In this article André Lepecki addresses the question of what the dramaturge is supposed to know in the daily practice of dance dramaturgy. His question is: when dramaturgy is performed as a process, in the studio, alongside the unfolding choreographic and compositional process of creation, how can the dramaturge prepare his or her contributions to the work? What is exactly his or her position, or function? What exactly is being surveyed, looked for, analyzed, or retained by his or her activity? And what exactly is expected of the dramaturge by those who dance and choreograph before his or her scrutinizing presence? He does this by describing projects he executed with his dramaturgy students at NYU. While setting up connections for the students he often got the response, ‘we’re not ready for a dramaturge,’ in this article he questions why.