THE CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER

SIMONA DEACONESCU, IOANA VREME MOSER, SIMINA OPRESCU
A TANGAJ COLLECTIVE PRODUCTION

BRIEF

THE BODY AS STREAMS

The Choreography of Water explores the movement of water, from the invisible flows inside the body to those that shape the planet.

Inside the human body, water flows constantly—through blood, lymph, tears, sweat, menstrual fluid. These movements keep us alive, regulate temperature, allow us to heal, to feel, to procreate. Block or reroute them, and the system collapses. The same happens to the planet: when rivers are dammed, lakes emptied, seas rerouted, or waters relocated, the circulatory system of Earth is disturbed, breaking the balance between all living systems.

On stage, this idea unfolds through the artistic visions of choreographer Simona Deaconescu, visual artist Ioana Vreme Moser, and sound artist Simina Oprescu, embodied by three performers. They move within haunted landscapes shaped by transparent, glass-and-tubing sculptures that circulate streams of water. These hybrid instruments—part organ, part machine—act as a fluid computer, where every loop, blockage, and redirection generates sound. Sometimes the dancers trigger the streams; other times, the streams dictate their movement.

Shifting between micro and macro perspectives, the performance zooms in on the saline fluids in our veins and zooms out to altered rivers, ports, and deep seas, imagining a speculative future hydrological cycle in which humans learn not to control water, but to move with it.

CONCEPT

FLUID MORPHOLOGIES

Based in Bucharest, Simona Deaconescu works across performance, installation, and speculative research, exploring themes such as marginality, feminism, virtuality, and the sensation of existing between times, histories, and realities, with works presented throughout Europe, as well as in Mexico and Canada. Ioana Vreme Moser, based in Berlin, has been honored twice at Prix Ars Electronica for work in experimental electronics and sound art, while Simina Oprescu, also Berlin-based, focuses on acousmatics and the sonification of data. Together, they shape a performance that examines water in motion—from the deep planetary currents to the invisible flows within our own bodies, the show invites audiences to reimagine how water connects, sustains, and transforms life.

On stage, four dancers interact with Ioana’s water-based objects—transparent glass and tubing structures that circulate 30 liters of water in continuous motion. These hybrid objects, shaped like organs or underground waterways, act as “components” of a fluid computer, where the speed, resistance, and oscillation of water streams generate sound. Sometimes the dancers initiate the interaction, triggering streams, loops, or blockages through their touch and movement; other times, the objects themselves provoke the dancers, releasing sounds and flows that demand a response. The result is a constant exchange—always moving, never silent—where bodies and instruments become interdependent storytellers.

The sounds—abstract, breath-like, raw—are amplified into immersive sonic landscapes. Their sources are sometimes hidden, creating moments of acousmatic mystery, and sometimes revealed, allowing audiences to witness the deep connection between the movement of water and the movement of the body.

The performance flows between micro and macro perspectives: zooming in on the saline fluids in our veins that remind us of our oceanic origins, then zooming out to the altered rivers, shallow fishing waters, and deep seas of a changed planet.

The Choreography of Water envisions a speculative future hydrological cycle—one that resists the exploitation of water and imagines new ways of living with it.

Following an international workshop-audition with 45 dance artists from 12 countries, four performers—based in Romania, Belgium, Germany, and Italy—were selected for the project. Creation began in March–April 2025 at CNDB with an interdisciplinary laboratory. In early autumn, the process continued at CNDB with rehearsals and public previews, leading to the premiere on October 4–5, 2025.

The project is supported by AFCN, the Goethe-Institut Bucharest, the Italian Cultural Institute Bucharest, and benefits from scientific and logistic input from NGOs Marginal and Qolony, as well as the Ecosistem Festival.

Inspired by Astrida Neimanis’ reminder that “water is never neutral,” The Choreography of Water asks: What futures might emerge if, instead of controlling water, we learned to move with it?

TEAM

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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, 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 Moser

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.

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, Fonderie Darling, singuhr, Akademie der Künste Berlin; Manifesta 14; SFX Sound Effects Seoul, Ars Electronica, Bunkier Sztuki Gallery Krakow; Simultan Festival; Eigen+Art Lab – Transmediale, Berlin

“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

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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 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, Märkisches Museum, Palmer Gallery, Art Encounters Foundation, MOTA Museum, n.b.k Berlin, Hošek Contemporary, Suprainfinit Gallery, 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

VIDEO GALLERY

CREDITS

CHOREOGRAPHY AND DRAMATURGY: Simona Deaconescu

FLUIDIC SOUND OBJECTS: Ioana Vreme Moser

ORIGINAL MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN: Simina Oprescu

PERFORMERS: Silvia Brazzale, Chelsea Reichert, Ada Anghel / Laura Murariu

ASSISTANT CHOREOGRAPHER: Georgia Elza Măciuceanu, Simona Dabija

GLASS SHAPING: Adrian Sistem

ELECTRONIC SOUND OBJECT DESIGN: Dorian Largen

LIGHT DESIGN: Marius Costache, Dragoș Mărgineanu

SOUND DESIGN ON STAGE: Ștefan Stanciu

INSTALLATION SOUND RECORDING: Matei Vasilache

VIDEO DOCUMENTATION: Tudor Cioroiu

PROJECT COORDINATOR: Simona Deaconescu

PROMOTION: Ioan Maxim, Cristiana Andrei

GRAPHIC DESIGN FOR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS: GRAPHOMAT

FINANCIAL SUPERVISOR: Andreea Tudor

PRODUCED BY: Tangaj Collective

CO-PRODUCED BY: Centrul Național al Dansului București

CO-FINANCED BY: Administrația Fondului Cultural Național

INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS: Goethe Institut, Istituto Italiano di Cultura Bucarest

AFFILIATED PARTNERS: Marginal, Qolony, ECOSSISTEM-Festival Internațional de Arte Performative

SPECIAL THANKS: Andrei Tudose, Sabina Suru, Cristian Pascariu, Diane Pricop, Floriana Cândea

The project is co-financed by AFCN – the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. 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 for the way in which the project results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding beneficiary.