About us

Antistatic International Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance started in 2008 as the first festival in Sofia with this profile. It was initiated in the context of the efforts of the Balkan network for contemporary dance Nomad Dance Academy to promote and to develop this art form in the Balkan region and to make it one of the vital dance centers in Europe.

The specific focus of the festival is the presentation of new and established artists who develop different approaches to the art of dance, innovative forms, and original artistic practices between art forms. Its focus generates interest and recognition in both the Bulgarian and international context, as evidenced by the sustained international partnerships and regular guest appearances of dance professionals at the festival. So far, Antistatic has presented to the Sofia audience more than 200 performances by some of the most daring and significant dance artists on the local and international scene.

In addition to an artistic program, each year the forum includes an educational module. Between 2008 and 2010, the Balkan educational program Nomad Dance Academy took place within the festival, and in 2012 the annual educational platform “Without Distance” was launched, aimed at professionals and the general public. Within its framework, the format of holding a conversation between the audience and the artists, as well as a series of lectures on topical issues surrounding the present and history of contemporary dance, became established. More than 30 workshops have been organized and held by prominent international and Bulgarian dance artists with both professional and non-professional participants. The festival continuously strives to develop its communication with the audience and was the first to introduce new formats for this such as video introductions to performances presented by the artists themselves, physical introductions to the form of physical warm-ups, etc.

The Antistatic Festival is also active in terms of advocacy for the development of cultural policies concerning contemporary dance in both Bulgarian and international contexts. In 2009 and 2018, it hosted the meeting of the European contemporary dance network Jardin d’Europe, now Life Long Burning. In 2015, it opened as part of the first-ever International Advocacy Meeting for Contemporary Dance “Advocates of Dance” under the patronage of the Mayor of Sofia, part of the series of advocacy initiatives of the Balkan Nomad Dance Academy Network, supported by the EU Culture Programme.

The festival “Antistatic” strives to present contemporary dance in different contexts and spaces and so far the stages of the Youth Theatre “N. Binev, Theatre Workshop “Sfumato”, Alma Alter Theatre at Sofia University, University Theatre at NBU, Centre for Culture and Debate “The Red House”, New Theatre – NPC, DNK – Space for Contemporary Dance and Performance, Derida Stage,  “Topocentrala”, etc.

The festival has built lasting partnerships with international cultural centers and embassies in Bulgaria such as Goethe-Institut Bulgaria, the Austrian Embassy in Sofia, the French Institute, the Polish Institute, etc. The Antistatic Festival is part of the Calendar of Cultural Events of Sofia Municipality and the Ministry of Culture. 

The festival participates in many international networks through the organizations that manage it – Brain Store Project Foundation and Nomad Dance Academy Bulgaria Association.

The teams behind the founding of the festival are the Brain Store Project Foundation, the Informbureau Association, and the Red House Centre for Culture and Debate. The festival is currently produced by the Brain Store Project Foundation and Nomad Dance Academy Bulgaria Association. It is directly organized and curated by artists and producers Iva Sveshtarova, Willy Prager, and Stephan A. Shtereff. 

Over the years Ina Dublekova, Kremena Hristova, Teodora Simova, Elena Angelova, Petya Ivanova-Andreeva, Angelina Georgieva, Michaela Lyutskanova, Alexandra Stanisheva, Emil Iliev, and others have worked or are working for the festival.