Honesty and Other Fiends (a.k.a. Brutal Honesty)
In our present reality of alternate facts and political fraud, Zornitsa Stoyanova seeks an answer to one of the biggest issues in modern society – Is there immunity to mind control? Can we ever be sure what truth and honesty is?
Brutal Honesty started as an improvisation movement and speaking practice with the goal of not censoring oneself. This practice interrogates what personal truth is and whether we can ever be truly honest with ourselves and others. From this practice a devised solo emerged called Honesty and Other Fiends.
This solo works within the boundaries of the confessional, the mundane, and the absurd, bordering between an avant-garde dance and stand-up comedy. Zornitsa talks, sings fake opera, moves objects on stage, gets nude, and uses live feed special effects. Ultimately musing on what happens when Honesty and Truth are gone and our obsession with Greatness. Each performance is different and can be accompanied by workshops for dancers or general public on embodiment and using dance, language and song towards personal honesty and truth.
In 2024, the piece was workshoped and shown at works-in-progress in Sofia, Bulgaria, Philadelphia, USA, and Amsterdam, Netherlands. The worked premiered at Cannonball Festival in Philadelphia, USA in Sep. 2024. Click below for full details and trailer.
Sound Body
co-created by Zornitsa Stoyanova and Peter Sciscioli(USA) along with the performers Nikolay Barzakow and Yulia Zidarova and international participants from the workshop Sound Body.
Information on the open call and the structure of the workshop for Sound Body you can find here. For information on the performance click below. We are in process of making this a traveling workshop/performance in 2026.
Altered States: A Performance Conversation
choreography and performance by Zornitsa Stoyanova and Megan Bridge
Performed in and around Philadelphia at different universities as well as on two separate occasions in Sofia, Bulgaria, and also at V. Tarnovo, Bulgaria. This performance is still on tour and booking engagements.
They are both women, mothers, and people who are perhaps obsessed with the concept of “presence” in performance. Collectively, they have spent more than thirty years researching this topic. In this performance conversation, they propose that “performance presence” is, in fact, an altered state of consciousness. They discuss, demonstrate, and explore their own techniques, compositional tools, and physical practices, for creating altered states. Zornitsa and Megan’s performance suggests different ways of being in the world, challenging neuro-normative modes of perception and being. They center these “presencing” practices as survival tactics or strategies to help navigate the daily-ness/deadliness of everyday life.”
AndroMeda
Choreography by Zornitsa Stoyanova
Commissioned by Philadelphia Museum of Art for Friday Remix, in relation to Designs for Different Futures Exhibit, Jan. 31st, 2020.
Featuring a multigenerational cast of some of the best female performers in Philadelphia, Elba Hevia y Vaca, Rhonda Moore, Megan Bridge, and Zornitsa Stoyanova, the piece uses multiple projections, inflatable sculpture, and dance to create a truly alien experience.
AndroMeda happened right before the closing of the world due to the pandemic. We are still looking for opportunities to revive this performance for festivals and performances both inside and outside.
Un-seen
Using Mylar material as a metaphor for the American(western) dream, Zornitsa becomes a refugee, looking to be part of this shiny new world. Partly autobiographical, and partly based on the refugee crisis in both Europe and the U.S., the show traces the use of Mylar in our lives that leads to the disillusionment of the glitzy Western world. Un-seen is a fantastical, beautiful, and ultimately fraudulent journey to the “promised land”.
Explicit Female
Featuring personal narratives, custom-designed lighting, and live-feed special effects, it aims to process the mystery of the shape-shifting form half of the world resides in. Casual, yet intimate, the performance strives to connect deeply and kinesthetically to the viewers, at times asking them to participate in the very creation of the event itself.
shatter ::: dawn
shatter ::: dawn is an invitation to view the body as an object and an interactive social creature. It explores the body as a container for multiplicity of meaning, shapeshifting into recognizable cultural images and abstractions. Performed at Crane Arts Old School building in Philadelphia, USA.
Paper Duchess
The performance was presented in Philadelphia, PA, and Rennes, France as part of Wanted Festival.