the possibility of a new balance—fragile, temporary, yet necessary—in which presence becomes assertion and instability becomes a form of active adaptation.

Project partners: Youth Pavilion (Parcul Feroviarilor); Urban Culture Center

Media partners: TVR Cluj; Cooltcluj; Clujinfo

Producer: OM Choreographic Center

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.