This five-day masterclass facilitated by Esther Severi starts from the legacy of the Belgian dramaturge Marianne Van Kerkhoven (1946–2013) who is widely considered as one of the key figures in (European) dramaturgy, laying the foundations of discourse and working methods that are still used today. During the masterclass the participants will read closely some of the texts from Van Kerkhoven, written in different stages of her life. Participants are asked to translate notions of dramaturgy and of the creation process they find in this material onto their own working methods, research, and productions. The idea is to explore together how these notions from different times live on today and how they resonate or clash with the current reality. Van Kerkhoven graduated from the Free University of Brussels in 1968. Her life career spans a complex artistic timeline of political engagement at the end of the sixties and seventies, the development of the ‘Flemish wave’ in the Belgian arts world in the eighties and nineties, a merging of disciplines and the rise of performance in the 2000s and a turn towards re-politicization 2000s–2010s. For more than 30 years she was the dramaturge of Kaaitheater in Brussels. Her legacy lives on through her work with artists, her extensive writing throughout her career, and a number of young dramaturges today who have been trained by Van Kerkhoven as her interns.

The masterclass is meant for professional choreographers and theatre makers, or students of these fields. The participants can bring with them a project or idea they are currently working on and share their process with others. The masterclass is for ten participants. Participation fee is 150 €. Apply for the masterclass by sending a motivation letter to info(at)liikkeellamarraskuussa.fi by September 1st, 2020. The masterclass is held in English and the motivation letter should also be written in English.

For more information: info(at)liikkeellamarraskuussa.fi

Esther Severi

Esther Severi was born in 1983. She is currently dramaturge at Kaaitheater in Brussels, Belgium, and teaches at the Drama Department of the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, Belgium. In 2012, her essay on the Dutch theatre company Maatschappij Discordia was published as an edition of the De Nieuwe Toneelbibliotheek. As dramaturg she works with artists such as Els Dietvorst, Thomas Bellinck, Radouan Mriziga, Katja Dreyer, Michiel Vandevelde and Roland Gunst. She engages in a long-term research on the life and work of Marianne Van Kerkhoven.