Bodies in Woyzeck are often written upon or acted upon. Examples include Woyzeck's peeing for the Doctor, the rape of Marie by the Drum Major, and of course Woyzeck's murder of Marie. It is important to consider the agency of the performers' bodies in the creation of these representations of extreme oppression. As anyone who creates movement knows, dancemaking is a highly collaborative process. Even if the choreographer has set detailed movements beforehand, the choreographer must eventually work with bodies other than his own, unless he is creating a solo piece. At this point in the collaborative process the performers become choreographers as well. Kyle Shepard and I have developed a collaborative process that involves the performers quite explicitly in the choreographic process. Often, movements that appear in a finished phrase originated from a performer's improvisation and then was refined and polished in collaboration with Shepard and myself. This method allows, as Foster discusses, to explicitly give performers agency over their own representations in a piece.
Shepard and I have also found this method advantageous as it allows us to create movement specific to each performer's physical abilities and ideas. Once you are working with the performer in rehearsal, you have more restrictions at your disposal. Before you have cast a piece, you are working within almost infinite possibilities. The restriction of the actual dancer being present is very helpful in the creative process. As discussed by Sondheim, creating within restrictions during rehearsal is often much easier than facing the proverbial blank page (11). Also, because movement is visual, it is easy to see exactly what is needed in terms of stage picture when you are able to work in rehearsal with the performers on stage. Much of the choreography for Woyzeck was created by bringing ideas about form, tempo, style or even short phrases to a rehearsal. Finished pieces were often generated very quickly during short rehearsals with performers, and then immediately filmed.
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