1. The Death of the Dancer.
About the dancer/choreographer’s authorship in
contemporary dance.

3. • Roland Barthes, Structuralism and Post-
structuralism
• “The Death of the Author” (essay by
Roland Barthes)
• “Xavier Le Roy” (performance by Jerôme
Bèl)
• Theoretical Task

5. • author
• scriptor

6. A text is a coherent set of symbols that
transmits some kind of informative message.

7. The word choreography literally means
"dance-writing" from the Greek words
"χορεία" (circular dance, “chorea”) and
"γραφή" (“writing”).
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choreography (Retrieved 14/02/2010)

8. structuralism: there are unobservable
structures within a system that generate
observable phenomena

9. Basically, many who began by stating that texts could be
interpreted based solely on the cultural and social
circumstances of the author came to believe that the
reader's culture and society shared an equal part in the
interpretation of a piece. If the reader sees it in one
way, how do we know that that is the way the author
intended? We don't. [...] the interpretation and criticism
of any literature is in the hands of the individual reader
and will necessarily include that reader's own cultural
biases and assumptions. While many structuralists first
thought that they could tease out an author's intention
by close scrutiny, they soon found so many
disconnections, that it was obvious that their own
experiences lent a view that was unique to them.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-structuralism (Retrieved 14/02/2010)

10. Search for analogies:
• “text” = “dance performance”, “art work”
• “author” = “choreographer”, “dancer”, “artist”
• “reader” = “audience”, “spectator”
• “writing” = “choreographing”, “dancing”,
“creating”

11. "[The poem] is detached from the author
at birth and goes about the world beyond
his power to intend about it or control
it. The poem belongs to the public.”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_the_Author (Retrieved 14/02/2010)

12. Jerôme Bèl

14. “I consider that the audience
are the co-producers of my
pieces. Without them there is
no show! “ (Jerôme Bèl)

15. Jerôme Bèl: “Xavier Le Roy”
http://www.catalogueraisonne-jeromebel.com/player.php?ep=5

16. • To X: Who would you entrust with
the task to create a performance in
your style called “Y”?
• To Y: If X was the author of your
piece called “Y” what would it look
like and how would you go about
making it in order to follow X’s style?
• Key: X = author, Y = scriptor and performance title

17. Titles:
• “Thom Bodle”
• “Katie Cheetham”
• “Amy Clark”
• “Rebecca Hollis”
• “Chantelle Hutson”
• “Rebecca Jeffs”
• “Rachael Jennings”
• “Nikki McLusky”
• “Hannah Rycraft”
• “Sarah Vaughan-Jones”
• “Jade Whitehead”

18. 1. Which (type of) dancers would you use?
2.
What would the subject of your piece be, considering
that it was a continuation of X’s last piece?
3.
Which methods would you employ in order to create it?
4.
What would the piece look like regarding e.g. light,
costumes, stage design/set, visuals, movement qualities
etc.?
5.
What would the audience feel or think whilst watching
the performance?
6.
If you were the author of this performance how would
it be different or similar?