Relational Dance: Active Audience in Contemporary Performance

Abstract

The present article promotes a rethinking of contemporary dance in order to move it towards new stage conventions which are capable of actively involving the spectator in creative processes, production and creation. To do so, it focuses on the elaboration of a new category of Relational Dance. For this purpose, the paper analyzes a range of related topics: the change of traditional scenic convention from the perspective of theatricality; spatiality as a containment for a change in the role of the spectator; relational dramaturgy as a constructor of scenic interstices between stage and spectator and the functionality of dance towards new cultural structures of movement and action. This research is based on a qualitative analysis of documentation and scenic praxis, since developing the concept of Relational Dance implies the need to transform references that come from other scenic perspectives and to also reflect on the current scenic processes that give the spectator an action, allowing him to discover levels of relationship and annexation to the process of representation from his subjectivity; processes capable of structuring devices of a relational nature and tracing new perceptions between the limits of art and life, offering a new approach to its construction and dissemination on current stages.