Disturbing Patterns - How can dramaturgy be an instigator of change? A roundtable conversation

The theme for the Aarhus residency of the Micro and Macro Dramaturgies in Dance project (2019 - 2022) is disturbing patterns, which also aims to disturb the established patterns of this multi-annual programme in many ways. Having had two MMDD intensives in 2021 that idealised dramaturgy (weaving the fabric of society, bringing people together), it is important to explore the more uncomfortable, disturbing, perhaps even  ‘darker’ or political side of dance dramaturgy.

The theme, disturbing patterns, offers two interpretations:

• Bringing awareness to existing patterns in our thinking, in our actions both on a personal and societal level that trouble us, that we find problematic. Either because they are no longer acceptable, or because they have been used repeatedly for so long that by now they have lost their meaning and become empty or schematic. They no longer lead to anything fruitful at this historical moment that cries for critical thinking and reformation.
   
• Disrupting, changing, and disengaging with existing patterns of our working process: reflecting on approaches, emotions, thinking processes, actions, methods, communication and engagement with others on an individual and an institutional level.

This roundtable, with the participation of Danish dramaturgs and choreographers, will therefore explore: How can dramaturgy be an instigator of change? Starting from a personal perspective, the conversation will explore the question on different levels, relating it to our practice and dramaturgical thinking; it will further examine our responsibilities on an institutional level and see how shifts in patterns may bring about changes on a societal level.

The conversation from 17.30 onwards will disrupt the pattern of the roundtable format and will continue in a more spontaneous way.

The event finishes at 19.00 (the live-stream ends at 17.30).

Participants:

Synne K. Behrndt is a lecturer, researcher and dramaturg. She has published and presented papers and workshops on dramaturgy internationally. She is the co-author of the book Dramaturgy and Performance (Palgrave, 2008/2016) and joint editor of Palgrave’s book series ‘New Dramaturgies’. As a dramaturg, she has worked within devising and dance and she is currently Assistant Professor at the Department for Performing Arts, University of the Arts, Stockholm.

Naya Moll Olsen is a choreographer, dancer and dramaturg based in Copenhagen. She holds a BA in dance and choreography from The Danish National School of Performing Arts, where she graduated in 2017. As a dramaturg, Naya is working closely together with the choreographer Emilie Gregersen, and have been a part of the unfolding of a performance trilogy about the phenomenology of senses, first with Touch (2020), then Caresses (2021). Naya is a part of Dance Coop in Copenhagen, a new self-organized studio collective of 16 choreographers working with performance and intersectional practices, as well as being a board member of DANSEatelier, and board member and editor of “Kvinde Kend Din Krop“, a fund working with public health information about the body, gender, sex and culture.

Rasmus Malling Lykke Skov is a performing arts practitioner, performer, dramaturg and stage director. Educated as Auteur from the Danish School of Performing Arts, and with an academic background in History of Ideas (BA) and Dramaturgy (MA). He works freelance, and as the artistic co-director of the Danish performance theatre company Teater Fluks, which he co-founded in 2011. Rasmus makes work for different areas within the performing arts, primarily focused on the resonance-led, the research-based and the relation-powered in the intersection between performance art, theatre and installation work.

Tina Tarpgaard is an artist working with dance and choreography. In 2005 she founded the Copenhagen based recoil performance group, an organizational structure for artistic creation and collaboration. Her choreographic work cuts across established aesthetic categories and is informed by specific collaborations with different knowledge fields, such as bio-artist, scientists or farmers. Her main interest is the relational in both the art experience and in the artistic process. In her early performances, this took the form of digital trompe-l’oeil projections, while later projects established more sensorial, analogue universes with a strong focus on community and sustainability - hence, she is a firm believer that art and a sustainable future is closely connected. Tina is a MOMAK artist - MOMAK is an artist collective working for knowledge and recourse sharing within dance and choreography. www.recoil-performance.org www.momak.dk

Katalin Trencsényi is a dramaturg, theatre-maker, and researcher, working in the field of contemporary theatre, dance and performance. As a London-based dramaturg, she has worked with the National Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre, Soho Theatre, Corali Dance Company, Deafinitely Theatre, and with many independent artists. Katalin has taught at RADA, the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (visiting lecturer), as well as internationally. Katalin is the author of Dramaturgy in the Making (Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2015) and editor of Bandoneon: Working with Pina Bausch (Oberon Books, 2016). Katalin is co-founder of the Dramaturgs’ Network. Currently, she is working as a lecturer on the Comparative Dramaturgy and Performance Research Programme at the University of the Arts Helsinki.