We make performances and installations for traditional and alternative spaces. We support artists. Developing our performances.
Run by artists for artists, BodyMeld is the brainchild of independent choreographer Zornitsa Stoyanova. (BULGARIA/USA)
WE VALUE:
***Exchange of ideas, workshops and sharing of methodologies in movement practice.
***Community around rigorous research and/or experimentation and blending genres in dance performance.
***The experience of the audience. We are actively looking for partners in crea
ting programs and platforms that reflect our values and support the making of original contemporary movement art. We have previously partnered with Movement Research, NYC; Arts Station Foundation, Poland; Philadelphia Dance Projects, US; Mascher Space Cooperative, Phila, US; The Fidget Space and other artists, galleries and independent organizations around Europe and the US. ACTIVE PROGRAMS:
Get What You Need performance support residency in Philadelphia, US. Teaching and mentoring dance workshops in Improvisation for Performance and Composing Dance for Camera in person and online around the world. Follow us to join the conversation and expand our network of independent choreographers and artist run organizations who support each other. SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTER: http://eepurl.com/gPojnL
23/03/2026
✨ I DID AN INTERVIEW!!! ✨
Is there perversion in the fundamental search for truth as a concept?
Z.S. This is usually everyone’s first question. It’s as if we are socially programmed to expect that truth is something hidden, something perverse – a mistake, an affair, a murder. Is this some leftover from religious programming, life after communist propaganda, or simply a contemporary observation of political figures?
Why do we as a society have an allergy to truth?
Perversion is connected to shame. As a woman and an artist, I believe that shame is not our friend and does not have the right to control me/us. No, there is no perversion in the search for truth. There is curiosity, physicality, a passion for life, a greed for sensations, there are so many unanswered questions – truth hides in these open questions.
🔥 these are just some of the questions I’m sitting with in
HONESTY AND OTHER FIENDS
Full interview in Bulgarian at the Toplecentrala blog - https://blog.toplocentrala.bg/p/379
🎭 contemporary dance + stand-up + poetry + visual effects
😈 humor, irony, and a bit of discomfort
🧠 a thinking body that refuses to comply
📅 March 31, 2026 🕖 19:00
📍 Toplocentrala, Hall 2, Sofia 🎟️ Tickets in bio
The performance is in English 🇬🇧
💬 After the show, join a conversation with Zornitsa Stoyanova, facilitated by Zhanna Pencheva.
Come if you want to think.
Come if you want to laugh.
Come if you’re not sure what truth even is right now.
photos by Teodora Tsanova- Fedya and Nikola Gyumezov
#СофияСъбития
18/03/2026
🤖 EVERYWHERE I LOOK — AI....
Scroll. AI. Work. AI. Art? Also… AI?? - I'm even using some AI to generate this SEO optimized post... because who has time? Ironic right? Let AI talk to AI algorithms, so people are influenced to take real action. Is this our new handicap?
Everything is getting faster, louder, and more optimized…
while the body — the real, breathing, ageing body is lonely, alone, and maybe forgotten.
👇
“Honesty and Other Fiends” is my present rant.
It is funny. It is real, and ironic.
It is alive, it wants to be GREAT, but what is greatness anyway?
If it's the greatness the "great" ones are selling, we don't want it.
Join me on March 31st at 19:00 at Hall 2 in Toplocentrala.
After the show, there will be an open conversation.
This is an intimate show with limited tickets, so get yours now.
Here is the SEO optimization engine:
If you’re searching for:
✨ Things to do in Sofia in English
✨ live performance Sofia in English
✨ contemporary dance Sofia
✨ experimental art & underground culture
Come. Be there. Not online. Not later. Now. https://payment.toplocentrala.bg/repertoires/181/honesty-and-other-fiends-cestnost-i-drugi-zlodei
15/03/2026
Honesty and Other Fiends performance returns on
📅March 31 at📍Toplocentrala in Sofia. - Hall 2 at 19:00h.
Join me in this sometimes funny, sometimes ironic show that blends stand-up comedy and contemporary performance.
ABOUT:
Honesty and Other Fiends is a contemporary dance and performance work by choreographer Zornitsa Stoyanova, presented in Sofia, Bulgaria. Blending experimental performance, movement, text, and a raw performer–audience relationship, the piece invites viewers into a live encounter with honesty, contradiction, vulnerability, and the social body.
For audiences in Sofia looking for contemporary dance, experimental theatre, live art, or politically engaged performance, Honesty and Other Fiends offers an intimate and thought-provoking experience. The work moves through exposure, discomfort, humor, presence, and confession, asking what honesty can do in public and what kinds of forces—social, political, emotional, and performative—arrive with it.
Created by Zornitsa Stoyanova / BodyMeld, the performance sits at the intersection of contemporary performance, choreographic research, and live experimental art. It speaks to audiences interested in critical art, feminist performance, embodied politics, and works that challenge easy separation between the personal and the political. Rather than offering a fixed message, the piece creates a charged space of witnessing, where the body becomes a site of tension, speech, resistance, and unstable truth.
If you are searching for things to do in Sofia, Bulgaria, especially contemporary performances in Sofia, experimental dance in Sofia, political art events, or independent cultural events, Honesty and Other Fiends is a strong choice for viewers drawn to bold, intimate, and intellectually alive performance.
20/02/2026
✨ GET WHAT YOU NEED (GWYN) вече и в БАЗА ✨
22 март, 12 април, 24 май - 2026
Запишете се сега!
Програмата започва през 2014 г. във Филаделфия и до днес е подкрепила над 70 артисти.
Сега продължава в София — като месечна хореографска лаборатория за експеримент и обратна връзка.
Всеки месец:
🔹 3 артисти
🔹 30 минути за всеки
🔹 записване „който превари, той завари“ без кураторство и политика
Твоите 30 минути са твои.
Можеш да покажеш работа в процес, да тестваш експеримент, да зададеш въпрос или да използваш пространството и хората в него като ресурс.
Получаваш:
🖤 безплатно пространство за изява
🖤 публика и платформа
🖤 структурирана и водена обратна връзка
Зорница Стоянова присъства като външно око и води разговора.
С над 20 години менторски опит и работа със студенти и артисти в САЩ (Swarthmore College, Bennington College), тя гарантира задълбочен и щедър процес.
GWYN не е шоукейс.
GWYN е лаборатория.
❓ От какво има нужда работата ти точно сега?
📩 Записванията са отворени за 22ри МАРТ!
Пиши ни бързо и кратко на [email protected].
Първите трима ще са част от първото GWYN събитие.
Доведи екипа си. Вземи това, от което имаш нужда.
#БАЗА #СъвремененТанц #ТанцСофия #Хореография #РаботаВПроцес #АртистичнаОбщност #ТанцоваЛаборатория
06/02/2026
Още един ден остава до крайния срок!!!
Кандидатствайте до 7ми фев., до края на деня.
Линк в биографията ни.
40 репетиционни часа в БАЗА - Младост 4, София.
(бял квадрат с танцов прожиниращ под)
обратна връзка/метроство
показване в процес
За един хореограф работещ с интердисциплинарни практики.
#отворенапокана #съвременентанц #софиякултура #пърформанс
27/01/2026
👑 “What happens after the death of Truth?
invites you into a solo that is “radical, ironic, and pretty funny.”
✨ Honesty and Other Fiends is a genre-bending dance performance with movement, text, fake opera, and a mic.
Dramaturgy by Jeanine Durning (USA) & Lou Cope (UK)
EN:
This isn’t your usual dance show. It’s confessional, ridiculous, and full of courage.
👀 Come see Honesty and Other Fiends by Zornitsa Stoyanova
🕖 Jan. 29 at 7PM | Hall 2
🎭 Performed in English
🎟 Grab tickets in bio!
📝 Dramaturgy by Jeanine Durning & Lou Cope
BG:
Това не е обикновено танцово шоу. Изповедно е, абсурдно и смело.
👀 Елате да гледате Честност и други злодеи от Зорница Стоянова
🕖 29 януари, 19:00 | Зала 2
🎭 Представление на английски език
🎟 Билети в био!
📝 Драматургия: Жанин Дърнинг и Лу Коуп
23/01/2026
🎭 WHO IS ZORNITSA STOYANOVA?
🇧🇬 Born in Sofia, Bulgaria. Expanded in Philadelphia, US.
Zornitsa Stoyanova () has been on stage for over 20 years, creating performances that blend dance, theater, text, comedy, and visual art into unforgettable moments.
She’s a mother, an immigrant, and an organizer, who makes bold, funny, feminist work that questions how we show up in the world... and what it means to be “honest” in our world of alternative facts.
✨ Honesty and Other Fiends is her latest solo — the result of 4+ years of embodied research, asking:
What is honesty in the body? Can we know if we are being honest with ourselves?
She sings (kind of), talks (a lot), dances, and gets deeply personal — all while questioning power, identity, and our desire for greatness.
🧠 Dramaturgy by Jeanine Durning (USA) and Lou Cope (UK) helped shape the wild ride this show has become — from its roots in the U.S. to performances in the Netherlands, now it's finally premiering in Bulgaria.
🎟 Don’t miss your chance to see it:
Jan. 29 | 7PM | Hall 2
Performed in English
Tickets in bio!
✨ Trivia: Zornitsa loves chocolate, moved back to Bulgaria, only to feel more of an immigrant, and snores loudly.
22/01/2026
What does gibberish Opera have to do with Capitalism?
Ever felt like being honest is an act of rebellion? 🧨
Honesty and Other Fiends is a solo dance-theater piece that's absurd, sexy, and seriously funny.
🗓 Jan. 29 | 7PM | Hall 2
🎭 Performed in English
🎟 Tickets in bio!
📝 Performance by Zornitsa Stoynova, Dramaturgy: Jeanine Durning & Lou Cope
BG:
Чувствали ли сте, че честността е акт на бунт? 🧨
Честност и други злодеи е солово танцово-театрално представление – абсурдно, секси и сериозно забавно.
🗓 29 януари | 19:00 | Зала 2
🎭 На английски език
🎟 Билети в био!
📝 Драматургия: Джанин Дърнинг и Лу Коуп
21/01/2026
🎭 Honesty and Other Fiends Premiere.
Honest, raw, and a little absurd...
📅 Jan. 29 | 🕖 7PM | Hall 2
Conceived and performed byZornitsa Stoyanova ()
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BodyMeld is the brainchild of multidisciplinary artist and mother Zornitsa Stoyanova.
In 2006 in Philadelphia(US), Zornitsa started visualizing all of the platforms and support systems she wished were available to her as an independent choreographer. Through partnerships and shared artists resources she started producing showcases, invited guests workshops, created mini festivals, residencies and other support programs. The first iteration of her company she called Here[begin] Dance, now BodyMeld. Since becoming a mother in 2013, she has focused even more towards supporting other artists and always questioning how can we keep making dance and be innovative in this hard political and socio economic climate. Her answer is always through partnerships, conversations and sharing of knowledge and inspiration. In 2020 Zornitsa, moved back to her native Sofia Bulgaria and is running the organization in both the US and Europe. BodyMeld is fiscally sponsored in the US and will be an official NGO Association in Bulgaria by the end of 2020.
BodyMeld‘s mission is to support Zornitsa performance and visual art as well as create programs that further conversation and collaboration in the local and global dance performance field. We care about a sustainable dance community and strive to connect with and serve other independent dance/performance makers locally and internationally. We care about rigorous research and experimentation in the field of dance both in performance and organizationally. We strive to create a community curious and excited about blending of genres in performance, experimentalism and, surviving and thriving in hard political climates.
We hope that though mutual effort we can elevate each other and further the research and expressions of dance. Though our programs we also hope to popularize experimental/new dance by making it more accessible and understandable to audiences.
We actively seek collaboration with organizations for artistic exchange. We have previously worked with Movement Research, Philadelphia Dance Projects, Arts Station Foundation in Poland, Space, Mascher Space, Pew Center for the Arts and Heritage (previously known as Dance Advance) and Fringe Arts (previously known as Live Arts Festival).
-Exchange of ideas, workshops and sharing of methodologies.
-Community around rigorous research and/or experimentation and blending genres in dance performance.
-The experience of the audience.
-Popularizing experimental performance.
Zornitsa Stoyanova (USA/BUL) is an award-winning (Rocky Award 2017 for Explicit Female) performance artist, curator, writer, lighting and video designer based between Philadelphia, PA and Sofia, Bulgaria. A native of Bulgaria, she produces and presents both her own and other’s work under the name BodyMeld.
Mylar reflective material and custom lighting are integral part of her most recent stage, video, and photography work. Since becoming a mother in 2013 she has focused on making work about the female body, feminist identities and imagery. She researches gesture and emotion in the body seeking potential for meaning. Her most influential teachers include Deborah Hay, Meg Stuart, Miguel Gutierrez, Michelle Boule, Ishmael Houston Jones, Susan Rethorst, Fay Driscoll, Luciana Achugar, Danny Lepkoff. She has performed for Eiko & Koma, Boris Charmatz, Cie. W***y Dorner, Lionel Popkin, Group Motion and others.
Zornitsa is also a supporter for a sustainable dance community and is deeply invested in helping further conversation and collaboration. As BodyMeld she has curated and produced Current: an evening of dance and art and Dance Cinema Projects. (2006-2011) She has hosted and organized multiple classes for the community and taught free workshops in making web sites for artists and budgeting. Since 2014 she has ran a free community dance workshop called Get What You Need, that has grown into a local dance residency. She teaches improvisation technique for performance, dance on camera and composition and has done so in Philadelphia, France, Hungary and her native Bulgaria. Zornitsa writes occasionally for thINKingDANCE.net and is presently working on her first virtual dual language performance funded by National Cultural Fund Bulgaria, that will premiere on facebook in March 2021. www.bodymeld.org
