26-27 December 2020, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

“Navigating Location, Negotiating Identity”

The conference is confirmed to be held in Taiwanfrom December 26 to 27 this year. Since no travel is allowed during the pandemic time, the conference ishonoring all selected presenters from abroad utilizing the video presentations as well as with the local presenters on site in Kaohsiung, the second largest city in Taiwan. There will be around 200 participants from Taiwan, while 19 paper presenters will be placed side by side with the local scholars in the same panel. In addition, eight selected dances will be displayed in the Showcase Film Program with the pre-recorded film video from India, Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and the United States.

At this conference, we explore dance and its relations to identity with its many ramifications, focusing on the currents and flows involved in navigating location in and outside of relation to the nation and to the global. We investigate how “dance” provocatively (re)interrogates and (re)conceptualizes fundamental questions about region, nation, and location, as well as their representations. This includes the rich dynamics between intraregional and international studies of dance practices and theorization. The dialectic potential between “inner” and “outer” as well as “intra” and “inter” points to the need in dance studies to reexamine the issues of identity and geopolitics across lands and waters as well as across the global and regional; it celebrates and interrogates the connecting, mediating and negotiating power of dance, as well as the shifting relationships and pedagogies in the development of diverse dance histories.

The pandemic could not take away the passion of dance from professionals, students and scholars. Taiwan has been fortunate to have an onsite conference. Although we wish we could have our entire WDA family joining us so that we could connect with each other, the conference will keep hope alive that we will see you soon at the next WDA Summit in June 2022 in Hong Kong. See attached link to read the program book of 2020 WDAAP/TDRS Conference:https://dancerchris.wixsite.com/2020wdaaptdrs