Tanzschreiber*innenworkshop
Willkommen
Essayistic writing
Performance Analysis
Vorstellunsgbesuch tanzwuchs #9
Schreibwerkstatt
Workshop: Writing about dance - young talent meets independent scene
As part of tanzwuchs #9, we invite young talents interested in writing to a three-day workshop dedicated to writing about dance in all its facets. Dance is movement — and it moves us. But how can we put that into words?
Whether a review, creative text, essay or experimental form - we want to try out together how movement can be translated into language. Participants will attend the evening performance of tanzwuchs #9, in which six short pieces from the independent dance scene will be presented. On this basis, individual texts will be written about the works shown - with space for their own perspectives, questions and formats.
The workshop will be accompanied by experienced writing coaches and dance mediators. The aim is to promote new voices in the field of dance journalism and mediation - and to give them a platform. A selection of the texts will then be published on the Tanznetz Freiburg website.
What we offer:
- Three-day workshop with inputs, text work & feedback
- Free access to the performance of tanzwuchs #9
- Publication on the Tanznetz Freiburg homepage
Participation requirements:
You enjoy writing, are interested in dance and are not afraid of white pages. Previous knowledge of writing about dance is not required - curiosity is enough.
Participation free of charge.
The number of places is limited to 12 participants.
Essayistic writing
How can you write about something that defies language? Just seen - disappeared again. In this workshop, you will be given tools on how to write against the fleeting nature of movement. The starting point is classic criticism - but we can write away from it, become more fluid, shift formats and ask new questions: How much distance does a good text need? What does objectivity mean in writing - and is it even necessary? How lively can a critique be, how artistic must it be?
Together we will explore forms of writing that don't hold on, but resonate. Using selected short video examples, we will practise naming phenomena and developing potential interview questions. The workshop is aimed at anyone who would like to engage with dance and performance through writing - regardless of whether they want to create their first texts or question tried and tested techniques. The resulting contributions can be published on a blog by arrangement. The workshop will be held in German spoken language. If you have any individual requirements, please let us know in advance!
About Thaddäus Maria Jungmann
Thaddäus Maria Jungmann studied scenic arts in Hildesheim and musical theater in Osnabrück. Thaddäus lives as a freelance performer and dramaturge in Cologne, where they are currently studying for a Master's degree in Dance Studies - with a stay abroad in Bern/Expanded Theater. They also work as a journalist for the two trade journals Theater der Zeit and tanz. Through writing, Thaddäus most recently came to the development of artistic audio descriptions for blind and visually impaired audiences at tanzhaus nrw.
Performance Analysis
How can touching bodies in motion be translated into comprehensible conceptual bodies? How can a dynamic and ephemeral dance event be immobilized in words without appearing rigid and static? Using the method of performance analysis as a starting point, the workshop will show ways of accessing dance events in order to make them conceptually comprehensible. Starting from one's own location and being touched, encounters with dance events should take place that enable questions to be asked, that leave questions open and that invite possible answers that are not fixed but interact with the dance. The meanings conveyed to the audience in a dance event should be translated into possible interpretations, which are then reflected in a text about the dance, so that the experience of being touched is made comprehensible to others.
During the workshop, possibilities for writing about dance will be demonstrated in order to find one's own linguistic embodiment of and about dance. Based on exemplary dance events, possible moments of being touched will be filtered out in order to use them as a starting point for a text-dance response. Concrete steps of being touched by dance, speaking about dance and writing about and with dance will be shown in the workshop.
All viewers who not only want to watch a dance event but also interact with it through writing are cordially invited to the workshop to write texts in response to the dance events at Tanzwuchs 2025. After consultation, these can be published on a blog. Individual needs will be addressed during the workshop.
About Dr. Jutta Krauß
Dr. Jutta Krauß is a dance scholar, dramaturge, lecturer and teacher. She studied TanzKultur at the Faculty of Human Sciences at the University of Bern/Switzerland and completed a teaching degree at the Freiburg University of Education. She is a member of the Gesellschaft für Tanzforschung and was first deputy chair from 2021-2023. Her main areas of work and research are Contemporary dance with theorems of body and costume, gender performances on stage as well as cultural translations and mediation concepts.
Registration
To register, please send an email with the subject “Writing workshop” to presse@tanznetz-freiburg.de and include your full name and contact details (email/phone). The registration deadline is September 26, 2025 and the number of participants is limited to 12. Please let us know in this email what you need to be able to participate and we will do our best to make it possible! The two lecturers on site will also respond to individual needs.