Ballerina Francesca Velicu, the image of a campaign about mental health

As part of the awareness campaign, Francesca Velicu dances to a choreography signed by Ross Freddie Ray in the clip “Consumed. About turmoil and rediscovery” (director Bogdan Daragiu), a story expressed through dance about pain, despair, loss, strength and hope.

The “Consumed” project, organized by the Literati Association through the cultural brand Ars Graţia Regalia and co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration, aims to develop a link between psychology and dance by taking on a special theme – mental health.

The subject will be debated in a public event that will take place on June 7, at the Rapsodia Theater, in the presence of public figures, a psychologist and students from vocational schools in Bucharest.

The Consumed project launches in May, dedicated to raising awareness of mental health in many countries around the world. The video “Consumed. About turmoil and rediscovery”, filmed in April in the Bucegi Mountains, brings the ballerina Francesca Velicu to the foreground during a turbulent dance, to the song “Amazing Grace”. The epic thread starts from the shore of a lake, in an oppressive atmosphere, and ends with images dominated by light, on the stage of the Transilvania Amphitheater, located at 1,200 meters above sea level.

“The Consumed project meant a reconnection with my inner feelings and experiences. Mental health is a topic that, most of the time, we try to avoid because it often involves difficult conversations with ourselves. Through Ross’s vision, I interpreted, in a very honest way, a development of emotions and I hope that the public will be as open as possible to this theme”, said ballerina Francesca Velicu.

“Consumed follows the story of pain, suffering, states that everyone faces at some point and that each of us manages differently, although we share, at the same time, a collective empathy for those who have lost something or someone. Many times, one is consumed by one’s own mind, one feels devastated. It is a state close to that of drowning, when you can no longer breathe. At that moment, you are faced with a choice, that of getting up and moving forward or allowing the consumption of your own being. What we are trying to explain with this project is that fighting and moving forward is always the right answer, no matter how impossible it seems in certain situations”, said choreographer Ross Freddie Ray.

“Consumed is one of those projects that reminds me why I do what I do. It is not only a beautiful creation, but one in which I manage to transpose my emotions and feelings. I’m always happy to work with extremely talented people”, said director Bogdan Daragiu.

The central theme of the project “Consumed. About upheaval and recovery” – emotional and mental health – is a current and general one, because every person is affected to a greater or lesser extent by the events that take place on a personal, national or global level. Pain and loss remain constants that, at a certain moment in life, every person faces. That is why the need to offer people hope in troubled times is all the more important. And dance and choreographic art are always current and can adapt to social needs, offering a refuge and a seed of hope for the better.

Francesca Velicu is a ballerina at the English National Ballet. In 2018, she was awarded in London with the prestigious Olivier Award for outstanding performance in dance, the equivalent of the BAFTA awards in cinematography. Francesca’s performance in Le Sacre de Printemps was praised by critics from publications such as The Guardian, Sunday Telegraph, Evening Standard.

At the age of 28, British choreographer Ross Freddie Ray boasts an impressive CV that includes 24 original choreographies, from Solo and Pas De Deux works to full-length ballet productions. His Fraudulent Smile choreography was performed on the stage of the Royal Opera House, after winning first prize in the Ursula Marathon competition. Since then, it has been staged all over the world, at theaters such as the London Palladium, the London Coliseum, the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg or the Arcimboldi Theater in Milan. His first full-length ballet, Little Red and The Wolf, premiered in December 2019 at Sala Zaradyne, with 5 sold out performances. In Your Room, directed by Anton Corbin to the music of Depeche Mode has collected over 3 million views online. Ross’ most recent work is CHRONOS, choreographed for Ballet de Barcelona, ​​which premiered on 22 April 2023 and is due to begin a tour of Spain in the 2023/2024 season.

Bogdan Daragiu is one of the most talented pop-culture directors in Romania, creating visual stories for all top Romanian artists with international success, such as Inna, Alexandra Stan, Antonia, Delia, J Balvin. The projects directed by him in the last 10 years have reached over 2 billion views.

The Consumed project is organized by the Literati Association through the cultural brand Ars Graţia Regalia and is co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration.