Is dramaturgy care work?: Nora Alami

Dramaturgy is a form of research and artistic collaboration that moves, improvises, and iterates alongside the unique needs of each artist and project. Over the last decade, I have worked as a dance artist, creative producer, and official/unofficial dramaturg. Dramaturgy is a creative practice and intimate care work. As a dramaturg, I operate both inside and outside the artistic process. This enables me to facilitate collaboration, mediate conflict, and offer emotional support, helping creators navigate the balance between what the work needs and their expectations. By cultivating this relational space, my role as dramaturg is to foster a dynamic relationship between artist and artwork, inviting reflexive dialogue, and engaging with their work as a living entity, meeting it on its own terms.

The care work of dramaturgy extends beyond the rehearsal room. This work, often overlooked or uncredited, reflects the systematic devaluing of dramaturgy and dance in the U.S. It corresponds to the invisible, undervalued labor expected in a capitalist society. Much like caregiving professions, dramaturgy thrives on generosity and exchanges rooted in intimate collaboration, often resulting in unpaid labor. Many of us participate unofficially in each other’s projects out of love and because we know that the financial support isn’t there. This labor blurs the lines between friendship and professional work, leading to dynamics that are unevenly compensated or recognized. 

This reflects the larger stakes and circumstances of the dance field. With funding structures mediated by presenting organizations or grantee programs, dance artists, if financially supported, are often not compensated directly for the operations and creative team necessary to fulfill the larger artistic vision– namely, the artist holds the burden of being administrator, producer, dramaturg, and creator. This positions the artist in a demanding and precarious place to negotiate which of these (necessary) roles they can hire and compensate ethically. This is an unsustainable burden of expectation that redirects the burden to the artist, rather than change to the systemic structures that determine how and what dance gets funded. 

The undervaluing of dance dramaturgy, particularly in the U.S., mirrors how care work—often feminized or performed by people of color—is systematically devalued. While many of us try to enact equitable exchanges, bartering skills and time instead of monetizing our collaborations, the reality is that this labor exists in a capitalist system that chronically underfunds the arts and undervalues those who participate in it. What interventions can be made at a funding level to support dramaturgs, particularly those working with artists of color or queer artists? The emotional and cultural care work we provide is vital, and yet, we remain on the periphery — both unacknowledged and underpaid.

Dramaturgy isn’t just about supporting an artistic vision — it’s about contributing to cultural memory, especially for communities that have been historically marginalized. The lack of credit and compensation offered to dramaturgs isn’t just a reflection of our profession, but of the broader societal dynamics that devalue care work. Dramaturgs are an integral part of the creative process that provides labor often made invisible in service of a “single artist as creator” neoliberal framework. The reality is that making dance requires community, and is better for it. Now, we need to shift the funding structures to care for each role that offers vital labor in the creation and operation process to support and value the robust teams that enable the magic of making dance.