– Reflection on the qualities and limitations of observations

Dangerous Liaisons. Foto: Costin Radu

As part of our methodological explorations it seems inevitable to also examine the qualities and limitations of one of the most basic methods within qualitative inquiry – observations. Observations on performance art has obvious limitations especially when carried out on a traditional theatre setup, with the audience placed in a dark auditorium. The elements you would traditionally examine during observations (body language, movements, facial expressions etc.) will in this setup only provide limited information. Nevertheless, we wanted to explore what type of knowledge we could get from this basic method as we tried it on two very different productions: open rehearsals on Dangerous Liaisons (Farlige forbindelser) and the dance performance INTERPASSIVITIES. Read our results and reflections in our Report #9