ON DANCE DRAMATURGY

In 1994, Marianne Van Kerkhoven, the Flemish godmother of dance dramaturgy wrote a short, seminal article on the subject – Looking without pencil in the hand – of which the title alone is already a manifesto. This contribution builds further on Van Kerkhoven insights’: how the dramaturge has to stay necessarily invisible in the creative process (s)he is supporting; how in order to capture this invisible role, a lot of metaphors have been created. It continues with looking at the different roles I take up in my own practice: that of somatic witness, dialogue partner and editor. It concludes reasserting the practice of the (dance) dramaturge as a creative practice in which the whole body is involved and in which somatic proximity to the creative process is as important as critical distance. Key wordsDance dramaturgy. Somatic witness. Dialogue partner. Editor.In 1994, Marianne Van Kerkhoven, the Flemish godmother of dance dramaturgy wrote a short, seminal article on the subject – Looking without pencil in the hand – of which the title alone is already a manifesto. This contribution builds further on Van Kerkhoven insights’: how the dramaturge has to stay necessarily invisible in the creative process (s)he is supporting; how in order to capture this invisible role, a lot of metaphors have been created. It continues with looking at the different roles I take up in my own practice: that of somatic witness, dialogue partner and editor. It concludes reasserting the practice of the (dance) dramaturge as a creative practice in which the whole body is involved and in which somatic proximity to the creative process is as important as critical distance. Key wordsDance dramaturgy. Somatic witness. Dialogue partner. Editor.