Listen to the others: the rehearsal process as a constant act of care

Abstract

While artists and performance makers use different strategies when engaging with participants in the rehearsal room, their presence provides the practitioner with a chance to care and ethically embed the other’s agency in the making process. In performance, care has often been discussed in the context of performance’s relationship with the viewer. In this article, I argue for listening as a rehearsal practice using a framework grounded in care. I propose DAR—Direction, Action, and Reflection, a way of making which fosters awareness of the other—that may be incorporated, adapted, and applied by practitioners across different creative fields. I discuss the rehearsal process of This is Not About Dance, a performative installation presented at the Reid Gallery in 2016, to argue for a conception of the rehearsal as a constant act of care, one that has the potential to grow one’s practice through co-listening.