Rewriting Distance: Bridging the Space between Dramaturg and Dancer

ABSTRACT: ”Rewriting Distance: Bridging the Gap between Dramaturg and Dancer’ examines a recent collaboration between Lin Snelling, Guy Cools, and Stefano Muneroni in which the three participants tested how writing can be an integral part of the dramaturgical process. During an intensive workshop in 2012, the participants explored the effectiveness of writing as a dramaturgical tool when writing develops simultaneously to dancing, and how the two activities meaningfully affect each other in the creation of a movement piece. The three collaborators took turns occupying the roles of ”performer’, ”writer’, and ”observer’ and in so doing they experienced how writing and dancing shape each other when they develop together during rehearsal, and, even more importantly, how they foster a strong interdisciplinary collaboration by blending the role of the dramaturg and that of the dancer. By bridging the gap existing between the functions of the dramaturg and those of the dancer, Rewriting Distance constructed a non-hierarchical space and showed new critical avenues to reconfigure the working relationship between dramaturgs and dancers.