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Ten international dramaturg-scholars advance proposals that reset notions of agency in contemporary dance creation. Dramaturgy becomes driven by artistic inquiry, distributed among collaborating artists, embedded in improvisation tasks, or weaved through audience engagement, and the dramaturg becomes a facilitator of dramaturgical awareness.
List of contents
1. Introduction; Pil Hansen
PART I: AGENCY
2. Propensity: Pragmatics and Functions of Dramaturgy in Contemporary Dance; Bojana Bauer
3. Errancy as Work: Seven Strewn Notes for Dance Dramaturgy; André Lepecki
4. Thinking No-One's Thought; Maaike Bleeker
PART II: AWARENESS
5. Distributed Dramaturgies: Navigating with Boundary Objects; Freya Vass-Rhee
6. Improvisation Practices and Dramaturgical Consciousness: A workshop; Vida L. Midgelow
7. The Dramaturgy of Performance Generating Systems; Pil Hansen
PART III: ENGAGEMENT
8. Field Notes: In the Studio with Ralph Lemon and Donald Byrd; Katherine Profeta and Thomas F. DeFrantz
9. Dance Dramaturgy as a Process of Learning: koosil-ja's mech[a]OUTPUT; Nanako Nakajima with performing koosil-ja
10. Dance Presenting and Dramaturgy; Bonnie Brooks
Index
About the author
Pil Hansen is Assistant Professor in Dance and Drama at the University of Calgary, Canada, and dramaturg of Vertical City Performance and Kaeja d’Dance. Her research results and methods in cognitive performance studies and dramaturgy have been published widely.
Darcey Callison is a choreographer and Associate Professor in Dramaturgy and Choreography at York University, Canada. His research mobilizes cultural studies, Authentic Movement, and postmodern dance to examine contemporary and historical expressions of gender.
Contributors: Bojana Bauer, University Lille 3, France; André Lepecki, New York University, USA; Maaike Bleeker, Utrecht University, Netherlands; Freya Vass-Rhee, University of Kent, UK; Vida L. Midgelow, Middlesex University, UK; Nanako Nakajima, Aichi University, Japan; Katherine Profeta, Queens College, CUNY, USA; Thomas F. DeFrantz, Duke University, USA; Bonnie Brooks, Columbia College Chicago, USA.
Summary
Ten international dramaturg-scholars advance proposals that reset notions of agency in contemporary dance creation. Dramaturgy becomes driven by artistic inquiry, distributed among collaborating artists, embedded in improvisation tasks, or weaved through audience engagement, and the dramaturg becomes a facilitator of dramaturgical awareness.
Additional text
“The book is a dynamic and engaging ‘performance lab’ for dramaturgs, dancers, and choreographers interested in the field of dance dramaturgy. … There is little doubt that Hansen and Callison have curated an anthology that will be a touchstone for our field.” (Jess Applebaum, Dance Research Journal, Vol. 49 (3), December, 2017)
“The collection includes nine compelling essays and an overview from Hansen that serves to outline the (fuzzy, porous, kinetic) contours of dance dramaturgy in the twenty-first century. The essays describe the dance dramaturg using various theoretical and practical models practiced by the authors. Dance Dramaturgy, like most essay collections, necessarily offers breadth, touching down rather than diving deep into its subject … . This study offers much to consider for scholars, practitioners, and educators alike.” (Ariel Nereson, Theatre Journal, Vol. 69 (1), March, 2017)
Report
"The book is a dynamic and engaging 'performance lab' for dramaturgs, dancers, and choreographers interested in the field of dance dramaturgy. ... There is little doubt that Hansen and Callison have curated an anthology that will be a touchstone for our field." (Jess Applebaum, Dance Research Journal, Vol. 49 (3), December, 2017)
"The collection includes nine compelling essays and an overview from Hansen that serves to outline the (fuzzy, porous, kinetic) contours of dance dramaturgy in the twenty-first century. The essays describe the dance dramaturg using various theoretical and practical models practiced by the authors. Dance Dramaturgy, like most essay collections, necessarily offers breadth, touching down rather than diving deep into its subject ... . This study offers much to consider for scholars, practitioners, and educators alike." (Ariel Nereson, Theatre Journal, Vol. 69 (1), March, 2017)
