ICC Shows: Before disappearing

“I disappear over and over again. Only to find myself exactly where I’m supposed to be”

Before disappearing is a first part of the ongoing artistic project Bodies in Pleasure, Bodies That Care, Dancing Bodies. The project explores sensuality, the performative identities carried by the dancer, and the erotic presence of the dancing body. The work examines relational dynamics with the environment, music, gazes, bodies, emotions, feelings, and the uncertainty of the unknown.

The title Before disappearing originates from two poems written by Giuliana Kiersz in the context of the Leap Off Festival—this is where everything began. The work later continued as a practice and dance piece developed by me in early 2024, carrying the title as part of a living, moving artistic research process.As the work continued to transform, it evolved into its final form, titled I Love When You’re Watching Me.

You may experience the two as the same work or as entirely different pieces. This is not meant to confuse, but rather to reflect the honesty of how artistic work moves, shifts, and transitions over time.

Have a nice evening!
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CREDITS:
Dance: Zhana Pencheva
Music: Tsvetan Momchilov
Light Design & Costumes: Ralitsa Toneva
Photo & Video Documentation: Natalya Sidorenko
Co-Production by Garage Collective, ICC and Zhana Pencheva.
With the partnership of Toplocemtrala, Sofia

The project is financially supported by the Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria.
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ABOUT THE WORK

Before disappearing, I dance solo in intimate connection with music and audience, born out of a desire to open spaces of playful intimacy, where you can dwell and dissolve in ephemerality. I can easily appear and disappear, while at the same time always being here.

Before disappearing I celebrate the observation and being seen and felt in raw vulnerability, building connections through sensual and delicate interactions. 

Before disappearing with each breath, movement, and sound, I change and transition into something else.

Before disappearing I become more visible, and sometimes I disappear invisibly.

Before disappearing with this dancing, I allow myself to occupy space, to express myself freely, and reciprocally to create phenomena through movement and dance, moving through my own experiences and dance archives, leaving and erasing traces, touching senses, and even more.

Before disappearing I will take out all my clothes and stay naked in front of your eyes till the darkness covers my skin and the memory of me, and I become sea foam.

Before disappearing I will write you a last love letter and print it on your heart, window, and palm so you never forget me.
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Zhana Pencheva is a freelance dancer working between Burgas, Sofia, Stockholm, and other international contexts. She holds a BA and an MA in Dance and Choreography from New Bulgarian University, and in 2025 she completes the master’s program “New Performative Practices” at Stockholm University of the Arts.

Her dance works often explore themes related to sensitivity, eroticism, love, relationships, and the kinetic spaces the body inhabits. She creates her performances in close collaboration with music, sound, light, space, and other bodies. Among her recent works are the choreographic concerts Six Love Songs (2019) and Dance baby, dance (2021), as well as the performances Glass of love and Garden. Her latest solo work is I Love When You’re Watching Me.

In 2018, together with Aleksandar Georgiev and Dario Barreto Damas, she co-founded the international artistic team STEAM ROOM, which works with practices of collective authorship. They have presented their productions in numerous European cities. Since 2020, they have been developing the long-term initiative Imaginative Choreographic Center (ICC) — a projec institution that explores collective processes and shared responsibility and critical engagement in the field of dance and choreography.

In recent years, Zhana has performed in Bulgarian and international productions, including Passing (Israel Aloni), The Body as Reference for Revolution (United Cowboys), In C (Sasha Waltz & Guests), The Power of S (Aleksandar Georgiev), Hommage à Merce Cunningham (Paula Rosolen), Impossible Actions (2021, Yasen Vasilev), among others.