Lecturer
Bojana Bauer and Konstantina Georgelou
Period Duration
Blocks 2, 6 Weeks
Block 3, 6 Weeks
Work Load
21 hours
Competencies
2, 3, 4
Summary
In this course we will study dance dramaturgy from a double point of view. Firstly, as the poetic structure of a performance work. Understood in this way, dramaturgy is about the composition of a performance event and its conceptual, semantic or expressive and affective dimension. It studies its compositional and performative structures, principles, means and techniques. Even though the term dramaturgy entered only recently the creative and analytical vocabulary of dance, we will examine dramaturgical aspects of dance works since the theatrical institutionalisation of dance in the 18th century.
Dramaturgy can also be defined as a practice. In this second sense, dramaturgy refers to the process of artistic choice making as well as the collaborative process of researching and articulating compositional solutions for a performance. It encompasses open process’of exchanging ideas, brain-storming, critical analysis and reflection, as well as intentionally destabilising artistic ideas, or acting as a catalyst in a creation environment.
Finally, it should be noted that even though it became in the last years a global phenomena in performance-making, the notion of dramaturgy is deeply embedded in the tradition of European theatre as it developed since the ancient Greece, where the term itself originated: drama- action and ergon - work. Our study material in the theoretical part of the course will mainly relate to European historical and artistic context and expand it in the second half of the course in relation to student’s own research for their solo project.
Structure
This is a theory/ practice course. We will study and discuss a number of theoretical texts, develop dramaturgical analysis of case studies and engage in practical exercises of dramaturgical devising, relating it to the solo project of the students in block 3.
Learning Goals
At the end of this course the student should be able to:
- recognize and discuss (mostly european) dramaturgical concepts and principles
- use and reflect in writing on the literature of (mostly european) history and discourse on dramaturgy
- develop an understanding and elaborate on how a dancer contributes to and builds a dramaturgy of a piece in a process and in a performance
- discuss their experience in a co-creation from a dramaturgical perspective
- discuss tools they use in shaping a role and different layers of meaning in a performance
- recognise different types of dramaturgical relations, practices and process - discuss methods of devising collaborative dramaturgical process
Working Methods Used
The course will be structured through a combination of lectures, readings, watching films discussions and studio practice
References
The full syllabus with the reference list will be communicated at the start of the course
Study Material
Notebook, pencil /pen, computer, video documentaries, books, articles
Assessment
Students will be assessed based on class participation, group presentation and a written assignment.