Nomination for ICARUS award for contemporary dance and performance, 2022

“ – Have birds started falling from the sky?
 – No, but soon”.

Before the End … (of the World) is a brand new piece by Iva Sveshtarova and Willy Prager and their stage “revelation” for the apocalypse. The performance examines apocalyptic culture through various viewpoints. In it, the question, “Will there be an end of the world?”, is  made redundant, as with the pandemic we are living the end of times. In the global pandemic. In the climate apocalypse. In the last generations of the current civilization. Utopians believe that everything can be continued as it is. The collapse is the horizon of our generation. But the collapse is not the end – it is the beginning of our different future. Can we rediscover new ways of living and of being attentive to ourselves and to others?

In order to prepare for these apocalyptic times, Iva Sveshtarova, Willy Prager, Miroslava Zahova, and Nathan Cooper dive into the text of Croatian dramaturg Ivana Ivkovic and start examining dioramas of the catastrophe with 3D models of their own bodies.

“Sometimes we are monsters, with very weird appendages,  other times we are clad in festive clothing and we shout with silence and fill the sky with balloons. In any case, join us in this strange celebration! Trust us, the future (eventually) will end!”.

Iva Sveshtarova is a choreographer and performer, who holds a Master’s degree in “Choreography and Performance” from the Institute of Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen. She also graduated from the experimental Theatre-Studio 4XC and “Synthetic Stage Arts” program of The University of Plovdiv. In 2006 she was awarded with a “DanceWeb” Scholarship, and from 2002 to 2006 she was part of the company “Acto – Instituto de Arte Dramatica”, Portugal. She has worked with directors and  choreographers such as Nikolay Georgiev, Galina Borissova, Ani Vaseva, Filipe Pereira, Helena Botto, deufert&plischke, Thomas Lehmen, Verena Billinger and Sebastian Schulz, Maren Strack, Ana Dankova a.o. Since 2007 she is one of the cofounders of “Brain Store Project” Foundation. Sveshtarova is author of the performances “Perfectly Pink” (nomination for IKAR award for Contemporary dance and performance, 2019), „а(е)фектно“, „Doing that thing again”, „Mirror phase” и „Metamorphosis” by Kafka (production of “Acto – Instituto de Arte Dramatica”, Portugal).

She has authored and co-authored the performances: “A Better Life” (a collaboration between Willy Prager, the German choreographer Martin Stiefermann and the dramaturg Natalie Baudy), “shamebox” (with Willy Prager, ICARUS Award 2018), “Made for Happiness” (with Willy Prager, ICARUS award 2019), “Balkan Dance Reality Show” (collective work with Rosa Beermann and Sonja Pregrad), “Our Last Pas de Deux” by Galina Borissova, “Museum of Hygiene”, “Donna Clara” and “Cliché”, “Soft things” (collaboration with Rose Berman), “Strip naked, talk naked” (with Rose Berman, part of “FREISCHWIMMER” 2014/15, produced by “Sophiensaele”, Berlin), “Show me how” (collaboration with Rose Berman) and “Velocity Pumps” (with Rose Beermann and Tessa Theisen). Iva Sveshtarova is also among the cofounders of “Nomad Dance Academy” and Antistatic International Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance.

Willy Prager is a performer and choreographer, who graduated from the experimental Theatre-Studio 4XC and “Synthetic Stage Arts” program of the University of Plovdiv. He holds a Master’s degree in “Solo, Dance, Authorship” from the Universtität der Kunste in Berlin. He has worked with directors and choreographers such as Nikolay Georgiev, Galina Borissova, David Zambrano, Ivo Dimchev, deufert&plischke, Thomas Lehmen, Dalija Acin, Matej Kejzar, and Maren Strack, among others. 

He is author of the performances: “Prager Strasse”, “Game-a porter”, “Transformbility”, “Egyptian spring”,  “The victory day”, “Sequel for the future” – the last three created and premiered in Berlin. 

Together with Iva Sveshtarova they created or participated in: “Watch your back”, “Cliche”, “Dona Clara”, “Foremigration fever”, “+/- 359 Topology”, “Museum of Hygiene” (2011), “Our Last Pas de Deux” (2015), “Balkan Dance Reality Show”, “shamebox” (2017), “Made for happiness” (2018), “A better life” and “Before the End …(of the World)”. “shamebox” and “Made for Happiness” won the artists two national ICARUS awards in a row.

In a number of projects Willy Prager collaborates with Rose Berman, Sonja Pregrad, Stephan Stereff, Mila Ivanova, Nelly Miteva, Martin Stiefermann. He takes part in festivals as: ImPulstanz”, Wien; „Tanz Tage“, Berlin; “ExPlore”, Bucharest; “Off Europe”, Leipzig; “Bazzar”, Prague; “Kondenz”, Belgrade; “Platforma”, Zagreb; “Spider”, Ljubljana “Tanz Nacht”, Berlin; Festival for Experimental Theatre, Cairo, “Varna Summer”, Varna; “The Era of Aquarius”, Bourgas; “Water”, Burgas;  “АCT” Festival, Sofia; “One Dance Week”, Plovdiv, etc. 

In 2013, Prager won the Prix Jardin d’Europe Award of ImPulsTanz Festival with the production “The Victory Day”. He is cofounder of the Balkan dance network “Nomad Dance Academy”, “Brain Store Project” Foundation and Antistatic International Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance. Willy Prager is co-producer of Dance Magazine in Bulgaria.