Game of Life: experience for timeless sorrow and love
In May, OM Choreographic Center will host Cosmin Manolescu and Eva Danciu – the first residency within the OM – Body and Space program. The residency of the two artists includes a dance workshop as well as the preview of the performative experience Game of Life: experience for timeless sorrow and love.
The dance workshop is open to adults interested in contemporary dance and offers participants the opportunity to take an active role in the final stage of the performative experience. The first three workshop days – May 17, 21, and 23, 2025 – will begin with a series of physical warm-up exercises, yoga sessions, and guided meditations proposed alternately by Cosmin Manolescu and Eva Danciu, followed by moments of individual and group improvisation. During the workshop, participants will be able to contribute to the development of choreographic material, with each day ending in an informal discussion. The workshop will conclude on May 24, 2025, at 19:00 with a series of individual and/or group performative moments, explored and performed in real time together with Cosmin Manolescu, Eva Danciu, and the audience attending the preview of the performative installation Game of Life: experience for timeless sorrow and love.
Game of Life is a new performance, a hybrid format between installation and performative experience about the simplicity and intensity of life and the experience of death. It is an immersive and participatory format imagined by choreographer Cosmin Manolescu and created together with Eva Danciu, in which the audience is invited to become both witness and active participant in a universe of lights and shadows. The experience is designed exclusively for adult audiences, requires openness and curiosity from all participants, and invites them to directly explore – both as spectators and as performers – movement sequences connected to essential life questions such as: What comes next in our lives? How can we enjoy the present? How can we speak through movement and dance about our emotions? What are the simple things you love? What is love, or what hurts you?
"If you are not afraid of the unknown, if you feel lonely, have suffered or felt sadness recently, or perhaps you long for someone’s embrace, we warmly invite you to the preview of the installation and participatory experience Game of Life: experience for timeless sorrow and love to explore together life, the present, and contemporary dance."
- Cosmin Manolescu
The Game of Life project, initiated by Cosmin Manolescu & Paradis Serial, is produced by the Gabriela Tudor Foundation within the workshop and performance season of the What’s Next program – a European platform for artistic research and creation, co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration (AFCN).
The Game of Life workshop and the performative experience Game of Life: experience for timeless sorrow and love are organized as part of the OM – Body and Space creative residency, a project co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration. The project does not necessarily represent the views of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or the way its results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding beneficiary.
Game of Life: experience for timeless sorrow and love
The event is intended for audiences over 18 and includes sequences of interaction between performers and the public that may generate emotionally impactful moments.
- concept & artistic direction: Cosmin Manolescu
- choreography: Eva Danciu, Cosmin Manolescu
- with: Eva Danciu, Cosmin Manolescu, and participants of the Game of Life workshop
- soundscape: Lala Misosniky
- video: Ioana Buraga, Alina Ușurelu
- object design: Marius Jurca
- photography: Mihai Benea
- duration: approx. 90 minutes
- partners: Om Choreographic Center Cluj-Napoca, Masca Theatre Bucharest, Reduta Cultural Center Brașov, AgitLab Agueda, AREAL
- special thanks: Alexandra Bălășoiu, Ema Alexandrescu, Paulina Almeida, Oana Mureșan
Cosmin Manolescu
Cosmin Manolescu is a cultural expert, producer, choreographer, and cultural manager, executive director of the Gabriela Tudor Foundation and co-director of AREAL. He is a specialist in project management and organizational development for cultural organizations and institutions, and artistic director of Paradis Serial, under which he develops his personal artistic projects. He deeply believes that contemporary dance is an art form that can positively transform people’s lives, regardless of age, gender, or identity.
He is the initiator and co-founder of AREAL | space for choreographic development – created in collaboration by the Gabriela Tudor Foundation, Delazero Association, Indie Box, and choreographer Andreea Belu, within a program co-financed by AFCN (www.arealcolectiv.ro) and currently run by AREAL DANS Srl.
He graduated from the Academy of Theatre and Film in Bucharest with a degree in choreography (1996), the European Master’s Degree in Cultural Management – Ecumest Program (Romania/France, 1995–1996), and the Coaching for Organizational Development program (United Experts & Swiss Cultural Program, 2007/2008).
In over 30 years of professional activity, he has organized more than 250 cultural projects (festivals, artistic research projects, international exchanges, performances, seasons, residencies, workshops, grants) and played a key role in the promotion and development of contemporary dance in Romania, contributing to the creation of the National Dance Center (2004) and AREAL – space for choreographic development (2021). His performances and projects, situated at the intersection of performance, dance, and installation, have been successfully presented in Bucharest, New York, San Diego, Paris, Lyon, Rome, Dublin, Porto, Amsterdam, Beirut, Riga, Seattle, Tokyo, etc., and awarded at various festivals in Romania and abroad.
Eva Danciu
Eva Danciu graduated from the Choreography High School in 2015 and was part of the Romanian National Opera Ballet in Timișoara until 2019. She holds a degree in Performing Arts (Acting) from UVT, Faculty of Theatre and Music (2018), graduated from Daanasana School of Yoga at Move On (2021), and the CNDB Academy of Dance and Performance (2023).
Over time, she has worked with national and international choreographers such as Asier Zabaleta, Eugénie Andrin, Vava Ștefănescu, Florin Fieroiu, Andrea Gavriliu, Camelia Neagoe.
She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Choreography at UNATC, works as an independent artist in Bucharest, teaches in the Children’s Performance School at CNDB, and guides yoga sessions in various spaces and events.
As a creator, she is interested in works that explore spiritual themes, drawing inspiration from the philosophy of ancient Indian texts.
