Whether creators fully understand the “history” of theatre and dance (or the body), or whether they clearly recognise what these forms have developed into today and what they demand from contemporary audiences, remains a question worth considering. Perhaps this is why many creators have moved away from traditional narratives and fixed emotional structures. I believe I need to explain this further: drama has often relied on storytelling, and therefore narrative has become one of the most common structures in contemporary theatre. Some works abandon storytelling entirely, yet many others still remain centred around a particular emotion. This tendency is especially common in physical theatre and visual art, where creators often focus on presenting a fixed gesture or posture to achieve a sense of meaning and aesthetics.

What is fascinating, however, is the development of a more humanised concept beyond this. I often use the example of children playing. When children imitate a role, they may pretend to hold a gun and become a soldier, or imagine themselves as a comic-book hero pointing towards the sky. The important thing is that they are not necessarily motivated by a specific purpose, but rather they are completely immersed in the act itself — full of energy, passion, and imagination. This may represent one of the purest states of performance.

Stanislavski often discusses the relationship between belief and solitude in acting. To some extent, this idea points towards something similar, although not entirely the same. These children are not acting with a clear objective; they simply exist within the moment. It is difficult to find the exact word to describe this feeling — perhaps “joy” is not accurate enough. It is closer to a kind of innocent, almost instinctive human behaviour that carries a philosophical meaning.

This concept is extremely important for contemporary theatre. In an era of rapid technological development, humanity is entering a much more complex universe of possibilities. Many things we once considered familiar now require new definitions and new meanings. Theatre faces the same challenge. Traditional dramatic structures, such as revenge, loss, or marriage narratives, have become increasingly categorised and may no longer fully satisfy the demands of contemporary theatre. Theatre therefore needs new forms of expression and a new kind of creative impact.