Theatrical and Non-Theatrical Thinking in Actual Choreographic Practice

Abstract

The article attempts to concretize the essence of the two aesthetically polar staging approaches — theatrical and non-theatrical (performative) — in the context of the choreographic art development. The author suggests that the basis for separating these approaches can be some peculiarities in the ways they interpret such fundamental concepts as “actor”, “role”, “spectator”, “drama”, “action”, “conflict”, which, in a choreographic performance, are in certain relationships determined by cultural traditions, and in a non-theatrical production, they are transformed up to their disappearance. A similar experience of separating a theater and a non-theater on the basis of the presence of an actor, a role, a spectator and an hierarchy between them is proposed in theater studies. However, in choreographic (including ballet) performances, the content of the role is closely linked with the music and is often determined by the emotional background and musical dramaturgy. In the case of a radical departure from the composer’s intention, turning to a different starting point for the composition, the specificity of the choreographic (ballet) performance is destroyed. Borrowings from non-theatrical art are showed in the construction of meanings when working with intrinsic body movement, as well as in the reliance on interdisciplinarity. Within a single line of choreographic art, there is a whole spectrum of ideas that interpret the concepts of “theatricality”, “non-theatricality”, “drama”, and “performativity” in different ways. On what basis to classify them in order to reduce them to a consistent system is a difficult question. The article attempts to outline the foundation for future classification. The relevance of this topic is caused by the insufficient elaboration of the conceptual base in the specialized literature on choreographic art.