Search and Hit Enter

ISTA XII. Bielefeld, Germany 1-10/09/2000. “Action, Structure, Coherence Dramaturgical Techniques in the Performing Arts”

Organiser: Teaterlabor Bielefeld

Presentation
Dramaturgy does not refer only to dramatic literature. It does not merely concern the words or the narrative thread. There exists also an organic or dynamic dramaturgy which orchestrates the rhythms and dynamisms that affect the spectator at a nervous, sensorial and sensual level. Therefore one can also speak of dramaturgy when referring to those forms of performance -whether they are called “dance”, “mime” or “theatre” – which do not involve the representation and interpretation of stories. Thus there exists a narrative dramaturgy which intertwines events and characters, steering the spectators towards the meaning of what they are watching. It may also interweave forms and characters who do not narrate stories but uncover images and variations of images. Moreover there exists an organic or dynamic dramaturgy which appeals to a different level of perception in the spectators, i.e. to their nervous system and their kinesthetic sense. Each scene, each sequence, each fragment of a performance’s structure has its own dramaturgy. Dramaturgy is a way of thinking. It is a technique for organising the materials in order to build, unveil and weave together relationships. It is a process that transforms a collection of fragments into a whole organism in which the different “pieces” are no longer distinguishable as separate objects or individuals. There is a comprehensive dramaturgy for the whole performance and a dramaturgy for each actor; a dramaturgy for the director and one for the playwright. We can even speak of a dramaturgy for the spectator: the process by which different individuals connect what they see in the performance to their own personal experience, filling it with their own emotional and intellectual reactions. Dramaturgy creates coherence. Coherence is not necessarily clarity, but it isthe complexity which enlivens a structure and permits the spectators to occupy it with their imagination and thoughts.
Dramaturgy is succession of events based on a technique which aims at providing each of a work’s actions with its own peripetia, that is to say a change in direction and consequently in tension.
Eugenio Barba

Artistic Staff
Bali
I Made Djimat, dancer, musician
I Nyoman Budi Artha, dancer, musician
I Wayan Bawa, dancer, musician
I Nyoman Kopelin, dancer, musician
Ni Ketut Maringsih, dancer, musician
I Wayan Naka, dancer, musician
Ni Made Sarniani, dancer, musician
Ni Wayan Sekarini, dancer, musician
Cristina Wistari, dancer

Brazil
Augusto Omulú, dancer
Ory Sacramento, musician
Jorge Paim, musician
Cleber Conceição da Paixão, musician

India
Raghunath Panigrahi ,musician
Annada Prasanna Pattanaik, musician
Hemant Kumar Das, musician
Chinmaya Kumar-Dash, musician

Japan
Kanichi Hanayagi, dancer
Kunitoshi Kineya, musician
Matthew Johnson, translator
Sasakami Hanayagi, dancer
Tetsukuro Matsunaga, musician
Sae Nanaogi, dancer
Akira Mark Oshima, assistant

USA
Thomas Leabhart, Decroux corporal mime

Odin Teatret
Kai Bredholt, actor, musician
Roberta Carreri, actress
Emil Ferslev, musician
Jan Ferslev, actor, musician
Tage Larsen, actor
Nikolaj de Fine Licht, musician
Iben Nagel Rasmussen, actress
Julia Varley, actress
Torgeir Wethal, actor
Frans Winther, composer, musician

Scientific Staff
Eugenia Casini Ropa, Bologna University
Clelia Falletti, Rome University
Ronald Jenkins, Wesleyan University
Lluís Masgrau, Institut del Teatre, Barcelona
Jean-Marie Pradier, Paris 8 University
Janne Risum, Aarhus University
Franco Ruffini, Rome University
Nicola Savarese, Rome University
Mirella Schino, L’Aquila University
Ferdinando Taviani, L’Aquila University
Susanne Vill, Bayreuth University

Special Guests
Peter Chelkowski, New York University
Palle Granhøj, choreographer
Eduardo Manet, playwright
Akira Matsui, Noh performer
M. P. Sankaran Namboodiri, Kathakali performer
Katri Soini, dancer
Sofia Yaregal, dancer
Cristina Wistari, Balinese dance performer

Performances
Bali: Rangda and Barong
Brazil: Orô de Otelo
India: Classical Concert
Japan: The Snow that Never Melts
Odin Teatret: Mythos and Ode to Progress
Theatrum Mundi Ensemble: The Legend of Doctor Faustus