Rodia Vomvolou

Rodia Vomvolou is a performing arts dramaturg and researcher based between Amsterdam and Athens. She is currently doing a PhD research project on the self-positioning of the dance dramaturg in Utrecht University. Rodia holds an MA in Contemporary Theatre, Dance and Dramaturgy (Cum laude) from Utrecht University, as well as a BA in Drama and Performance Theory, History and Analysis from the School of Drama, A.U.T.H, Greece (Cum Laude). As a freelancer dramaturg and mentor, Rodia collaborates with institutions and dance houses as well as with independent artists in Greece, the Netherlands and Cyprus. Since 2019 she is the mentor and curator of the Artistic Development programme “Moving the New” of Dance House Lemesos in Cyprus
Abstracts
“Dare to stutter, dare to stammer”: Towards an alternative understanding of the knowledge of the dramaturg
MA Utrecht University
This thesis explores the connection between the dramaturg and alternative types of knowing that go beyond theoretical knowledge and derive from its practical aspects. Drawing from the field of epistemology – the branch of philosophy that deals with the theory of knowledge – it uses the concepts of practical, tacit and embodied knowledge to examine their potentiality for understanding the knowledge employed in the practice of the dramaturg. Along with a theoretical framework based on epistemology, the research draws on ethnographic fieldwork and on the examination of dramaturgical practices. My intention is to create an environment that can liberate the dramaturg from the role of the objective observer and knowledgeable theoretician that functions as the mind of the process; and instead it can open up space for the dramaturg as a practitioner that makes use of and values the subjective, sensorial and embodied components of knowledge.
Η Πρακτική της Δραματουργίας στον Σύγχρονο Χορό: Τέσσερα Παραδείγματα από την Ελληνική και Βελγική Σκηνή του 21ού αιώνα
Bachelor, Τμήμα Θεάτρου, Σχολή Καλών Τεχνών, Α.Π.Θ.
The thesis researches the practice of dramaturgy in contemporary dance by studying the dramaturgical process of four different cases studies. What place does dramaturgy has in the choreographic creation? How does every choreographic process approach dramaturgy? Which is the role of the dramaturg in the creative process? In cases that there is not a dramaturg between the creators is there still dramaturgy? Are they different qualities of dramaturgy in every process? The first part of the dissertation is following the growth of dramaturgy in theatre (Chapter 1) and in dance (Chapter 2) through a historical and theoretical perspective, to end to a critical discourse analysis of the field of contemporary dramaturgy today (Chapter 3). Chapter 4 discusses two pieces from Belgian companies: Badke (2013) by Les Ballets C de la B in collaboration with KVS and Α.Μ.: Qattan Foundation and Le Salon (2004) by Peeping Tom. While Chapter 5 discusses two pieces from Greek choreographers: Transforming me: a bilingual solo (2014) by Medie Megas and This is it, no other, just this (2016) by Mariela Nestora-YELP danceco.