Gone are the days when people met at parties or concerts just to have fun and connect with each other. Now it’s important to be seen in the places we go and the experience itself doesn’t really matter anymore, but the appearance in selfies and on the story.
musician Vlaicu Golcea preserves the nostalgia of the old days, when “music was the binder and a nebulous representation of freedom.” In turn, the choreographer Simona Dabija she has been fascinated since childhood by the way the body expresses itself in party spaces and is curious about the past of clubbing. Together, the two artists recently worked on “RETRO REC”, an interdisciplinary project that documents the oral history of clubbing and leisure culture in Bucharest, exploring the last 60 years.
“RETRO REC” starts from six different stories and experiences: that of a lyricist of a rock band from the ’90s, a 72-year-old lady from Berceni, a choreography student, a live artist, a partying IT worker, a a former TV producer, an anthropologist, an 80s disco DJ and a pop culture journalist.
The multimedia performance composed of a sound installation created by composer Vlaicu Golcea from old devices and performative interventions presented by Simona Dabija is hosted by Teatrelli on September 26 and 27, October 3 and 4, with two performances per day.
We talk with Simona and Vlaicu further about this project and what they bring to the public space.
Training stages
Simona: I graduated from the “Spiru Haret” Pedagogical High School in Focșani, after which I continued my studies with a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in choreography at the National University of Theater and Cinematography “IL Caragiale” in Bucharest. Coming to Bucharest, I came into contact with performing arts and contemporary dance for the first time, connecting to the artistic community and participating in various projects, both in state institutions and in independent environments. Since 2015 I have been collaborating with Simona Deaconescu, constantly participating in Tangaj Collective projects as a performer. Recently, experiences from docu-fiction projects and contact with international festivals have awakened my interest in the journalistic, documentary area, but also in a more thorough study of movement.
Vlaicu: I finished a philology-history high school at the biology-chemistry section 🙂 then I graduated from the Bucharest University of Music, at the Pedagogy section, majoring in Jazz. In 1998. After I finished college, I attended the Composition and Musicology Department of the same faculty for another 3 years.
I identify myself as an audio-visual artist and performer, with a career in the performing arts spanning three decades, with a discography of over 30 titles released both in Romania and abroad. My audio-visual activity takes place in syncretic and interdisciplinary arts, including theater music, documentary film, feature and short films, animation, multimedia installations, interventions in public spaces and performances.
In contemporary dance, I signed the soundtrack and sound design for more than 35 national and international productions.
In 2021, I founded Teatrul Postnațional Interfonic, an online and offline platform and community dedicated to different types of artistic manifestations than those promoted by publicly funded institutions or independent cultural entities.
The most important thing in my training was curiosity and the desire to work with people in an artistic environment as varied and as non-toxic as possible.
The creative collaboration between you
Vlaicu: Without any exaggeration typical of an interview, Simona was a stellar appearance for me from the first moment I saw her in the stage space. I was instantly captivated by her performative presence impossible to avoid, her hypnotic expressiveness that comes across as “effortless”, her technical vocabulary and, last but not least, by one of the most pleasant and warm companions in civilian life. So I couldn’t refuse her proposal to collaborate on this project.
The RETRO REC idea
Simona: I’ve always been fascinated by the way the body expresses itself in party spaces, whether we’re talking about apartments, cultural hostels, discos or private clubs. In my family, apartment parties were a tradition, and from a young age, I experienced the simple joy of dancing, without being aware of the image I was projecting. I also have a nostalgia for old objects, for childhood experiences, and a curiosity for the past. Thus arose the desire to explore how people had fun in the past and to build a connection between those times and the present. Through this project, I try to answer the questions: Why do we go to the club? and How has bodily expression evolved in these spaces over time?
Vlaicu: I think that Simona, Alex and I have different perspectives, which only enhances the result. For me, being born in 1974, RETRO means… ME :)) Living for 15 years inside the draconian regime of Ceaușescu and all those who supported him, plus the divided society that any type of dictatorship implies and terror, I took refuge, like any teenager, in music – the most beautiful and effective springboard to escapism and dreaming. To me, any piece of technology that promised better audio resolution (and which today is…RETRO…) was like the latest iPhone or AI platform bringing a new lease of life.
The creative process, from idea to final form
Simona: The project documents the oral history of local clubbing, and in the first phase we worked with anthropologist Bogdan Iancu and journalist Ionuț Dulămiță to identify people from various generations and social backgrounds to tell us about their experiences in clubs and parties. We interviewed people from Bucharest, and these stories will create an intergenerational bridge within a multimedia installation. In parallel, I searched for retro audio equipment that will be part of the installation, belonging to the collaborators Vlaicu Golcea and Alexandru Andrei. We are currently in the design and construction stage of the installation and performance.
stories
Simona: The six stories come from different experiences, which we are still refining. Among the stories documented so far are that of a 90s rock band lyricist, a 72-year-old woman from Berceni, a choreography student, a live artist, a party-goer IT worker, a former TV producer, an anthropologist , an 80s disco DJ and pop culture journalist. They all shared their experiences of how they used to have fun in those days. Inevitably, commonalities between the stories also appear. Each described the role and function of party spaces and how their bodies expressed themselves in those contexts.
The artistic components of RETRO REC
Vlaicu: We hope it will be a sculptural object consisting of various functional sound players from different decades and emitting sounds from various types of media, either analog or digital. This is the obvious technical part. Then, the kinetic-corporal part, Simona’s performance – a dialogue between body and sound and the way in which the two motor energies mutually enhance each other. Our project has nothing didactic in it. He does not prove anything, he only questions. It raises emotions that anyone can receive. Or not. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just something REAL.
Performative interventions
Simona: The performative interventions are a visual representation of the rhythms and atmospheres mentioned in the 6 narratives. Essentially, the body connects to the same need for free expression, and I will try to bodily ‘mix’ these stories, reflecting a transformation of dance in party spaces shaped by the bpm of the music.
Sound installation with retro objects
Vlaicu: The work on our installation is inextricably linked to our collaborator Alexandru Andrei, a man dedicated among many others to SOUND and the technique that has made it reproducible throughout our lives. The installation will mostly feature hardware pieces that belong to us and that have the most intimate connection with our personal history of listening to music and daydreaming. For many people, what we experienced in our time is practically unthinkable today – namely: music without visuals, direct interaction with devices, physical scrolling to the next track, degradation of storage surfaces, etc. For many years, the only visuals were vinyl covers and possibly a poster or photo of your favorite band from an “outside” magazine. Should I mention there is no internet? The only images that accompanied the music were the ones in our heads :). So we bring with us our first tape recorders, cassette players, cd players, from which they played thousands of minutes of sound reveries.
What do you want the audience to leave RETRO REC with?
Vlaicu: Here I really don’t want to have expectations, but to be able to live those moments with the interest you give to a real thing, not a fantasized one. In the end, a genuine work of art is a mix of a somewhat narcissistic gesture with something imperiously necessary, which is exhibited in the world with the hope that there will be other resonators in the public. I am very curious, ready and willing to dialogue with anyone who wants to.
Simona: I don’t like to set precise expectations, but I would like the audience to find themselves in fragments of the stories and atmospheres that we render through the body and the music. RETRO REC is an invitation to dialogue and reflection on the collective need for belonging, free expression and the role of music and dance as a form of resistance.
The value your artistic endeavor for the community
Simona: Starting from the personal histories of a few people, the project addresses not only individual experiences, but also a collective dimension, of community and local cultural identity. Finally, we want to emphasize how important music and dance are, both as forms of expression and belonging, and as a response to a hostile social context.
Vlaicu: First, our project really evokes and questions the issue of community. In my day, so to speak, before 1989, the folk, rock and jazz audiences were the same. We were a community. We saw each other at concerts, we knew many of them by sight. Music was the binder and a nebulous representation of “freedom”. Today, “community” seems to have changed its forms and content. For me, the major difference is that before (this is valid until approx. 2010… ) you went out into the community to see and experience – now (if you eventually decide to go out) you go out to be seen and take selfies for some hearts that disappear after 24 hours. Our project should also partly talk about ART as a form of Resistance and Belonging – which is no longer happening today – it is obvious that it is so – you don’t have to study sociology or musicology to see this – everything is political branding and wholesale glitter that’s cool enough to get you through the day.
Source: www.iqads.ro
