In the process of creation:

From DRAMAturgy to ARTiculation;

 Whatever has to be articulated.

 There is certain amount of words which are constantly playing certain role in the »vocabulary« of contemporary dance; one of them is dramaturgy, which comes from the field of theatre. But the question is, what that word in practice means. There is no simple definition also in the field of performing arts; maybe the wittiest one is from Marianne Van Kerkhoven, such as: »learning to handle complexity«. It is not just about taking care of the reflexive potential or the poetic force of the creation, it is not just »going above« movement. Maybe is too simple. Maybe is straight. Maybe is just pure will to find the procedure to articulate whatever have to be articulated in any kind of way. There is no universal meaning, there is no definite role; there is just a task, which stands »in front« of the certain performance. A task, function of which »flows around« without definite function and it become readable by pieces; never at once. That floating fragmented task have bo be recognized by the person who is called dramaturge; if it is not recognized correctly at the beginning, then the grip might be inappropriate, and what is worse, in constant conflict with an a performance and performers.

 The most fragile field is working in the process of dance education with young authors, what gives higher responsibility to the position of dramaturge, who have to transform him/herself to be articulator. Why? Because young creators are fully open and have pure belief in suggestions, commentaries or corrections that are coming from outside. In that sense person who is stepping in the process has to be sensitive to that extent that becomes an articulator of  ideas of creator(s) - no matter what their ideas are – just because they are their. In this sense the only »fair« communication moves from the process of contextualization to the process of articulation (without ego games, without conflict, without defense). The articulator's task in that sense is to find the most efficient tool of communication, what I believe is extremely important. That process requires a lot of question, which dramaturge, transformed to articulator, have to pose him/herself first and then keep the act of posing them during the whole collaborative process - in order to find or invent appropriate tools and develop functional communication in the sensitive relation between performance, performers and the audience.

-          How to »invent« tools to communicate?

-          How to »educate« not to be educative?

-          How to »grip« the idea of the author?

-          How to »articulate« material in order to open-up the space?

-          How to »catch« the inner flow of the performance?

-          How to »read« thinking through moving?

In that context my key questions on the local workshop in Ljubljana to dance teachers (with the reference on the creative process when they are authors) were:

1) What is the profile (function / profession) of the person who you trust the most during creative process when you are the author of your piece?

2) Why did you choose that person (reasons)?

3) What is the tool of communication that you use?

My main research intersest is to define what is the lack of co-working profiles in the field of dance education, which is connected to the process of creation and the question of mentorship. In that context I have started with the personal experinece of dance teachers (as authors) in the first step, what I will connect with the profile of dance  scholars (second step).

 From Ljubljana workshop I have prepared the list of answers and I am kindly inviting you to continue it with  your own personal experience!