How to Do Things With(out?) Words - The Dramaturgy of Dance and Movement in Jérôme Bel's “Gala”

Abstract

As a multidisciplinary approach, this research is based on the works of thinkers like Roman Jakobson, Yuval Noah Harari, Charles Darwin, William Shakespeare, Adolphe Appia, Martin Esslin, Hans-Thies Lehmann et al. Its train of thought follows the theory that everything is a code and that even nonverbal communication relies, just like its verbal counterpart, on words as omnipresent in our individual and social existence, from the cradle to the grave. Words are, more often than not, equated here not only linguistically, with lexemes (Ulrike Mosel), but also, philosophically, with any kind of encoded thoughts, in the signification given to them by Jacques Derrida as parts of an all-encompassing text.
A parallel between the stage and the world in terms of human communication is drawn in the hereby study by isolating the verbal and the nonverbal manner of conveying emotion and, thus, meaning, with a particular emphasis on Jérôme Bel's 2015 highly-rated performance, “Gala”, viewed as an example of good practices in the dramaturgy of dance and movement.
The research method is connected to dialectics and it becomes visible in the dissection of an algorithm (‘with’ -, without -, ‘with and without’ - words), while the research methodology includes elements of cultural anthropology, linguistics, philosophy, semantics, semiology, aesthetics, and, last but not least, performing arts studies.