Bulgaria Responds — “It’s Alive!” — New Dance now the New Frankenstein
Very pleased to share this magically thoughtful & perceptive response writing by J.Z.Z., after Bulgarian premiere of my nonchoreography "New Dance Now" by Ian Mozdzen, ALTER EGO 2024
Bright, Yet Quiet. The Kind That Deceives You, Then Comforts You.
Julian Zhelyazkov-Zhuzi is a pianist, actor, and poet with a profound, almost quantum view of the performing arts. As part of the “Alter Ego 2024” festival, Zhuzi attended all the performances and is now sharing his reviews. The first performance we’ll discuss is “New Dance Now” by Canadian artist Ian Mozdzen.
Ian Mozdzen’s work is undeniably bright and reflective. Before beginning his show, he addressed the audience briefly—a clear symbol of closeness, even gratitude. He then set a timer on his phone for exactly 40 minutes and immersed himself in his performance.
In his introductory remarks, he described his performance as an “instant” piece, led by spontaneity, and encouraged us to view it as a dream. These opening words resonated with the audience, creating an impression of “being reborn into the present moment,” embodied in the performer himself. The stage was simple: three spotlights, a table with a blue glove on it, a chair next to the table, and a large vase of flowers in between. Mozdzen wore a shiny suit—a costume that seemed to shout, “I’m limiting your movements! I don’t know what you’ll do, but you have to figure it out somehow…” At least, that’s how it felt to me. Yet, despite any sense of restriction, the entire performance was wrapped in whispers and embraced by a surprisingly quiet audience.
To gain a complete and as objective as possible view of this stage performance, it needs to be understood in its entirety, rather than in parts. All its elements were united around a single focal point—the light.
Mozdzen disappeared offstage, and the room went dark. Soft lights emerged. Then, a slight twitch of the curtains… and suddenly, he opened them sharply, almost “instantly.” For the first ten minutes, the lighting was sparse, creating a kind of sudden introduction. His moments of playing a light-blue recorder were surprising; he would usually play three distinct, strong notes, which broke the seriousness of the moment and even elicited laughter from some audience members. The takeaway from this moment was one of Mozdzen’s first messages to us, the audience: on stage, we are free.
The movement of his body was another powerful statement—“We are vast in movement.” And so it was. Much of the air around him was filled with sweeping gestures, reaching physical limits, and encompassing everything grandly. It was fascinating to watch how a performer in a spontaneous piece discovers patterns, forms, steps, and preferences, binding them into a structure as he unfolds.
The third and most important element was the aforementioned lights. Mozdzen turned the spotlights on and off, skillfully playing with shadows, immersing us in a world that was at once mundane and stagnant, yet also unreal and dreamlike. There were moments of pure chaos—lights scattered everywhere, objects strewn about, and Mozdzen himself moving in bright bursts among them. But there were also moments of order, exhaustion, a body draped over a chair, the vase on the table. No decay, no sleep.
Apparently, his inner clock worked flawlessly—in the 39th minute, all the props were returned to their original positions, as were the lights. Only the flowers remained at the center of the stage. Mozdzen knelt in front of them, illuminated directly by a spotlight, and whispered, “All we have are the flowers.” No more than five seconds later, the timer shattered the silence.
In my attempt not to mediate or interpret this performance, I’ll say only that throughout, we were led toward one single thing—and that was life. Only the flowers are alive. Even light does not give life.
Mozdzen succeeded in fulfilling the essence of spontaneous performance—not by presenting something stillborn to the audience, but by creating and affirming life, whether conscious or in a half-dream.
The international “Alter Ego 2024” festival is supported by the European Solidarity Corps and the Student Council of Sofia University.
Thank you, Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada for the generous travel support.
Translated from Bulgarian by ChatGPT.
Photos by @Blackstig
