Katherine Profeta’s Dramaturgy in Motion: At Work On Dance and Movement Performance centers on the dramaturgy. To begin with, it is really hard to give the general definition of dramaturgy drawing upon the writer’s work, for it presents various definitions from different field professionals (Gotthold Ephraim Lessing or Bertolt Brecht, for instance) and looks on the concept from different angles. However, the common pattern of Katherine Profeta’s thought is concluded in dramaturgy as the combination of a special activity and a way in which performance is structured, as well as in “the image of dramaturg as questioner”.
As have been mentioned before Profeta’s attitude towards examining this concept is serious: dramaturgy and dramaturg have been examined from different perspectives. It is especially noticeable in the introduction, in which scholar foregrounds a reader in the history of dramaturgy, referring to Raymond Hoghe, Hans-Thies Lehmann, Antonin Artaud and other’s works and influences on that concept. It also pays attention to the vague definition of dramaturgy. Focusing on the main idea of dramaturg’s work essence, Profeta is also paying attention to the questions of dramaturgy’s engagement and its “necessity” in dance practices, as well as the connection between utterances and performance. The latter question is lavishly discussed in the first chapter.
The reason why this piece of work can be interesting and most importantly relevant to the course is that as the part of class student body we partly put ourselves in the position of dramaturg. That is, we adapt some of the special models which Profeta mentions. For instance, we try on the roles of “inside eye” and “outside eye”. And that means that we take part in performers’ rehearsals as an observer and as a participant (workshops). Undoubtedly, this piece offers a big inside into the inner world of dramaturgy of dance, and as the students, we will apply useful information to classes and workshops activities in order to examine our topic of interest.
Hi Anastasiia,
There are some important insights you offer into the text in this keyword essay, but they are not well structured (the dramaturgy is unclear) so that you lead the reader toward a greater understanding of dramaturgy. There are ways to think about structure – in yours you dance with the idea that dramaturgy is a simple notion — it attends to the structure of the performance and the dramaturg steps into the role where she is the person who questions how the structure is made. But, don’t get bogged down in the who – keep the goal of you explanation in mind. So why is there a need for someone to attend to structure? Doesn’t anything that was created for the stage already have a structure? Why is there a person who is designated just to attend to it when others are engaged in creating it too? That last sentence opens up an unpacking of the term “necessity” that you put into quotes – right now you are drawing ideas from the text without slowing down to explain them – to think about why Profeta herself foregrounds their importance. You need the connecting sentences to explain to us that even when a creator does make a structure, she or he is so “inside” the process that sometimes she cannot see where it fails to communicate it’s intention or what might be elaborated upon, or who might be tasked to come up with a clarification or solution. That is the reason for the inside/outside eye. The methodology is also helpful, as you observe, in scholarship for the inside is a deep personal engagement that creates empathy and the outside observes the communicative structure – it’s advantages and it’s failings – in order to improve it. We are also creating that choreography of observation to think differently about the “refugee crisis.”