Juan Pablo González Leal

Working Title of Dissertation Project

Hybrid Epistemology of Dance-Theatre in the 21st Century: A perspective on the phenomena in haybrid forms of dance and theatre in 20th-century Europe.

Abstract

This doctoral project investigates the epistemological implications of hybrid practices between dance and theatre throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Rather than approaching Tanztheater as a genre or stylistic category, the research proposes to understand it as a constellation of hybridizations produced by the circulation and transformation of specific disciplinary elements between modern and contemporary dance and Western theatre traditions.
Drawing on key figures such as Rudolf Laban, Mary Wigman, Kurt Jooss, Pina Bausch, Konstantin Stanislavski, Jerzy Grotowski, Michael Chekhov, Eugenio Barba, and Étienne Decroux, the study examines how compositional, dramaturgical, and performative principles migrate across disciplinary territories. The project engages critically with theories of interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity (Morin, Nicolescu), while also incorporating philosophical perspectives from Jacques Rancière, Jacques Derrida, and Jorge Dubatti.
The central objective is to construct a “cartography” of hybrid scenic epistemologies capable of analysing how artistic elements behave, transform, and recombine beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries. This approach shifts the focus from identifying how much “dance” or “theatre” is present in a work to examining the operational logics that emerge through their hybridization.
By combining historical analysis, theoretical reflection, and observation of contemporary scenic practices, the project aims to contribute to current debates on artistic knowledge production and post-disciplinary methodologies within the performing arts.

Keywords

Dance, Theatre, Hybrid Epistemology, Post-Disciplinary, Territoriality.

Supervisors:

Prof. Dr. Christina Thurner, Institute of Theatre Studies, University of Bern

Prof. Dr. Yvonne Schmidt, Bern Academy of the Arts