dramaturgy and dance.
Tonight I’ll go to dinner with German dance dramaturg Anna Wagner. After her lecture last week I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a conceptual choreographer who works with a dramaturge. As someone who enjoys theorizing through her artistic work, I’m curious about my need for a dramaturge since I enjoy theoretical research myself, or if dramaturge would actually encourage me to indulge my love for theory even more. Trajal Harrel works with a dramaturge as he creates his incredibly specific and successfully stylized work. Both Trajal and Yvonne Hardt, choreographer who works with Wagner, enjoy theoretical research themselves and have mentioned how working with a dramaturge only helps them specify their ideas and choreographic arch. I experienced how frustrating it can be to choreograph a solo when you’re the only dancer. I wasn’t able to watch the piece from start to finish, so couldn’t adequately follow my spatial narrative. It seems to me that Yvonne uses her dramaturg as a tool especially when she’s dancing on stage. Perhaps having someone who I’m working with and who intimately knows both my theoretical and choreographic impulse would help to be my eyes as I work through my own movements myself. Or, perhaps this is not exactly what a dramaturge really is…
