At the beginning of December, we are preparing the last of this year's series of Dramaturgy in Dance workshops. This time, the 3-day session will be led by experienced practitioners in the field of dramaturgy, Rodia Vomvolou (GR/NL) and Yasen Vasilev (BG/BE). Mentoring meetings, workshops and discussions will be held from December 1 to 3, 2023 in Studio Krenovka and ArtHUB Krenovka and will be conducted in English.

All programs are open to professional dancers, dramaturgs, choreographers, but also curators, presenters, creative producers, and people with a particular interest in contemporary dance.

You can sign up for individual workshops or the entire program.

You can Apply HERE

Deadline for application November 23 2023

Confirmation of participation by the organizer: November 28 2023

Symbolic participation fee: for 1 workshop 100 CZK, for 2 workshops 200 CZK, for 3  workshops 300 CZK

Rodia Vomvolou is a dance dramaturg and researcher based between the Netherlands and Greece. As a freelancer dramaturg, mentor and teacher, Rodia collaborates with institutions, dance houses and universities in Europe (Dance House Lemesos, PERA School of Performing Arts, Academy of Performing Arts Bratislava, DansBrabant Tilburg, Circustruction Rotterdam, Utrecht University, Onassis Stegi, ZfinMalta etc.) as well as with independent artists in the Netherlands, Greece, and Cyprus. Since 2019 she is the mentor and curator of the Artistic Development programme “Moving the New” of Dance House Limassol in Cyprus. In 2021-2022 she participated as a dramaturg in the European program “Micro and Macro Dance Dramaturgies”, a collaboration between Dans Brabant (NL), Tanec Praha (CZ), Anghiari Dance Hub & Marche Teatro (IT), Bora Bora - Dans og visuelt teater (DK) and Dance House Lemesos(CY). Rodia graduated from Utrecht University in 2018 with an MA in Contemporary Theatre, Dance and Dramaturgy (Cum laude). She also holds a BA in Drama and Performance Theory, History and Analysis from the School of Drama, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is currently doing a PhD research project on the self-positioning of the dance dramaturg, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Maaike Bleeker in Utrecht University.

Yasen Vasilev is based between Brussels and Sofia and works internationally in the field of contemporary dance as a dramaturg, maker, and critic. NUTRICULA/IMPOSSIBLE ACTIONS, a long-term artistic research trajectory he initiated in 2015 in Shanghai and in 2019 in Taipei, has been developed and presented internationally in the form of workshops and performances which aim to test and re-imagine the limits of the body, as well as to set up horizontal working models. Yasen is a regular contributor for Springback magazine and is active on the topic of working conditions in the frame of different initiatives, most recently Kunstenpunt’s A Fair New Idea where he co-authored A Letter for Transnational Fair Practice. As a dance dramaturg he works with Belgian choreographers Ehsan Hemat, Milo Slayers and Julien Carlier. In 2023-2024 he has a research position at the Royal Conservatoire in Antwerp and a fellowship at Akademie Schloss Solitude with a project about the distribution of agency within collective bodies.

DAY 1: 1. 12.2023

INDIVIDUAL MENTORING SESSIONS FOR ARTISTS
Led separately by Rodia Vomvolou and Yasen Vasilev, each session of 90 mins will be open to artists in the middle of a creation process or searching for a dramaturgical feedback on a finished work. A total of 6 sessions will be conducted. Individuals or groups can apply. Applicants must send the short description of the project.

Sessions are open to dramaturgs, makers, dancers, choreographers.

10:00 – 11:30  Studio Krenovka
12:00 – 13:30  Studio Krenovka
13:30 – 14:30  Lunch break
14:30 – 16:00  ArtHUB Krenovka

DISCUSSION ABOUT DANCE DRAMATURGY

17:00 – 19:00 ArtHUB Krenovka

Rodia Vomvolou: Unpacking the role of the dance dramaturg- Genealogy and current approaches
In this lecture, a short historical overview of the emergence of dramaturgy and the role of the dance dramaturg will be given, followed by a discussion of contemporary approaches and practices of dance dramaturgy. How and when did the dramaturg emerge in the dance field? What does it mean to be a dance dramaturg as a job? What are the different modalities and functions of a dance dramaturg?

Yasen Vasilev: A Dramaturgical Score - an ongoing research
In this talk I will trace back my ongoing practice of working with dramaturgical scores where the same concepts and structures produce different results in different bodies and socio-political contexts. I will trace back the shift of my interest from an investigation of movement practice as resistance, through the  use of scores as exercises for horizontal working models, and towards the notion of embodied collective dramaturgies and distribution of agency.

The discussion will be open to everyone who is interested in dramaturgy in dance.

DAY 2: 2. 12. 2023

DRAMATURGICAL THINKING AND DOING WITH RODIA VOMVOLOU
How can dramaturgy work to activate a shared ground where there is room for exploration, speculation and the unknown? How can we think and act dramaturgically from our different positions/roles in a process? Having these questions as a starting point, the workshop will offer practical tools and exercises that trigger a dramaturgical dialogue. Participants will explore dramaturgy as the creation of specific frameworks that through their form, rules and limitations mobilize versatile processes (artistic productions, feedback sessions, curation of events, after-talks etc.). Using tools like questioning, imagination, articulation, visualization and alienation, it aims to open different formats for the participants to expand their dramaturgical thinking and find various ways to communicate their thoughts, questions, reflections and experiences.

Open to dramaturgs, makers, dancers, choreographers.

10:00 – 13:00  Studio Krenovka
13:00 – 14:00  Lunch break
14:00 – 17:00  ArtHUB Krenovka

DAY 3: 3. 12. 2023

EMBODIED COLLECTIVE DRAMATURGIES - WORKSHOP WITH YASEN VASILEV
How to listen to the body and allow it to reveal its internal dramaturgies? How can we coordinate individual bodies within a single collective body and distribute agency equally? In this laboratory participants will go through a series of exercises and tasks individually, in pairs, in trios and in larger groups. The tasks address proximity and personal space; body scan and search for existing movements; decision-making, group dynamics and group impulse; common rhythms of breathing, listening, and moving; forming a collective body and exploring the space as one. Some of these tasks are borrowed from different methods and artists, like authentic movement or Viewpoints, while others are informed by dramaturgical practice. We will also conduct self-interviews, write down notes and reflections, discuss the practice with each other and in a group, give feedback, and try to articulate our experiences.

It is suitable for dancers, performers, choreographers, dramaturgs, as well as non-professionals interested in movement. Participants should be comfortable with touch. It is possible to attend the session as an observant.

10:00 – 13:00 Studio Krenovka
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 – 17:00 Studio Krenovka