1 – The flexibility in working with different processes and adapting to them is key. [1] As a dramaturge, change is constant. Working with different artists in different works means working with unique perspectives each time. That means that each artist and work has distinguishing needs from the dramaturge. While one may need someone to fill in a missing knowledge, the other might need an outside eye to test ideas. To be flexible enough to deal with these changes is, thus, crucial.

2 – Dramaturgy is about creating a method: creating the conditions for the work to develop. [2]

3 – How you practice dramaturgy also has micro-political implications on the work and its creative process.[3] Your positionality, the organization of the room, and who has the power of the word are all micro-political aspects of the process. Be aware of them.

4 – Building a reservoir of material and experiences is one of the musts for a dramaturg. [4] It is important
to have materials from which to draw inspiration. By diversifying and multiplying experiences and knowledge, it becomes easier to adapt to different works. However, the reservoir is not supposed to be
used as an enforcement of the process, but instead as a collective body of knowledge that can be adapted, reshaped, and drawn from to suit the needs of a specific work.

5 – When bringing knowledge from the past to the table, it is always about bringing to the contemporary world and to the given situation – not about cultural heritage, but engagement with that material in the contemporary reality. [5]

6 – Mistakes can be generative. Embrace them and see where they can lead.

7 – As a dramaturge, you are present in the studio, during the vulnerable moment of creation. That means that you are also responsible for creating an environment of reliance on one another. By having a sense of togetherness and trust, you open spaces where exploration can be done without fear, and mistakes are welcome. Only in trust will you open the space for possibilities to emerge.

8 – Consider different materials (not just people). Dramaturgy also lies within the entanglement between different materials. [6]

9 – The classic role of the dramaturge of observation is a Western way of thinking. It assumes that there is an outside-from-the-creation space to be looking from. However, your observation is embodied. You are in the space together.

10 – Sometimes, relying on your intuition is key. Even if you are not sure about where you are going, it will lead you somewhere. Your intuition was built from all the experiences you had. It is part of your embodied knowledge. Dance is a non-verbal practice, just as intuition. It is about the first response your body gives. It is something that you can always rely on to give back, because it reveals what the work does to you. Trust your intuition.

11 – After trusting your intuition, elaborate on it. To build an analytical thought, think of why the work made you feel the way it did, and what was your position when looking at it.

12 – A dramaturgue has the responsibility to think about the positionality of the sources they use. They have to crucially ask: whose voice is being heard? What narratives are being told? Which ways of knowing are being conveyed?[7] Dealing with a reservoir of knowledge means also dealing with the history of that knowledge. By validating other methodologies, and ways of navigating the world, you are also decolonializing your practice. Bringing these other methodologies that differ from the Western canons means bringing new perspectives that would have been otherwise forgotten.

13 – Embrace contradictions, acknowledge intersectionality, but also explore sameness, with the care of not ignoring or oversimplifying social implications.[8] Encountering different cultures means giving the space for both to be heard and respected. It is about discovering shared experiences, but also knowing that there are differences because each person has their position in the world. However, bringing different perspectives.

14 – Dramaturgy doesn’t only belong to the dramaturge. It can be shared.

15 – The dramaturge’s job is a precarious one. That means that you might do other work. However, whichever activity you do, dramaturgical thinking can be carried with you to inform the way you will face that task. That means that dramaturgy cannot only be shared among people, but also among different practices and environments.

16 – Dramaturgy is also a practice of care. [9] You are a support system. You are there because you care for the creators just as much as for the creation. Often, your role is to be the cheerleader on the side, the person who believes in the creation when the creators begin to question everything. However, it’s also important to find a balance between being critical and supportive.

17 – Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself as a dramaturge and explain what your work is about, because many makers don’t know what it is, and what it can provide. So don’t be afraid to proclaim yourself out loud, because there might be someone just waiting for you to offer.

18 – Writing can also simply be a registration tool. It is something that you can fall back on, come back to reflect on the process, where it started compared to where it is.

19 -Naming is a process of the dramaturgue. [10]

20- It’s not about anticipating the work to come, but being listening and observant of what work is emerging. [11]

21- As a dramaturge, don’t hesitate to provide ‘gifts’ for the makers you work with. Gifts can inspire further dramaturgical progress. They are glimpses, hints, sources, a side-look, something that can lead the work further.

22- Even if dance is an embodied practice, writing can be a powerful tool of the dramaturge. [12] It clarifies and filters thought. The words chosen to describe something can, then, inspire and influence movement, transforming the practice of writing in a dialogical tool. It is the paper and the body talking to each other.

23- Dramaturgy is born out of tension: out of dialogue, differences and problems in the interaction among things and participants in the creative process. [13]

27- Even if dramaturgical practices typically ask for a forensic look into the work, where analysing, dissecting and understanding the work is the goal, why not try to be a witness sometimes? A witness acknowledges the illusion of neutrality and, by having the embodied experience of being present in the event, gains the power to talk about it. [14]