Dançar, trabalho normal

Abstract

This research examines the negotiations which establish the conditions for the presentation of contemporary dance works in Brazilian institutions that program them. Artworks are inseparable from the many instances and mediations to which they are subjected until they encounter the public. It therefore starts from the premise that artistic works reconfigure themselves continuously when in relation with their insertion into the artistic system, being the negotiation with the institution a constitutive part of the work itself. Several voices of Brazilian artists working in contemporary dance comprise the body of this thesis and are a key element for the analysis of the problem. We propose a tool entitled “contextual rider” – a document which, besides including technical requirements, encompasses aspects and parameters that ensure the work’s integrity and needs. Apart from being a guideline for the agreement with the institutions, the “contextual rider” is intended as a practice to build critical thinking in the dance field. Normal work, a performance created for this research and inextricably linked to its issues, allowed not only greater understanding of the relations between work, process and negotiations with institutions, but also the development of initial issues, including reflections that bind the artistic work with the artist's work.