In this open laboratory—an event Tangaj Collective hosts annually for its upcoming productions—the audience is invited to a relaxed introduction to the show’s concept, the artists’ creative methods, and a brief performative glimpse into the atmosphere of the future show. Participation is free of charge and is based on reservation. The language used in the presentation is English.
THE CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER
SIMONA DEACONESCU, IOANA VREME MOSER, SIMINA OPRESCU
A TANGAJ COLLECTIVE PRODUCTION
THE BODY AS STREAMS
PROJECT SUMMARY
Choreographer and filmmaker Simona Deaconescu (RO), visual artist Ioana Vreme Moser (DE), and sound artist Simina Oprescu (DE) bring their futuristic and uncanny universes together in The Choreography of Water. The newest Tangaj Collective production critically addresses water movement from the oceans to the body. The performance explores our bodies as fluid territories, where human and non-human worlds meet, inviting audiences to rethink the political implications of water flows.
Four dancers interact with a series of water-based sculptures to generate sound, exploring the relationship between movement and fluid computing—a form of computation that emulates the natural rhythms of the planet through water streams. As the sculptures’ sounds are amplified and enriched, they transform into immersive sonic landscapes, becoming dynamic instruments for the performers to explore and manipulate.
The Choreography of Water is a speculative piece that envisions a different hydrological cycle for Earth’s future, listening to its streams, on a journey from the inside to the outside. It’s about the streams that weave the planet’s life from the intracellular to the extracellular fluids in our bodies, to the ports we build to connect with the world, to the shallow waters we use to get our food, the rivers that enrich our cities, to the deep sea that is as strange to us as a distant planet.
In January 2025, 45 selected dance artists from 12 countries participated in an international workshop audition at the National Center for Dance in Bucharest (CNDB). Four dancers residing in Romania, Belgium, Germany, and Italy were selected.
The creation process for The Choreography of Water project will begin in March-April 2025 at CNDB, taking the form of an interdisciplinary exploratory laboratory, and will be further continued in early autumn with rehearsals and public presentations. With funding already secured from the Administration of the National Cultural Fund of Romania (AFCN), the Goethe Institute Bucharest, the Italian Cultural Institute Bucharest and scientific and logistic support from art and science NGOs Marginal and Qolony, the project is set to premiere on stage on the 4th and 5th of October 2025 at CNDB.
The project has been selected for further site-specific development by the In Situ European Platform. The three makers will participate in a development laboratory in Copenhagen in July 2025.
Neimanis’ concept of “political locality” offers a crucial framework for the work: water is never neutral. Its flows embody histories of colonization, privatization, and extraction, shaping landscapes and bodies alike. This situational context allows the performance to ask: what futures can we imagine if we shift from dominating water to choreographing with it?
CHOREOGRPAHY AND FLUID COMPUTING
CONCEPTUAL BASE
Working regularly with scientific institutes, private and public archives, and activist groups, Simona Deaconescu and her collaborators invite the audience to expand their vision of the body, to perceive it as a territory within which multiple identities reside and plural universes meet. Described as “a captivating exploration of the complex nature of human identity” (Elena Angelova, Scenart), her docufiction performative works challenge how we perceive our bodies in relation to nature, history, and technology.
Ioana Vreme Moser’s celebrated water-based sculptures, “Fluid Memory” and “Fluid Alphabet”, explore “an alternative form of computer based on a forgotten technology and, with it, a new narrative of our future” (Diane Pricop, Obsolete). In her practice, water becomes a source of memory and knowledge. Ecological forms for computation are essential for understanding the natural world. The natural wavy movement of water inspires Ioana to create sculptural installations in which computing is based on streams, a critical response to the binary technological vision of today. Ioana studies hybrid bodies, which she calls fluid agents, in which the water dances at different speeds.
Working within the Tangaj Collective’s framework, their new collaborative project proposes a performance inspired by the question of feminist writer Neimanis Astrida: “What are the political implications of the movement of water?”
Through this new work they respond to key questions about water politics by proposing a more than human, ecofeminist view of water as a source of knowledge instead of an economic resource. As Neimanis Astrida mentions in her book “Bodies of Water: Posthuman Feminist Phenomenology”, “changing how we think about bodies means changing how we think about water”.
FUTURE MORPHOLOGIES
REASEARCH
Although our human skin feels like a shell protecting our organs, we connect with the planetary hydrocommons through the fluids we leek into the world — pee, sweat, sebum, spit, blood, and tears. We extend our borders and become trans-corporeal beings, living with other bodies of water.
We can look at the global ocean as a single system, similar to a body; all the water flows through it. The water’s surface is like the ocean’s skin, with currents acting as vessels transporting blood and the various zones and layers resembling organs. Surface currents constantly travel – very slowly – they are massive, with a slow and steady pace. In the northern hemisphere, they rotate clockwise. In contrast, in the southern hemisphere, they rotate counterclockwise due to the Earth’s rotation around its axis. The water from the depths moves even more slowly and sometimes travels in the opposite direction to the surface. The North Pacific, the ocean at the end of the world, is where water rises back to the surface.
What imbalances the million-year choreography of water?
To reflect upon that question the artists envision reflexive futurologist interaction between four dancers and a series of small saltwater-based glass sculptures. Ioana’s sound-generating sculptures use recirculated water as their only energy source. With a fluidic morphology, they encapsulate and set in motion the different substances and matters that connect the seawater with our bodies.
Sound travels four and a half times faster and a hundred times farther in water than in air. Low sounds travel the farthest, while high-pitched sounds dissipate very quickly. Most marine animals are disturbed by the sounds of ships, leading to their death because they use sound as a communication system to obtain food. Most of us know that sound is used as echolocation, but few know that underwater creatures hear the world differently through bone conduction. The bony skeletons of animals pick up the pressure waves of sound traveling through water and transmit them to the inner ear.
Inspired by this research the performance features four dancers in a constant flow of movement, generating sounds by touching or blowing into small water-based sculptures. One example is that dancers use transparent sculptures as sound instruments. For instance, a water-based flute could become an instrument of sound composition for dancers to perform on stage.
A diverse array of techniques, including contact microphones and other advanced methods, are used to capture these sounds in real-time. The resulting sonic elements are woven into an immersive soundtrack, composed by Simina Oprescu, blending the physicality of the performance with the fluidity of sound.
The world beneath the oceans is the closest thing to extraterrestrial worlds. The abyssal body is intriguing. Often, the creatures of the deep waters have been called monsters because of their sizes and the strange shapes they take. They can range in size from microscopic forms to giants. Many live for hundreds of years without light and with very few food sources. To survive, animals in the deep oceans use camouflage as their primary method of protection, as well as transparency, reflective surfaces, dark coloration, and visual mimicry. They all follow Kleiber’s law – the larger they are, the less energy they need to survive.
Deep sea creatures possess the power to regenerate, thrive with minimal resources, and become one with the ecosystem. They move very slowly, only when necessary to conserve energy. When they do, it’s with remarkable speed, similar to a sprint. Deeper, in the bathypelagic zone, creatures no longer require eyes, and their heads grow considerably due to the absence of light.
Thus, water becomes mythology, habitus, biofuel, and memory. The choreography of water becomes the choreography of life on planet Earth and the choreography of fluids in our bodies. The complex connection between the three is the core of the piece.
MEET THE MAKERS
BIOGRAPHIES
SIMONA DEACONESCU
Born in Romania in 1987, Simona Deaconescu is a choreographer and filmmaker based in Bucharest.
She examines social constructs, bridging fiction and objective reality. Her work delves into critical scenarios of the body while speculating on its role in past and future societies. She often works collectively, either in interdisciplinary groups or in creative duos. In her art, the performative meets the cinematic in spaces where nature, history, and technology converge, expanding the notion of choreography beyond the human body.
She studied choreography at the National University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest and film directing at the Media University of Romania.
She has been developing her work in innovation and research-based networks such as Moving Digits, MODINA, biofriction, and Forecast, and she was awarded twice as an Aerowaves Artist, in 2018 and 2022, and once as a Moving Balkan Artist in 2025.
In 2014, Simona founded Tangaj Collective, a transdisciplinary production company working with artists and researchers. Their creations span performances, installations, films, and videos that reached audiences across the Balkans and Eastern Europe, British Columbia, Mexico, and Madagascar.
“From historic dance pandemics to microbiology, it seems no subject is too complex or challenging for the choreographer—and if there’s any fervor here, it’s for new creation and innovating the form.”
Janet Smith, Stir Arts & Culture Vancouver, 2024
IOANA VREME MOSER
Born in Romania in 1994, Ioana Vreme Moser is a sound artist based in Berlin, engaged in hardware electronics, speculative research, and tactile experimentation.
In her practice, she uses rough electronic processes to obtain different materialities of sound. She places electronic components and control voltages in situations of interaction with her body, organic materials, lost and found items, and environmental stimuli. From these collisions, synthesized sounds emerge to carry personal narrations and observations on the history of electronics, their production chains, wastelands, and entanglements in the natural world.
She holds a BA in Fine Arts at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design, Graphics Department in Timisoara, Romania, and received an Erasmus Scholarship at the Faculty of Intermedia / Jan-Matejko-Akademy of Fine Arts in Kraków, Poland. She lectured at Tangible Music Lab, Kunstuniversität Linz, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Washington, HFK, University of the Arts Bremen, and Musik Academy Krakow Studio for Electroacoustic Music.
Amongst others, she has performed and exhibited at the National Gallery of Denmark (DK), Fonderie Darling (CA), singuhr (DE), Akademie der Künste Berlin (DE); Manifesta 14 (XK); SFX Sound Effects Seoul (KR), Ars Electronica (AT), Bunkier Sztuki Gallery Krakow (PL); Simultan Festival (RO); Eigen+Art Lab – Transmediale, Berlin (DE).
“Ioana Vreme Moser invites us to pause and be aware of the fragility of our existence. She encourages us to listen to and respect our own slow but stable rhythm, like that of a resilient nature.”
Diane Pricop, Obsolete, 2024
SIMINA OPRESCU
Simina Oprescu, born in 1993, is a Romanian composer of electroacoustic music and sound artist based in Berlin, Germany, submersing herself in the intricacies of sound’s acoustic and spectral properties. Her compositions embrace a diverse array of instruments, spanning from analog synthesizers to computer music or string instruments. Simina employs acoustic artifacts from physical or natural spaces as recordings, showcasing techniques cultivated through an investigative electroacoustic composition approach. Her exploration takes her deep into structures and phenomena, weaving potent yet nuanced harmonic narratives influenced by psychoacoustics, consciousness studies, spatial arts, and theoretical or physical sound-sculpture installations.
Her work was presented in numerous festivals, music/radio platforms, galleries and museums, collaborating with various international video artists, and her sound compositions were exhibited in EVA International | Ireland’s Biennial, Museum Tinguely (Basel), Märkisches Museum (Berlin), Palmer Gallery (London), Art Encounters Foundation, MOTA Museum (Ljubljana), n.b.k Berlin, Hošek Contemporary, Suprainfinit Gallery (Bucharest), MARe museum Bucharest (Museum of Recent Art), SONICA, Cynetart, Rokolectiv, Simultan or ORF musikprotokoll and having her work mentioned in various magazines, like Positionen Berlin or The Wire. Her releases include work on the Swiss label Hallow Ground. In 2020 she was selected to be part of the SHAPE+ platform artist roster.
“Her music is fascinating and makes you consider the relationship between yourself and the sounds that surround you, how you interact with them and react to them, where they touch you the most, how and why.”
Will Pinfold, Spectrum Culture, 2024
MEET THE DANCERS
LAURA MURARIU
Romanian-born dancer and choreographer Laura Murariu completed her classical training at the National College of Arts “O. Bancila” in Iași and then continued her studies at the Academy of Dance and Performance (National Center of Dance Bucharest). In 2023, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Choreography from the National University of Theatrical Arts and Cinematography and is currently a third-year student at P.A.R.T.S., Brussels, where she performs in “Drumming” by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. During her studies in Bucharest, she worked with Romanian choreographers Simona Deaconescu, Mădălina Dan, Eduard Gabia, and Valentina de Piante. In the past, she has received scholarships for the Salzburg International Ballet Academy Summer Intensive and Hamilton City Ballet’s Summer Intensive Camp in Canada.
SILVIA BRAZZALE
Born in Vicenza in 1998, Silvia Brazzale is an Italian dancer and performer whose practice combines movement with anthropological research, focusing on the shared contexts between humans and their environments. She studied modern and contemporary dance with mentors including Lucy Briaschi, Giannalberto De Filippis, Michal Mualem, and Virgilio Sieni, among others. After earning a degree in Anthropology, Religions, and Oriental Civilizations from the University of Bologna, Silvia began applying her anthropological perspective to choreography and performance. Her work has involved collaborations with Daniele Ninarello, Thierry Parmentier, and Aristide Rontini, as well as appearances in choreographic creations by Virgilio Sieni. Currently, she continues to develop her performative explorations—such as ac-cogliere / pro-tendere—while performing in various productions throughout Europe.
ADA ANGHEL
Ada Anghel is a Romanian dancer and performer with roots in street and breakdance. After earning a Psychology degree from the University of Bucharest, she pursued Choreography at the National University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest. Alongside her formal training, she has attended international workshops led by artists such as Rob Hayden (Ultima Vez), Lali Ayguadé Company, Vittoria De Ferrari Sapetto (Akram Khan Company, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui), Fabian Wixe (Flying Low), and Edivaldo Ernesto (Sasha Waltz). Her performance credits include works by Anca Stoica, Alejandra Jara, Valentina de Piante, and Ioana Marchidan. Driven by a passion for both movement and musicality, Ada continues to explore contemporary dance as a means of creative expression and collaboration.
CHELSEA REICHERT
Originally from the United States and now based in Berlin, Chelsea Reichert is a contemporary dancer with a BFA in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College. She further honed her craft at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance under Summer Lee Rhatigan. Chelsea has performed with a range of choreographers and companies across the U.S. and Europe, including tinypistol/Maurya Kerr, Zina Vaessen & Ingo Keil, and Larry Arrington. Her recent engagements feature “Working Bodies” at Tanznetz Freiburg, “Graben” by Diana Thielen, and collaborative dance film projects. Chelsea’s work spans stage performances, interdisciplinary residencies, and explorations involving movement and technology, reflecting her commitment to innovation and collaboration in dance.
The project is produced by Tangaj Collective Association, and co-funded by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund, supported by the National Center for Dance Bucharest, Goethe-Institut România, Instituto Italiano de Cultura Bucarest, developed in partnership with Marginal and Qolony Associations. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how its results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding beneficiary.