The first half of June at Reactor is all about dance, movement, bodies, and their fascinating history! Within the "Body Histories" project, we are putting a wonderful spotlight on contemporary dance and the choreographic sector in Romania. Among the exciting scheduled events, we get to experience the amazing performance anti(aging), conceived and choreographed by Mădălina Dan and Alexandra Mihaela Dancs. To find out more about this beautiful show in permanent creation, we had a delightful chat with Mădălina Dan.

What was the artistic and personal context when you started working on the anti(aging) show?
Mădălina Dan: I remember Alexandra and I started meeting in the studio back when CNDB (the National Center for Dance in Bucharest) was still housed at the National Theatre. We were brought together by a wonderful curiosity about each other that quickly blossomed into a beautiful friendship, a shared passion to dance, and a drive to create. In 2011, CNDB's time at the National Theatre building was coming to an end. It was quite an intense period that culminated in the "Occupy CNDB" movement—a heartfelt protest against losing our home there. I believe (anti)aging was actually born out of a sense of despair that we wanted to transform into something joyful and positive—a hopeful outlook on the future, on life, on the body, and on our profession in general! We created a vibrant space to look ahead from a perspective that was happily opposite to the reality of those times.

The title (anti)aging was playfully borrowed from the cosmetics industry. It's a common phrase that often hides how society views the aging process. For us, it was less about fighting the passage of time and more about beautifully documenting and celebrating its phases, looking at the changes that happen through a warm, new lens.

How did you design the process for anti(aging), considering it is a show meant to be performed over a span of 30 years? What joy and challenges come with working this way?
M. D.: The grand idea of performing the show all the way in 2041 didn't appear right at the beginning! We simply had this wonderful relation to time, projecting ourselves into the future, thinking about our age and how our bodies and perceptions would change. Since we were video recording most of our rehearsals, the camera naturally became a lovely part of the process. Later on, the spectacular idea of putting on a show that we would restage in 30 years emerged, and with it, the direct address. In the performance, we speak right into the camera (placed in the audience) and talk to our future selves in 2041!

In 2011 there was only a projection of the future, but now in 2024, 13 years after the premiere, we also have this beautiful connection to the past and the present moment. Every single performance is recorded, and along with the rehearsal footage, it forms a living, breathing archive of the project. Some of this archival material is now a delightful part of the show itself! (anti)aging is a performance, but also a continuous, beautifully fragmented process of artistic and biographical archiving—documenting an artistic journey and a wonderful collaboration over an extended period of time.

The show is constantly transforming, happily contaminated by real-life events and everything that happens to us personally and professionally over the years. Time, the natural evolution of a 30-year friendship and collaboration, and the journeys of our personal and professional lives all become wonderful performance material!

I believe this framework allows a beautiful, ongoing relationship between personal life and work, profession and art. This cohabitation of life and art is a constant, passionate interest of mine.

Both the satisfactions and the challenges are incredibly tangible when working in this way. Life and work offer so many wonderful surprises! It is a deeply intimate space, in relation to oneself and to each other, offering profound moments of connection, even if it requires heart and effort. Sometimes the positive outlook we set out with acts as a fantastic motivator, and other times it takes a little more effort to find. The project is an amazing weaving together of different worlds—it’s so exciting to see how the personal distills into the professional and vice versa, and what wonderful shape it takes on stage! The fact that this journey is documented brings us closer to time, memory, and the beautiful transformations we can track and celebrate.

How has the show been received by audiences so far? How is it changing for you over time?
M. D.: At the beginning, we set up a wonderful initiative called the (anti)aging outpatient clinic, which aimed to expand the scope and convention of reviving the show in 2041, by documenting life outside the video camera as well. We wanted to capture and include the wonderful audience, the venues, and the technicians we met—essentially, the vibrant reality surrounding the stage!

After every performance, theatergoers are warmly invited to step inside the camera's frame and leave their own testimonies. We've happily noticed that the project continues to live on in the hearts of our audience long after the curtain falls! Some regular theatergoers have been following us from the very beginning, and some even return to see it again bringing their parents and loved ones. In a way, it's a beautiful encounter with oneself through the lens of (anti)aging. The audience is truly the heart of this project! Projecting into the future, capturing the present, and sharing these themes creates a warm, immediate connection and a wonderful sense of community. The fact that the project is no longer just about us is something I absolutely cherish, and it keeps me inspired to continue this beautiful journey!

What are you most excited to explore in your artistic work? Is there something that constantly occupies your mind, or more specifically during this period?
M. D.: The magic of blending the personal with the professional, life with art, expanding the boundaries of performance, and self-historicizing are themes I joyfully return to constanty. Alongside my daily movement routine, I would love to build an even more dedicated practice of archiving—documenting the beautiful, overall drama of life and work through writing, collecting objects, and finding wonderful connections and coincidences between projects, people, places, memories, and collaborations. For me, making art is not just aesthetic, it is deeply human, emotional, and social! This is why I love exploring unique presentation formats, from intimate one-on-one experiences to durational performances.

Speaking of distilling the personal into the professional, a wonderful example is "The Agency of Touch"—a one-on-one tactile performance. This came from two inspirations: one is the practical knowledge of the body, anatomy, and somatic movement from dance and applying it to benefit the wider public, not just in art but in care settings too. The second comes from personal experiences with illness—creating a beautiful, caring format that offers comfort, attention, and body awareness through the power of touch.

The show I worked on last year, "Patosfera," is a wonderful continuation of working with emotions through the body, voice, and physicality—a process I began with "Mothers of Steel." In "Mothers of Steel," the personal is beautifully transformed into the political. This time, I was fascinated by contrast—how we live with the biological, psychological, and social contrasts of our urban environments. "Patosfera" is a dazzling synthesis of diverse influences, blending fitness, cosmology, trap music, the study of ants, urban spaces, and our interaction with technology!

With "Patosfera" and my latest performance, "Crossed Species," I am excitedly embracing an ecological perspective, moving away from a human-centered view to observe and learn from other wonderful ecosystems like plants, animals, and hybrid forms!

Can we speak of a certain type of message you express through contemporary dance or performance? How has it evolved over time, especially with the way the choreographic scene has grown in Romania?
M. D.: Even though there are specific topics I love researching, I think above all, I am passionate about creating wonderful new worlds, physical states, and aesthetics that hold a beautiful artistic coherence. And of course, the local cultural and social scene beautifully shapes how I work—which is something I really noticed when working abroad!

I am very passionate about making art accessible to everyone! Perhaps because even after 20 years, there is still a need for more contemporary dance education for the wider public and institutions. That's why I believe inviting spaces for learning, dialogue, and encounters between artistic and non-artistic worlds are so incredibly important, and should be celebrated just as much as producing new shows!

Likewise, dance workshops—spaces created to bring people of all ages and backgrounds together to experience the joy of movement and its amazing benefits for mental and physical health—are my favorite, hands-on way of connecting with our community!

As for the choreographic scene in Romania, it is wonderful to see more independent initiatives and new spaces dedicated to contemporary dance, and a beautiful dialogue growing between visual arts and choreography! Paradoxically and spectacularly, in a system that is often underfunded, there is so much passion, hard work, and highly necessary projects being generated for our society. The artistic directions are changing beautifully too! Balancing artistic creation, management, domestic life, and the challenges of being an independent artist can be demanding, but it is a journey full of passion.

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