Biografie Diane Elshout

Diane Elshout is meer dan 25 jaar actief als uitvoerend kunstenaar. Zij danste vanaf 1986 tot 1996 in binnen- en buitenland en won in 1986 de Aanmoedigingsprijs van het Dansersfonds ’79. Vanaf 1996 maakte zij, als mede artistiek leidster van dansgroep Elshout/Händeler, in samenwerking met Frank Händeler, een groot aantal (locatie)voorstellingen waarbij zij de grenzen van de dans aftasten en samenwerking met andere disciplines onderzochten. Zij wonnen o.a. de eerste en publieksprijs van de internationale choreografenconcoursen van Groningen en Hannover in 1997. Sinds 2006 ontwikkelt en performt zij haar eigen werk. Onder de naam Mobile Arts Project (MAP) creëert zij, samen met theatermaker/choreograaf Simon Rowe en beeldend kunstenaar/fotograaf Noud Verhave, community arts projecten. Als Elshout&Verhave ontwikkelt zij, i.s.m. Noud Verhave, (artistieke) concepten, trainingen voor en advies aan het bedrijfsleven, maatschappelijke organisaties en kunstenaars. Tussen 2004 en 2006 volgde zij een opleiding bedrijfskunde. Recent sloot zij haar master Theaterwetenschappen aan de Universiteit van Utrecht af. Haar thesis analyseerde ideëen, aannames en vooronderstellingen over het lichaam in choreografisch onderzoek en vergeleek deze met Westerse filosofische concepten over het lichaam. Als onderzoeker en mede organisator van symposia is zij verbonden aan het onderzoeksinstituut voor ervaren choreografen Danslab in Den Haag. Zij is (inter)national actief als docent en als dramaturg betrokken bij verschillende free-lance projecten. Recent gaf zij o.a. masterclasses choreografie aan studententen theaterwetenschap van de UU en choreografiestudenten van Codarts en op de Summerschool in Moskou. Als mede-onderzoeker was zij betrokken bij een research-project van Jack Gallagher en leidde zij nagesprekken van Bruno Listopad’s voorstelling ‘Spectatorship’.
www.elshoutenverhave.nl, www.movingartsproject.nl, www.stedge.nl

diane [at] bit-dansdramaturgie.nl

Biography Diane Elshout

Diane Elshout is active in the performing arts for more than 25 years. She danced in the Netherlands and abroad from 1986 untill 1996 and won the Prize for Young Talent from the Dansersfonds ’79. From 1996 she created as co-artistic director of dance company Elshout/ Händeler, together with Frank Händeler, a large number of (site specific) performances in which they stretched the borders of their discipline and researched interdisciplinary collaboration. They won the first and audience prize of the International Choreography Competition of both Groningen and Hannover in 1997. Since 2006 she performs her own work. She creates community arts projects together with Simon Rowe and visual artist/photographer Noud Verhave under the name Moving Arts Project (MAP). With Noud Verhave she develops (artistic) concepts, gives workshops and advice to business corporations, civil services and artists. Between 2004 and 2006 she followed a study business administration. Recently she finished her Master Theatre Studies at the University in Utrecht. Her thesis analyzed ideas, assumptions, and presuppositions of the body in choreographic research and compared these with Western philosophical concepts of the body.. As researcher and co-organizer of symposia, she works at the research centre for experienced choreographers Danslab in The Hague. Elshout is (inter) nationally active as a teacher and connected to several free-lance projects as a dramaturge. Recently she gave master classes choreography to the students of Theatre Studies of UU and choreography students from Codarts and at the Summer school in Moscow. As co-researcher, she collaborated with choreographer Jack Gallagher and was moderator of after talks of the performance ‘Spectators’ of Bruno Listopad.
www.elshoutenverhave.nl, www.movingartsproject.nl, www.stedge.nl

diane [at] bit-dansdramaturgie.nl

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I work in the arts because I love how it questions and brings to existence unexpected ideas and insights about reality. I work in dance because I am fascinated with the body in all its endless possibilities and (sometimes even disturbing) power. I am a dramaturge because I deeply enjoy the process of creation; a chemistry that brings us new visions and worlds, actualizes dreams and needs. Because of my background as a dancer, choreographer and researcher, I fuse different knowledges in my body, of which, and I follow Nietzsche, the mind is a part.

My contribution considers the ways, in which something can be enriched, grow and deepened. Practicaly, theoretically and artistically. I enter as a curios explorer, to discover together with the collaborators, like a co-creator, a not yet existing and possible form. Dramaturgy looks at the internal structures, like the formal elements of that what is performed as well as to external elements, like the overall concept of staging, the politics of performance, its place in context and history and the calculated audience response.

I see dramaturgy as process oriented: meaning, form and substance of a performance arise during the working process and continue to develop. In the process of meaning making, the dramaturge can be seen as the memory of a creation. I emphasize my subjective position, it is my culturally coloured I that sees, hears and interprets. I am no stable entity but change under the influence of experiences and circumstances. I enjoy and encourage difference but focus on the sharing of knowledge and experience to create a freedom of energy which, in my idea, is the base of fruitful collaboration and is a strong creative force.

Diane Elshout