A Rembrandt painting provided the inspiration for the young choreographer Galina Borissova to create the dance performance Looking For Varsavia.

Borissova's new project, which premieres on November 25, is an original dance show which includes not only dance but also simultaneous projections of slides on the background of the stage. Through a series of solo dances, representing different women, Borissova creates a melancholic atmosphere, reaching towards desperation. After attending a workshop with Japanese Butoh dance performer Masaki Ivana, the choreographer was influenced to lay priority on gestures and talking with the body in her one-hour performance. "Just like in every Butoh dance, improvisation is the focal part of Looking For Varsavia," she said.

The plot of the dance is united around a sequence of scenes which resemble stills and depict a woman posing for pictures. "In Looking For Varsavia there is strong presence on stage even without choreography," Borissova said.

Dancers from the Arabesque Troupe and famous Bulgarian choreographers were invited to take part in the dance show. Choreographers Lilia Stefcheva, Juliana Saiska and Mila Iskrenova have proven to be the most suitable dancers to convey the intended message, Borissova said.

Different dance pieces are presented by the different dancers and aim at a description of human destinies and lives. "The falling stones in the end of Looking For Varsavia tend to unite all the dancers on stage like a great happy ending. All of the falling stones symbolize birds with no wings, who are doing their best to fly away but they simply cannot," the choreographer said.

Stefcheva, who also works as a designer, was highly regarded by Borissova, as was Saiska, who has given up talking on the stage and uses her body to express herself.

Borissova explained that Rembrandt's painting Varsavia inspired her in that it is filled with grace and calmness. The painter's profound understanding of human nature and brilliant technique gave birth to Looking For Varsavia. "I have tried to steal Rembrandt's stillness and mystery that he creates in the setting of his paintings and reflect it in the dance performance," she said.

"I was thinking about the carefree and witty Rococo style and the classical examples of harmony mingling together," she added.

The performance was intended to illustrate beauty in a moment of despair. The closer dreams come to perfection the more desperate they become. That is why Borissova decided to make the performance using only women. "I am more interested in the narrative story I am depicting than the movements themselves," she said.

The musical background of Looking For Varsavia comes from some of the world's greatest composers - Wagner, Bizet, Verdi, Belini, Mozart, Donizetti, Ivo Dimchev and Gluck. "After 15 years of dancing, I finally dared to use the classical names of famous composers," she said.

Borissova is a dancer and choreographer whose work has a very strong theatrical aspect, according to her colleagues. She first made a significant impression at the American Dance Festival `96, where she was participating in the International Choreographers Residency Program.

In 1998, she received the first prize for her performance A Never Ending Story in Holland at the International Competition for Choreographers.

Looking For Versavia can be seen on November 25 at the Music Theatre Stefan Makedonski, 7pm.