Contemporary Cocumentary Cance: Case of the Play “Freedom for the Statue!” by the Provincial Dances theatre

Since the turn of the century, there has been an explosive growth in the popularity of documentary theater all over the world. The reason is the dynamic change in reality, which requires the fastest possible artistic comprehension, including by means of theatrical art. And if initially documentary performances were the prerogative of drama theaters, then over time, documentary dance became widespread. Documents of various kinds can serve as the basis for choreographic documentary performances: texts, news, architectural and other artifacts, body, gesture, history, etc. The article considers the problem of the relationship between documentary and dance creativity. The purpose of the study is to identify the potential of documentary dance as a tool for recording, understanding and artistic experience of the challenges of modern reality, which must be taken into account when making management decisions in the field of culture. The object of the study is the verbatim performance “Freedom for the Statue!” - the first performance of this kind, staged at the theater of the MBUK "Ekaterinburg Theater of Modern Choreography “Provincial Dances”. It is shown that the documentary support of verbatim can be a variety of documents: text, body, gesture, artifact, history. The problem of the beginning of the performance is posed, which is especially important for choreographic productions. The study shows that careful, thorough work with profane texts of verbatim allows both authors and spectators to really deeply penetrate into the understanding of the posed problem of freedom, which in the course of the performance is transformed from permissible freedom into goal-setting freedom. The loss of freedom as a deep value leads to everyday, primitive escapism. The spread of documentary theatrical productions, including documentary choreography, is a stable trend in the development of modern theater, which must be borne in mind when making management decisions in the field of culture. The article is addressed to employees of state authorities and local governments in the field of culture, heads of choreographic groups, researchers of the current state of choreographic art, as well as everyone interested in the trends in the development of modern dance.