Now available online - CTR 155 / Summer 2013 "Dance and Movement Dramaturgy"

Thu Aug 1 13:49:44 EDT 2013

CTR 155 / Summer 2013 "Dance and Movement Dramaturgy"<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/vn1551n54r87/?p=ed3c63543c594616aff4fcc436709862&pi=0> is now available online
Edited by Pil Hansen with Darcey Callison and Bruce Barton
This issue is also available at Project MUSE<http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/canadian_theatre_review/toc/ctr.155.html>
Taking the temperature of the field, this issue offers unprecedented insight into a broad range of dance and movement dramaturgy positions in Canada and beyond. The contributions are written by artists and artist-scholars from across the country who share a deep investment in dramaturgy, and whose voices are brought together for the first time to articulate strategies, approaches, and choices. Elizabeth Langley, Katya Montaignac, Jacob Zimmer, Heidi Taylor, Guy Cools, and Carol Anderson, among others, elaborate on the role of dramaturgs from within the lengthy and complex process of creating dance and movement-based material. Their reflections involve dramaturgs' development of creative strategies, their awareness of the relationship between approaches to generation and emerging compositional possibilities, their grounding in the training, strengths, and limitations of the dancers, and their acute sensitivity to interpersonal relationships and modes of perception. Their insights are further enriched by two dramaturgy-driven performance recipes/texts: Adaptation Project by Michael Trent and Dancemakers and Transmission by Tanya Marquardt.

This issue contains:
An Act of Rendering: Dance and Movement Dramaturgy<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/k02jq02h32641uu4/?p=9413c36c20bc4b50a28ef75820c72be6&pi=0> (View this article for free)
Pil Hansen, Darcey Callison and Bruce Barton

The Role of the Dance Dramaturg: The Practical Necessities<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/k87690287476j72l/?p=9413c36c20bc4b50a28ef75820c72be6&pi=1>
Elizabeth Langley
As a dramaturge, I mostly work on original creations during late rehearsals and production. Parallel to the survival and development of my own creativity, my dedication has always been to establish relationships with students and fellow artists, awarding them the same privileges that I would like others to bestow on me. I want my process and creation to be respected and I want to be encouraged and led by my dramaturge to explore what is not being communicated to its fullest potential. The artist's work has nothing to do with the creative ideas of the dramaturge and limiting access to context establishes and protects this factor. It is the information withheld, the questions asked, and the verbal exchanges that can help achieve the desired results. Proof of success is when the artist is personally confident that what they want to communicate is strong and clear.
Paradoxes of the Dance Dramaturg<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/l86318q015q2544h/?p=9413c36c20bc4b50a28ef75820c72be6&pi=2>
Katya Montaignac and Natalia Esling
In dance, the dramaturg's duty corresponds for the most part to an "art of watching." The dramaturg's process is part of a relationship that is at once intimate and distant. As an accomplice he/she is accompanying the choreographer in the development and structuring of the dance work. In fact, the dramaturg actively participates in its conception through his/her reflection, perception, and questioning. In this way, the dramaturg places himself/herself in a paradoxical position: at once outside and inside, both a stranger and partner, a critic and confidante. Although the dramaturg works from behind the scenes, his/her role is essential: he/she is interrogating the choreographer about intentions and artistic decisions with the purpose of helping him/her articulate (and accept) ideas that are often unconscious or intuitive.
Friendship Is No Day Job-and Other Thoughts of a Resident Dance Dramaturg<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/v207735n22n11816/?p=9413c36c20bc4b50a28ef75820c72be6&pi=3>
Jacob Zimmer
The article is a reflection on the role of the dramaturge at a repertory dance company and the complexities of this position. Zimmer was the resident dramaturge at Dancemakers and the Centre for Creation and considers the relationship between dramaturgy and friendship.
>From Spectrum to Prism: Shifting Positions on Dance Dramaturgy-a Conference Response<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/m40721h2527l57g4/?p=9413c36c20bc4b50a28ef75820c72be6&pi=4>
Pil Hansen
Three dramaturgs working with dance artists in Canada were tasked to share a summary and response to the Society of Dance History Scholars conference on dance dramaturgy in Toronto (2011) at a plenary closing panel. This article offers Pil Hansen's contribution to the panel alongside comments from DD Kugler and Jacob Zimmer. Perspectives presented at the conference by Bojana Bauer, Bonnie Brooks, Thomas DeFrantz, Christina Goletti, Elizabeth Kattner, Gabriele Klein, Jodie McNeilly, Selma Odom, Katherine Profeta, Freya Vass-Rhee, and Laura Vriend are recalled with a proposal to use them as a prism that can advance the field instead of regarding them as opposing positions and definitions.
Navigating a Continuum: MFA Dance Dramaturgy Research at York University<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/628r70r02tl31g25/?p=17b6cc292da54af58b0a2251c7f1e4be&pi=5>
Darcey Callison
This short article reflects the critical thinking that culminated in the creation of a dance dramaturgy practiced-based field of research and education at York University. Reflecting on the continuum of diverse dramaturgical dance practices, the article argues that a definition of dance dramaturgy is not needed, but space and time to research and develop dramaturgical methodologies are needed to advance the field.
The Shape of Space: Laban Movement Analysis as a Methodology for Dance Dramaturgy<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/e1h368871q330v01/?p=17b6cc292da54af58b0a2251c7f1e4be&pi=6>
Susan Cash
Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) gives a Dance Dramaturge a practical, straightforward methodology for deepening the creative process and increasing the potential towards positive outcomes for choreographers and dancers. Rudolf Laban created a system of looking at and analyzing human movement along with colleague Irmagarde Bartenieff. Present day applications of their theories have led to expansions of the system and elaborations of fundamental concepts that have influenced the makers of contemporary dance in many new and studied manners. This article will discuss the use of LMA as a Dance Dramaturgical methodology. It will cite professional experiences through a specific case study with Toronto-based choreographer Yvonne Ng. Visual diagrams are included that outline a score of how a dance dramaturg can work with LMA material. LMA provides valuable dramaturgical tools to work with choreographers by helping to shape their choreographic statements.
Borealis<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/71hu34j862438157/?p=17b6cc292da54af58b0a2251c7f1e4be&pi=7>
Susan Lee
Alejandro Ronceria, founding Artistic Director of the Aboriginal Dance Program at the Banff Centre for the Arts (1996-2001), is an influential figure in indigenous dance. This article examines Alejandro Ronceria's dance dramaturgical process as the artistic director for the Cultural Gala Performances of the Arctic Winter Games 2012 in Whitehorse, YT. The participants of the Cultural Gala consisted of sixty young performing artists representing twelve groups from nine regions of the Arctic Circle, whose disciplines ranged from contemporary to traditional indigenous styles in music, dance, and storytelling. This article describes how Ronceria's creative and dramaturgical process for the Cultural Gala was informed by his deep knowledge of indigenous worldviews and proposes that Ronceria's methodology stems from his extensive experience as a dramaturge with aboriginal artists.
What Are You Doing? Dramaturgical Approaches to Eesti: Myths and Machines<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/f771507241106015/?p=17b6cc292da54af58b0a2251c7f1e4be&pi=8>
Lois Brown
What are you doing? Dramaturgical approaches to "Eesti: Myths and Machines' is an account of Lois Brown's exploration of her deepening dramaturgical approaches and examination of meaning-making in the creation and rehearsal process for choreographer Peter Trostmer's Eesti: Myths and Machines. Primary accounts of the process from Peter, Lois, and collaborator Thea Patterson discuss consensus, conflict, and reflection. Writing, Video-documentation, note-taking, and journaling are analyzed as dramaturgical tools.
Moving Thoughts<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/0264408078t58556/?p=17b6cc292da54af58b0a2251c7f1e4be&pi=9>
Bruce Barton
Bruce Barton considers the challenges in arriving at an effective vocabulary for describing movement dramaturgy in theatre and dance. He reviews his own practice as a movement dramaturg over 25 years of professional practice, offering descriptions of his function and role in several current case study situations (Theatre Gargantua, bluemouth inc., Kaeja d'Dance). Ultimately, Barton proposes the concept of "inter/actuality' as a "dramaturgical perspective that can allow creator/performers to recognize and work with what a performance is doing, rather than what it is trying to be.'
Delicious Risk: Progress Lab 1422's Obstructions as "Group Dramaturgy"<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/g0322x5547x11128/?p=438b2345193b4e99b408dd8ee46d5d97&pi=10>
Rachel Ditor
Dramaturg and director Rachel Ditor examines the Obstructions program at Vancouver's Progress Lab 1422. The Progress Lab is an organization made up of many of Vancouver's most popular and well-established physical theatre companies. In the Obstructions program, each company is set the task of creating a performance based upon those aspects of their practice that most challenge them. The performance is then "judged" by their peers. Ditor examines the particular type of risk this represents, as well as the collaborative theatre culture that makes this program possible.
Transmission1: Dramaturgical Bodies<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/17083807mn7713q8/?p=438b2345193b4e99b408dd8ee46d5d97&pi=11>
Heidi Taylor and Tanya Marquardt
"Transmission: Dramaturgical Bodies' reflects on the experience of the creation and rehearsal process of Tanya Marquardt's play Transmission. It recognizes aspects of the process that were unique to the collaborative team, while identifying larger principles at work in the dramaturgical system for the piece. Quoting from emails with creator Tanya Marquardt, the article describes the creative genesis and rehearsal strategies that developed the ensemble while generating material. Finally, it places the dramaturg's body firmly in the midst of the creation process, while recognizing the inherent dramaturgical roles of the actors' bodies as well.
Rewriting Distance: Bridging the Space between Dramaturg and Dancer<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/91455w076646j215/?p=438b2345193b4e99b408dd8ee46d5d97&pi=12>
Stefano Muneroni and Guy Cools
"Rewriting Distance: Bridging the Gap between Dramaturg and Dancer' examines a recent collaboration between Lin Snelling, Guy Cools, and Stefano Muneroni in which the three participants tested how writing can be an integral part of the dramaturgical process. During an intensive workshop in 2012, the participants explored the effectiveness of writing as a dramaturgical tool when writing develops simultaneously to dancing, and how the two activities meaningfully affect each other in the creation of a movement piece. The three collaborators took turns occupying the roles of "performer', "writer', and "observer' and in so doing they experienced how writing and dancing shape each other when they develop together during rehearsal, and, even more importantly, how they foster a strong interdisciplinary collaboration by blending the role of the dramaturg and that of the dancer. By bridging the gap existing between the functions of the dramaturg and those of the dancer, Rewriting Distance constructed a non-hierarchical space and showed new critical avenues to reconfigure the working relationship between dramaturgs and dancers.
Writing Dramaturgical Notes for Dance: "Carol's Dance Notes" 1996-2012<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/2n5j3h76440355nw/?p=438b2345193b4e99b408dd8ee46d5d97&pi=13>
Carol Anderson
In this article Carol Anderson describes how she approaches each new edition of Carol's Dance Notes. She makes reference to the process of writing these notes, over a period of sixteen years, by viewing choreographers' works and discussing their work with them. She discusses the challenge of finding language to express and illuminate, for audience members, the unique artistic world and signature of each choreography.
Performance Recipe
Adaptation Project: A Performance Recipe<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/a21183370302v81u/?p=438b2345193b4e99b408dd8ee46d5d97&pi=14>
Michael Trent
Performance Text
Transmission<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/373g535x42040n14/?p=438b2345193b4e99b408dd8ee46d5d97&pi=15>
Tanya Marquardt
Views and Reviews<http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/b7420731833525v6/?p=438b2345193b4e99b408dd8ee46d5d97&pi=16>

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