This study focuses on how contemporary performers play, be it in the fields of dance ortheater. Playing is here to be understood as a performing technique, that is to say the way of one’scorporeity becomes when meeting a score (should it be choreographic, verbal or hybrid). Thestatement of this thesis is to approach playing and the processes that underlies it without studying aparticular technique, a chosen pedagogical approach or a given aesthetic. That implies watching,observing and describing performers when they play, and investigating their personal ways ofbringing the gesture to life : the challenge is to consolidate the analysis thanks to a research basedon two postures, on a dialogue between an aesthetic approach and poietic one.Two questions guide the research, and mark its field out. The first one deals with theaesthetic, professional and political meaning of disciplinary categories that still distinguish betweenperformers in dance — referred to as dancers — and performers in theater — referred to as actors.The purpose is not to renew a sterile dichotomy, but to understand the values and therepresentations of one’s self resulting from the identities conveyed by the learning of one or manytechniques ; and in fine the way these representations shape the style or gesture of a performer. Thechoice of a corpus of performers working within Flemish companies is paradoxically well suited topursue this research. Indeed, if the analysis at the scale of an the pieces seems to depict thesecompanies as the champions of post-dramatic aesthetics since the 80’s, with no consideration fortraditional labels, the observation is rather different when the performers’ practices and points ofview are considered. The heart of my corpus is therefore constituted of eleven performers, workingin four structures : les ballets C de la B, tg STAN, FC Bergman and Voetvolk. The choice of thesestructures has been determined by the will to question the actual process of « historical »companies, emblematic of the first Flemish waves in ...