Dance Magazine is an annual print publication dedicated to ballet, contemporary dance, and dance culture. Its goal is to cover current events, analyze processes, and highlight outstanding figures from the Bulgarian and international dance scenes during the season.

Editor in Chief of Dance Magazine is Angelina Georgieva.

Dance Magazine was initiated in 2019 by Brain Store Project Foundation / Antistatic Festival in the frame of Performance Situation Room programme of Life Long Burning and since then it has been published in partnership with Nomad Dance Bulgaria with the financial support of Sofia Municipality and the National Culture Fund, under the “Creative Europe” Targeted Support Program.

The theme Visual Aspects of Dance, this year's issue of Dance Magazine invites reflection on what becomes visible on stage, how the movement of the body interacts with the entire staging environment — with a focus on those approaches in which dance challenges the act of watching, and scenography gives impulse to choreography.

In this issue you can read about the Berlin premiere of the ballet Nureyev — banned in Russia — authored and directed by Kirill Serebrennikov and choreographed by Yury Posokhov; about how prima ballerina Alessandra Ferri aims to transform the Vienna Ballet into one of the best in the world; and also how the regional network 'Moving Balkans' brings contemporary dance from the Balkans — including Bulgaria — onto the international stage. We speak with the new director of the National School of Dance Arts, Galina Srebreva, present reviews of the latest dance premieres and award-winning productions in Bulgaria.

We also touch on the topic of how Space inspires dance artists and how they, in turn, can be of use to astronauts on future space missions.

Throughout the pages of this issue, we also celebrate the 60th anniversary of Galina Borissova — one of the most uncompromising and original figures on the Bulgarian dance scene, with whom the magazine's team shares a particularly close bond.

With texts by Kerstin Schroth, Elena Basteri, Elna Matamoros, Mehmet Kerem Özel, Angelina  Georgieva, Tsvetana Georgieva, Iveta Marinova, Violeta Vitanova, Stanislav Genadiev, Albena Tagareva, Boris  Daltchev, Anita  Angelova, Elena Angelova, Marta Buggio, Mariya Rusanova, Plamen Harmandjiev, Vassilka Shishkova.

The magazine has completed its first seven years. It is believed that in human development, these years form the foundation of personality. This gave us reason to focus on the question of what contributes to the formation and strengthening of new generations in dance—artists who are now emerging or already establishing themselves on the professional stage. In the "Feature Topic" section, we talk with some of the interesting new faces in contemporary dance in Bulgaria to hear their stories. Education is naturally of key importance for the formation of new generations. Therefore, we conducted a study of leading educational programmes the city of Sofia, primarily in contemporary dance. Chris Standfest, longtime artistic director of the young choreographers' series at Vienna’s ImPulsTanz festival, shares her observations on what supports the development of new generations in dance and what topics young dance creators in Europe deal with today. The successful example of Germany’s Explore Dance network shows how to ensure the future of dance art by attracting young audiences.

In this issue, we introduce new, vibrant presences on the Bulgarian and international scenes such as Simeon Atanasov, Deva Schubert, Christos Papadopoulos among others. We also cover the heated discussion on the potential impact of advancing artificial intelligence on dance in the "Perspectives" section. With this issue, we launch the new "Directions" section, which presents the development of dance in various national contexts around the world. We begin with the story of the Flemish wave, which turned Brussels into a vital center of European contemporary dance.

The theme of new generations suggests an optimistic look toward the future, but a sense of anxiety creeps into the pages of the magazine about whether the achievements in cultural policies and institutional commitment to culture and the arts will be preserved and built upon amidst widespread budget cuts, extreme politicization of leadership appointments, and uncertainty regarding peace in Europe. Simone Willeit from Germany calls in the "Highlights" section for unity against “everything that is being taken away from us, so that we can continue to maintain a democratic environment.”

These are just some of the topics in the upcoming 120 pages dedicated to dance…

The feature topic of its 6^th issue in 2024 is The Value of Dance. Artists, managers, writers, and researchers from different angels of contemporary dance world reflect on the value of dance practice (Chrysa Parkinson), on the changing view on dance technique and education (Jens R. Giersdorf), on the role of dance festivals (Kerstin Schroth), dance criticism (Sanjoy Roy) and dance heritage (Madeline Ritter) as well as on the social value of dance (deufert&plischke) including in the Arab world (Egypt, Jordan).

The new issue reports also on the changes at the top of world-famous ballet institutions in Russia after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, on the last edition of the leading ballet competition in Europe Lausanne Prix and other currents on the international and local dance scene. A special focus is given to dance dramaturgy by presenting some newest (Jeroen Peeters, Guy Cools) and already canonical publications (Marianne Van Kerkhoven) on the topic. 

The magazine consists of 11 thematic sections. In the section “On focus” the new issue reports on the changes at the top of world-famous ballet institutions in Russia after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, on the last edition of the leading ballet competition in Europe Lausanne Prix as well as on other currents on the international and local dance scene – such as the latest edition of LLB Choreographic Convention in Timisoara in October 2023, the current discussion on the situation of contemporary dance in Bulgaria related to the lack of spaces and the insecure status of the independent dance artists and presents different solutions that dance professionals propose; publishes an interview with the artistic director of Plovdiv state ballet company, Mariana Krancheva, who won last year the Company of The Year Prize, and offers an article by choreographer Mila Iskrenova who shares her concerns about the declining level of training and technique in younger generation of dancers proposing a set of criteria.

In the summer of 2023, we conducted a survey among our readers, asking them what topics they would like to see on the pages of the magazine. The dramaturgy of dance and the creative laboratory of established artists were among the wishes we were pleased to be able to include in this issue in the sections “In the studio”, “Theory” and “Anthology”, where we publish texts by leading dance dramaturgs on the European scene such as Marianne Van Kerkhoven, Guy Cools and Jeroen Peters.

In the section “Perspectives” the issue presents an interview with Spanish choreographer Blanka Li, who speaks about her vision on the future of dance in mixing tradition and contemporary culture and use of new technologies.
In “Dance Culture” section the issue discusses the rising popularity of ballroom dance and in “Profiles” we present two Bulgarian dance artists who attracted the attention in the last season – the premiere soloist Yasen Valchanov and contemporary dancer and choreographer Yanitsa Atanassova.

The magazine is dedicated also to historical dance research and therefor in the section “Tradition” we publish articles on two distinguished Bulgarian dance artists from the second half of the 20th century.
The section “Reviews” discusses the new premieres of the season.

The lead theme of the 5th edition of the Dance Magazine is Bodies of Dance. During the course of time, the art of dance has always absorbed, reworked, but also created different concepts and understandings of the body. Today, it removes all barriers to experimentation with what bodies can do on stage. It activates the political potential of the body as a means of empowering diverse communities and destabilizing existing norms. In the issue theme' section, the Dance Magazine tried to build a picture of distinctive performance strategies and body policies in contemporary dance that both change it and let its multiplicity be heard.

This universality of dance and its increasingly open invitation to bodies of all ages, shapes and training, who have the freedom to create, perform and express themselves through it, is fundamental to leading French choreographer Jerome Bell's Gala dance performance . It is for this reason that a photo from one of the first implementations of this traveling format, which has been taking place with great success in various cities around the world since 2015, involving professional dancers and amateurs from the local scene, is also on the cover of the new issue.

Along with the cultivation of the leading theme through various perspectives, issue 5th of Dance Magazine pays attention to other important conversations and offers a personal meeting with emerging and established Bulgarian and international artists and researchers. True to itself, the publication traces different historical trajectories through which new forms and practices in dance were formed. It also contains the first Bulgarian translations of important research texts, which are fundamental to the theoretical understanding of dance art. The issue also looks into the present with reviews of some of the season's most intriguing dance and ballet premieres, tells the story of the rise of swing culture in Bulgaria, as well as engages in a conversation about the ongoing war in Ukraine and its impact on our bodies, choreography and societies.