Call for scholarly presentations, master classes, and performances

Jeff Hsieh Uncategorized

World Dance Alliance Global Summit July 23–28, 2017

School of Music at Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland

Dancing from the Grassroots

 

CALL FOR SCHOLARLY PRESENTATIONS, MASTER CLASSES, AND PERFORMANCES

The deadline for all proposals is December 1, 2016

 

 

The 2017 World Dance Alliance Global Summit turns its focus to Dancing from the Grassroots to explore the ways in which grassroots dancing also counters, resists, supports and negotiates formations of power. Important links have been made between grassroots movements and social change. Grassroots dancing (interwoven with music and performance) can also be viewed in this activist sense as generating social change. From this perspective, examining the principles and practices of grassroots dancing through historical and contemporary lenses is important and crucial to understanding how and why the social moves.

Across Canada and in many parts of the globe, grassroots dancing is ubiquitous and diverse. Dancing from the grassroots—as self-governed, amateur, participatory, community-based: local, translocal and virtual—can be a public source of pleasure, inclusion, social networking, health and wellbeing, and intergenerational community building. Yet at differing times and places grassroots dancing has gone underground to avoid condemnation. What can a look at dancing from the grassroots tell us about how to sustain a movement, sustain an alternative idea and see it through to mainstream acceptance?

 

The selection committee seeks proposals that address the Summit’s broad and inclusive theme of Dancing from the Grassroots. We encourage submissions that explore the impacts, roles, and contributions of grassroots dancing. Recognizing this heterogenous group of organizations, which reaches into the domains of health and wellbeing, life course and ageing, social/activist movements, aesthetics, economics, education, and the environment, is a rich site for researching issues pertinent to the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, we invite scholars trained in a diverse range of [inter]disciplinary fields to make visible the contributions and impacts of grassroots dancing through research. These related fields might include (but are not be limited to) dance, theatre and performance studies, anthropology, kinesiology, cognitive science, equity studies, music, social work, medicine, life sciences, and gerontology.

 

This Summit will celebrate these groups, who continue to present innovative and daring work, by showcasing them along with international artists who are also transforming practices to further stimulate creativity and push boundaries by exploring new ideas both at home and abroad.

Topics and questions to consider:

  • The role of grassroots dancing in life course and ageing/heath and wellbeing/biopolitics and neurotypicality.
  • The small and large scale economic impacts of grassroots dancing paid and unpaid labour, tourism, volunteerism, donations, costs and in-kind donations for rehearsal space and costumes, etc.
  • Theorizing the relationship between music, dance, performance Processes of creativity, imagination, and improvisation.
  • Heritage, tradition, indigenous dance: How have amateur grassroots dance organizations transformed into professional paid employment in dance historically?
  • What can the presence of grassroots dancing tell us about the larger economic and political climate of support for dance?
  • What can processes of inclusion/exclusion/trans in grassroots dancing tell us about nation/nationalism, identity, colonial/postcolonial, sex, gender, abelism, ageism, race, ethnicity, and religion, etc.? How does grassroots dancing speak to issues of copyright and property rights?
  • Social movement/social change: What are the principles and processes of organizing grassroots dancing in terms of leadership and sustainability? Why are some grassroots dancing initiatives so successful at sustaining themselves? What can such groups teach us about sustainability and social change? How are new information and communication technologies impacting grassroots dancing for individuals and/or communities: local, translocal, and virtual? What can grassroots dancing teach us about coalition building?

 

Submission requirements:

Proposals can be submitted in English, French or Spanish within the following formats: scholarly papers, pecha kucha presentations, panel discussions, master classes, performances in diverse spaces, and choreolabs. Interested individuals or groups may submit a maximum of two proposals in differing areas for the Global Summit. For example, an individual might propose both a paper presentation and a master class, but not two papers.

 

DEADLINE: The deadline for all proposals is December 1, 2016

Please note: In order to present in any of the formats at the conference, all participants must first become members of WDA, before their submissions will be reviewed. To become a member of WDA Americas, applicants can access the Membership site at http://www.wdaamericas.net/. Membership in other regions is available through your local WDA chapter and/or your national dance association.

 

Details about the various performance spaces and lecture halls at the conference site will be available on the WDAA website after November 1, 2016.

 

Papers and panel proposals:

All proposals may be submitted and delivered in English, French or Spanish. Individual scholarly presentations should be no more than 20 minutes with an additional 10 minutes available for questions and discussion. Groups of three or more individual presenters may propose a panel presentation of no more than 70 minutes total with 20 minutes additional time available for questions and discussion. Those intending to present solely in French or Spanish should indicate this on their application. There will be some translators available to assist with translation; however, these services cannot be guaranteed.

 

  • Individual presentation proposals should be no more than 250 words in length.
  • Proposals for organized panels require a 150-word description of the panel theme in addition to the individual abstracts submitted as a single document (100 word maximum).
  • Proposals must be accompanied by the following information: each presenter’s name, title, institutional affiliation (if applicable), mailing address, e-mail address, and a brief bio of no more than 150 words.
  • Proposals are due by December 1, 2016 and must be sent as a .doc or .docx file via e-mail to Linda Caldwell (lcaldwell2@twu.edu). Acceptances will be sent by February 15, 2017.

 

Pecha Kucha Presentations:

Pecha Kucha is a presentation format in which 20 slides are timed to be shown each for 20 seconds (no more than 7 minutes total). Scholars who have developed a strong research focus but are in the beginning processes of writing and presenting their research are encouraged to present in this format. This format is especially good for graduate students wanting to clarify research purpose statements and gather feedback and possible insights from other researchers. Initial submissions are in the form of a 250-word abstract in either English, French or Spanish in which the topic, methodology and importance of the research to the dance field is summarized.

 

  • Proposals must be accompanied by the following information: each presenter’s name, title, institutional affiliation (if applicable), mailing address, e-mail address, a brief bio of no more than 150 words in English, French, or Spanish.
  • Proposals are due by December 1, 2016 and must be sent as a .doc or .docx file via e-mail to Linda Caldwell (lcaldwell2@twu.edu. Acceptances will be sent by February 15, 2017. If selected, more detailed instructions on the Pecha Kucha format will be provided on the WDAA website after February 15, 2017.

 

Master class proposals:

Master classes provide conference participants with an opportunity to experience the expertise of selected teachers in terms of dance practice and dance making.

 

  • Master classes are 90 minutes in length. Master class proposals should be no more than 250 words in length and can be submitted in English, French, or Spanish. Please note that the Global Summit facilities cannot guarantee specialized equipment (mats, physio balls, etc.) for use in classes. Details about music technology will be provided at a later date.
  • Proposals must be accompanied by the following information: presenter’s name, title, institutional affiliation (if applicable), mailing address, e-mail address, and a brief bio of no more than 150 words.
  • Proposals are due by December 1, 2016 and must be sent as a .doc or .docx file via e-mail to Ann Kipling Brown (ann.kipling-brown@uregina.ca). Acceptances will be sent by February 15, 2017.

 

Choreolab proposals:

Choreographic labs (choreolabs) are intended to provide a forum for choreographers to work collaboratively to create a work on selected conference participants within three 2-hour daily rehearsals (auditions and first rehearsal on July 24 with the final work or work-in-progress presented on July 28) in a site-specific space scheduled in consultation with the conference organizers. All rehearsals for the site-specific work should take place at the site. Choreographers/ dancers should prepare for all types of weather. Each work should fall within a minimum of 3 minutes or a maximum of 10 minutes. Preference will be given to the creation of new works.

 

  • Proposals should include a description of the intended project and an explanation of methods in no more than 200 words. Each proposal must clearly state how the project can be accomplished in the limited time frame available and within a site-specific environment.
  • Proposals may be submitted in English, French or Spanish.
  • Each proposal must be accompanied by the following information: choreographer’s name, phone number, institutional affiliation (if appropriate), mailing address, e-mail address, and a bio of no more than 150 words.
  • We suggest applicants submit a link to an online video (YouTube or Vimeo) of a work sample or the work to be reset (minimum of 3 minutes).
  • Proposals are due by December 1, 2016 and must be sent as a .doc or .docx file via e-mail to Falon Baltzell (baltzelldance@gmail.com). Acceptances will be sent by February 15, 2017.

 

Performance Proposals:

  • Accepted works will be performed once at locations determined by the selection committee (may be site-specific or on a recital hall stage with limited lighting availability). If the proposed choreography must be produced on stage or in a studio, the dance cannot exceed 12 minutes. Site-specific dances may be longer as long as a clear explanation of procedures and audience expectations are provided.
  • Proposals for performance of each choreographic work or of a representative work must be submitted on YouTube or Vimeo. If submitting representative work, please also provide a brief statement of 200 words or less (in English, French or Spanish) describing the proposed performance including length and number of performers.
  • Performance proposals must be accompanied by the following information in English, French or Spanish: each primary presenter’s name, title, institutional affiliation (if applicable), mailing address, e-mail address, and a brief bio of no more than 150 words.
  • Proposals with YouTube or Vimeo links are due by December 1, 2016 and must be sent as a .doc or .docx file via e-mail to Melissa Sanderson (melissa.n.sanderson@gmail.com). Acceptances will be sent by February 15, 2017.

 

Digital Dance Concert:

The World Dance Alliance Americas will run its third annual WDA Digital Dance Concert, a double-blind reviewed online presentation of videoed choreographies and dance films created specifically for the camera. The Digital Dance Concert aims to offer a virtual platform for choreographers, companies, and dance filmmakers to present, promote, and disseminate their work. Selected dance-for-camera works will be featured online through a digital dance concert format on the WDA-A website. Select works will also be presented at the 2017 World Dance Alliance Global Summit at the Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada – July 23-28, 2017. Please visit the following WDA-A website link for details about video submissions: http://www.wda-americas.net/wda-projects/digital-danceconcert/ digital-dance-concert-application-process/.