The performing arts have always coexisted on the same stage. Throughout history, we have seen varied examples of collaborations between music, dance, and theatre. Sometimes, the qualities that distinguish these disciplines are maintained, and sometimes they are blurred. Nowadays, interdisciplinary works are flourishing all over the artistic world with a significant number of classically trained musicians joining these creative processes. Dancers and actors inspire and get inspired by the way musicians relate to the performance arts. This results in fresh and original works that mirror the times that we are living in.
My previous experience with such a collaboration in the project ‘The Devil on the Dance Floor’ – involving my New Tango ensemble Quinteto del Diablo, dancer Rosanna Ter Steege and stage director Laura Suárez – has always been a source of interest to me. I want to make interdisciplinary performance a part of my artistic profile, as it is a way for me to fully express my intentions and feelings. But my question since then has been: what can I draw out from my last experience that could help me, and others, in later collaborations?
What I learned during and after the process of creating ‘The Devil on the Dance Floor’ – especially from stage director Laura Suárez – was to question every aspect that shapes a performance, to find its role in the piece, and to observe it. In practice, the result has been very satisfactory. However, I wanted to deepen my knowledge in the field of performing arts in order to learn more about how to approach it from my own perspective. I have been very interested in constructing a theoretical framework which explains all of these aspects as a whole. This led me to one of the central research questions: how can a framework be organised in the process of creating interdisciplinary performances?
My approach to this question is to find concrete aspects where the performing arts can coexist and connect. They can be seen as constituting a common ground where the collaboration between disciplines happens. I call these aspects components. Each one of the components refers to a distinct facet of performance: they range from the venue, stage, public, and interactions between artists; to intention, expression, and concept, among others.
To know how to apply these components to an artistic creation, we need to ask a second question: how are these components related to each other?
To answer this, I have started from a set of assumptions that I share with many people in my environment and artists I highly appreciate. The main assumption among these is that we believe there are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ artistic processes. Individual or collective experimentation – one of the key terms used by this group – stems from the concept of non-hierarchical creation: any starting point is valid. Therefore, regarding the components as a list to strictly follow is incorrect and only hinders the process.
Constructing a framework for interdisciplinary performances featuring classically trained musicians and dancers or actors
A guideline for the process of creating interdisciplinary works through a theoretical framework
However, all of them should be fully taken into account. A complete, coherent, and cohesive interdisciplinary performance always contains a well-developed and self-aware notion of these components. This notion connects them and synthesises the final performance in its entirety. Furthermore, what is most important is that the public will connect and fill in these components by themselves, consciously or unconsciously. Components that are less thought out might result in an unintentionally ambiguous or vague delivery that leaves the public with weaker impressions and unwanted doubts.
To arrive at the framework, I will describe first my experience in the project ‘The Devil on the Dance Floor’, which started in 2018 and was halted in 2020. The conclusions drawn from this experience, and an interview with Laura Suárez, leads to the theorisation of the components that shape the creative process and the final interdisciplinary performance. These components are organised in a map. This map resembles the concept of the “rhizome”, an idea that was developed by Deleuze of Guattari in the book "A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia". The rhizome applies to thoughts and social structures, and also supports the idea of non-hierarchical creative processes. Moreover, references to Norbert Servos’ book “Pina Bausch. Dance and Theatre” support the framework from the artistic point of view.
In the next part of the research, I will use my mentioned experience, the reflections by members of the Quinteto del Diablo, an interview with dancer and choreographer Mar López, and my current project with dancer Rosanna Ter Steege, to explain the practical applications of this ‘map’ of components.
The research has two goals. The first one is to set the framework for a creative process which I agree with and where I feel completely comfortable. This is the key to be able to get fully inspired and connect to other performing arts. The second one is to set a framework for others, especially classically trained musicians, for the process of creating an interdisciplinary performance.
The research has two goals. The first one is to set the framework for a creation process which I agree with and where I feel completely comfortable. This is the key to be able to get fully inspired and connect to other performing arts. The second one is to set a framework for others, especially classically trained musicians, for the process of creating an interdisciplinary performance.
The visual arts participating in a performance – light design, customs design, or other media – will not be discussed, although they will be mentioned in a few instances. The purpose of the work is to focus mainly on my experience with interdisciplinary performances through a practical approach, rather than a historical analysis of collaborations between the performing arts.
This research would have been impossible without the experience I’ve had with my ensemble ‘Quinteto del Diablo’, which consists of Daumantas Stundžia, Ella Stenstedt, Daniel Leenders, and Piotr Lipowicz; dancers Goda Žukauskaitė, Rosanna ter Steege; and most importantly, Laura Suárez, my mother and artistic mentor, from whom I have learned enormously. She has helped me dive into the world of performing arts and has given me the tools to understand them and to work with them. I am extremely grateful.
I want to also thank my significant other Nirantar Yakthumba, my partner in life, art and spirit. He is also my editor and makes sure that I am delivering my words properly.