Dramaturgical Ecologies

Dramaturgical Ecologies is a multi-disciplinary group of artists and researchers interested in the ecologies of dramaturgical processes. The group is based out of Concordia University, in Montreal/Montréal/Tio’tia:ke in today's so-called Canada.

We explore research-creation methodologies and research the concept and practice of dance dramaturgy. We understand the dancer’s dramaturgical body as the locus of personal, cultural, and political inscriptions—rather than just a blank canvas, as it is tipically understood. Thus, we aim to theorize the redistribution of agency in dance and destabilise current hierarchies in the triad choreographer-dramaturg-dancer.

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Currently, the group does so by articulating the creative process of the choreographic solo piece Confession Publique, (in which our P.I. Angélique Wilkie features as both performer, dramaturg, and researcher) and by relating agency to concepts such as blackness, dramaturgy, gesture, ecology, and embodiment.

Dramaturgical Ecologies seeks to use the creative process as a thinking mechanism for understanding how different layers of agency reside in bodies, how they are expressed through gesture and re-performed across time and space, how gestural coordination may engender collective bodies and dramaturgies, and what spaces are available for these bodies.

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We thank Mariana Marcassa for her contribution in setting up the group.

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The project is funded by the Fonds de recherche du Québec–Société et culture (FRQSC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).