Dansens Hus invites performers and creators within the dance and performing arts field to participate in a series of seminars on different forms of dramaturgical thinking. Over the course of two weekends, dramaturgs who operate actively in dance works will present their interests and methodological approaches within dance dramaturgy. In addition, they will visit selected dance artists in the studio, to put their thoughts and own practice in context with the dancers' projects and works. The seminar is organized together with Oslo National Academy of the Arts – Academy of Dance.
DRAMATURGY SEMINAR – CHAPTER IV
Chapter IV:
What do you do when you get in the studio
by Bojana Cvejic
02. + 03. mars
On searching, having, and letting go of methods …
In the past two decades in Europe, we have witnessed an explosion of methods in performance-making, an invention spurred by a rise of critical consciousness of, and experimentation with how we work and how the work works. It started off as a rebellion against silent apprenticeship in a masterclass and the sterile luxury of an empty room in which the dancer was expected to reinvent themself.
It is 2024, and while the methological turn has run its course, questions are pending. How do we sort out a myriad of existing methods that have accumulated in the dramaturgical experience of makers, performers and dramaturgs alike? When do you choose to choose.a method, and when are you chosen by it? In what situations are you compelled to loosen the grip or entirely give up the method? What do we mean when we say ‘method’, and why are some methods better treated as ‘procedures’ with material and others ‘operations’ with spectatorship? When and for whom does the distinction matter?
Starting with a lecture guided by dramaturgical practice, Bojana Cvejić invites the choreographer Ingri Fiksdal and dance-maker and dance theorist Snelle Hall into a conversation, involving all participants.
The second part will be a working session with all participants around scores and tasks inquiring into their own inventory of methods.
Set-up:
DAY 1 – SEMINAR:
Lecture, conversations and workshop at Dansens Hus – 10:00-16:00
To register your participation, send an e-mail to billettsalg@dansenshus.com. Mark the email with: Dramaturgy seminar 4 or 5 (or both). The invitation to take part in the seminar extends to all who are interested in exploring dramaturgy as it relates to their own work. The admission is free, but please, sign up for the program.
DAG 2 – PRACTICUM:
Studio visits with 3 dance artists
In the second part of each chapter, we offer anyone who is currently in the process of creation, or planning one, and would like to engage in a conversation with the dramaturg, to book a studio visit. The dramaturg will engage with the artist around a concrete piece of work, material or project that the artist is working on. The session will last around one hour, and will take place in the studio or in another space, depending on whether it is a rehearsal or a conversation. You can meet the dramaturge in a studio at Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO) if you do not have the opportunity or desire to be in your own studio. Please specify in the registration e-mail.
To book a visit from a dramaturg, send an e-mail to billettsalg@dansenshus.com. Mark the e-mail with:
Dramaturgy seminar PRACTICUM 4 or 5.
About the seminar:
Over the past two decades, various experimental practices in the field of theater, dance, performance art, and choreographic exhibition in a global context have converged on dramaturgy, an investigation of the interests and questions, capacities and working cultures and politics involved in the creation of a performance. This seminar will offer an encounter with an invited practicing dramaturg at work. Each part – or chapter – is comprised of two days: Day 1 is an open lecture at Dansens Hus, led by the invited speaker who, in dialogue with another dramaturg, will explore their current preoccupations in dramaturgy with regard to creation in dance and performance. Day 2 the invited speaker will visit dance artists currently working in Oslo and engages in a conversation around their work in a studio.
The seminar series is curated by Bojana Cvejić (SRB/BE/NO), freelance dramaturg and Professor of Dance Theory (KHiO), whose work also includes self-organizing collective platforms of self-education and experimental production. In addition to Cvejić, the series will feature as main speakers Deise Faria Nunes (BR/NO), researcher, writer and dramaturg, and Jeroen Peeters (BE), writer, dramaturge and performer active in the field of contemporary dance across Europe.
Ingri Midgard Fiksdal (NO) is a choreographer based in Oslo, Norway. She holds a PhD in artistic research from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts titled Affective Choreographies (2019). Ingri’s work on affect has in recent years taken her into discourses on perspective and privilege. She is currently working on a number of projects that research the posthuman and with this hegemonies of knowledge and power.
Snelle Ingrid Hall, dance artist, theater scholar, associate professor. Has worked as a dance artist for more than 30 years, primarily in the free dance field, and especially through the constellation Siri&Snelle. Has worked for many years as a teacher of dance composition and dance theory, also worked as a writer and dramaturg/eye from the outside. Currently dean of the Dance department, Oslo Academy of the Arts.
The invitation to take part in the seminar extends to all who are interested in exploring dramaturgy as it relates to their own work. The admission is free, but please, sign up for the program.