The Madras Music and Dance Season: Local and Global Issues Within the Circulation and
Production of Bharata Natyam
Rohini Acharya
Abstract: Based on personal observations, this paper will analyze the cultural significance of
the Madras (Chennai) Music and Dance Season. I will critically examine salient issues—
transformations of traditional formats; cultural appropriation of traditional dance forms by those living
outside Chennai; non-resident Indians taking away performance opportunities from local practitioners,
and finally the commodification of the dance form—raised by traditional practitioners in the context of
a changing neo-liberal economy. Finally, I will examine the ways in which these issues affect the
circulation and production of Bharata Natyam inside and outside Chennai.
Bio: Rohini started learning the classical South Indian dance form of Bharata Natyam at age 6
from Guru Viji Prakash in Los Angeles. In 2002, she performed her solo debut or arangetram. After
graduating from UCLA in 2008 she spent two years in India extensively training in Bharata Natyam
under renowned master teachers. In 2014, she received her MFA in Dance from the University of
Hawaii at Manoa.
Dance as a transnational means for the coexistence of foreign students
Olympia Agalianou
Abstract: This paper presents an action/project involving Greek and foreign Primary school
students. The main objective was the use of diversity and the promotion of social cohesion among
students from different ethnic backgrounds. Forms of circle traditional dances and creative dance were
used as the means. The impact of the action was evaluated on the same day with a reflection phase which
was implemented through both verbal and artistic means, as well as written reports of students and their
teachers prepared the next day. The results showed that dance facilitates communication and builds on
diversity resulting in mobilization of expression and creativity.
Bio: PhD in pedagogy, degree in physical education, music and dance. Two years postgraduate
course in Orff approach in music and dance education. Studies in dance therapy and systemic theory.
Trainer in teachers’ lifelong education programs. Has written text books, and has published in collective
books and journals. Collaborations with Athens University, European University Cyprus. Teaches in the
three years professional course in Orff pedagogical approach (Moraitis School) and in primary school.
NEW PERSPECTIVES ON DANCE IN NIGERIA
Gladys Akunna
Abstract: Views about the dance art are changing in contemporary Nigeria. With the breakdown
of the conventional view of what constitutes culturally acceptable ways of how dance should be
performed or who performs what dance, the idea of dance as viable popular art for achieving economic
gains is fast gaining ground. The collaborative posture of the’ Maltina Dance All’ seasonal dance contest
on T.V , provided a major inspiration and facilitated a new direction for commercializing dance, which,
not only economically empowered individuals , but also creatively organized thoughts and beliefs about
the dance experience and what this means to Nigerian youths. Thus, this research analyzes the evolving
Nigerian ‘pop’ dance, in a bid to highlight the creative spirit of an undying art.
Bio: Gladys Ijeoma Akunna is a Dance teacher, scholar and creative artist. She had her training in
the Arts of the Theatre at the University of Ilorin and the University of Ibadan, where she obtained her
B.A and M.A degrees respectively. She has taught Dance and Theatre Studies in Nigerian Universities
where she has focused on performance modes and practices in African Dance Theatre. Ms Akunna, who
has become increasingly interested in the psychological and educational aspects of Dance is also an
Associate Graduate of Goldsmith, University of London. At present, she is completing a seminal PhD
study in Dance movement therapy in Nigeria.
DANCE VS THE CRISIS: DANCE MOVEMENT THERAPY AS A ROADBLOCK TO DESPAIR
Nina Alcalay
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Abstract: Despite the Greek ongoing financial crisis and the deteriorating health system, the
pioneering state program on substance abuse 18 Ano, has persevered in providing patients with a variety
of arts therapies. Dance as a body experience can effectively impede the physical and psychological
breakdown caused, or aggravated, by the social crisis; it achieves this by strengthening body and selfimage and by enhancing the ability for social relationships and meaningful action. This presentation will
focus on how basic principles of Laban theory and postmodern dance are incorporated in Dance
Movement Therapy sessions in a closed women program for drug abuse
Bio: Nina Alcalay holds degrees in Political Science, Dance, and Dance Therapy, as well as an
M.A in Dance Studies from Laban Centre London. Since 1986, she has been working as a dancer, dance
teacher, advisor for dance education and dance writer; and since 1999, also as a dance therapist. In 200810 she served as Head of the Dance Sector at the Hellenic National Centre for Theatre and Dance. In
2010-12 she served on the Board of the European Dance Movement Therapy Association. Since 2013 she
serves on the Board of the Greek Dance Therapy Association.
Dialogues between dance and theater in the creation process of the Brazilian group Usina do
Trabalho Ator
Celina Nunes de Alcântara
Abstract: This work discusses the way the group Usina do Trabalho do Ator – which engages in
research about actor training based on experimentation with elements from different styles of dance and
theatre techniques – used and combined elements from two African-Brazilian manifestations – Jongo and
Maçambique –, characterised by dance, singing, and percussion instruments, in the creation of its latest
spectacle.
Bio: Celina Alcântara is an actress and member (since 1992) of the group Usina do Trabalho do
Ator and Associate Professor of the Theatre Programme of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do
Sul (UFRGS). She teaches Body/Voice and Acting. She has acted in many spectacles, including Nos
Meses da Corticeira Florir, for which she received the Açorianos best actress award in 2001.
The dance of the "existential body": The BPI method and the development of body identity of the
artist scene
Natália Vasconcellos Alleoni
Abstract: This reseasrch objectifies to comprehend the development of the dancer body
identity using the BPI method (Dancer-Researcher-Interpreter) of the PhD Graziela Estela Fonseca
Rodrigues, who orientates this project. The method propose to bravely give up idealisms in order to
face reality and the world we are part of. It aims to course “a Brazil of the forgotten” and to study the
creativity the country has. Thus, the research wants to unblock the memory and stimulates personal and
collective remembrance, so it’s possible to reestablish the relationship with others in an integrated way
and then incorporate a special image that enables the gap for the creative process in its best
performance. The intention is to abandon the idea of a perfect body that comes from a narcissistic
perspective, to discover and assume one’s own body.
Bio: Natalia Vasconcellos Alleoni. Brazilian. Formed in Dance - and Bachelor Degree, Master
in Arts scene and student PhD in Arts Scene (both from Unicamp / Brazil). Dancer - performer and
creator - with classical dance in technical training (Royal Academy of Dance of London) and
contemporary (work in dance theater area and art education). Studies the poetical of scene. Other topics
of interest are: Creative Process, Identity of the body and Body Image. Works with BPI method
(Dancer-Researcher-Performer) of PhD Graziela Rodrigues (Unicamp / Brazil).
Bodies within the city: reflections on "Para se ver no outro" created by Seis + 1 dance company
Karina Almeida
Abstract: A site-specific dance work created to the urban space can reveal different
possibilities about how to connect bodies in the city. Dance can re-frame the urban space by proposing
other possibilities of movement and corporeality. Considering the Brazilian site-specific dance work
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Para se ver no outro, created by Seis + 1, it is intended to discuss: How can we explore the urban
context beyond its ordinary possibilities? What can we achieve – politically and socially – in moving
dance performance to an urban everyday life? From the theoretical point of view, Lepecki, Foster,
Fabião and Briginshaw are the references to this discussion.
Bio: Karina Almeida is a Brazilian performer and choreographer interested in creative
collaborations. She works with professional dance company Seis + 1 (Brazil). Karina studied
contemporary dance at State University of Campinas (UNICAMP, Brazil), where she finished her MA
research and currently develops the PhD research project “Between territories: the intersection of dance
with composition devices from other Arts”.
Greek Cultures / Roman Bodies: Women’s Intellectual Discourse in Ancient Dance Performances
Zoa Alonso Fernández
Abstract: This paper directs attention to female dance performers in Ancient Rome and
investigates the extent to which some of their choreographies were appropriations of Greek sources,
functioning as intellectual displays of their cultural knowledge. Taking into account literary and
epigraphic testimonies from the Imperial period (1st-2nd c. CE), I argue that dance (particularly Greekinspired dance) constituted a space for women’s intellectual discourse, social interaction, and cultural
patronage. Drawing on feminist approaches of the gaze theory, I examine the topic of the 'docta puella' as
the woman versed in Greek poetry, music, and dance, and explores its repercussion in different genres
and supports, from elegiac poetry to satire and funerary inscriptions.
Bio: Zoa Alonso Fernández is a Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow at the department of the Classics at
Harvard University and Fellow of the Real Colegio Complutense. She received her Ph.D. in Latin
Philology in 2011, from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Zoa is currently preparing her manuscript on ancient roman dances, addressing the role of dance as a
cultural product and process in the course of the Roman Empire.
Brazilian Popular Dances: Imaginary, Body and Cognition
Daniela Maria Amoroso
Abstract: This roundtable will present researches related to the popular Brazilian dances, in
their relations with body, cognition and imagery . For this, we compose a group of teachers and masters
of the School of Dance at the Federal University of Bahia, which has founded seven years ago the first
Master's degree in dance from the country. Thus, Brazilian popular dances are here understood as a
large field of body´s studies in different cultural contextes, that is, the body that communicates and
comprises itself in a local context in communication with the global context. Samba de Roda
Reconcavo Baiano and Fandango of Rio Grande do Sul are taken as case studies in this roundtable to
facilitate understanding our presentation.
Bio: Professora da Escola de Dança da Universidade Federal da Bahia (2010), Doutora pelo
Programa de Pós-graduação em Artes Cênicas da Universidade Federal da Bahia – UFBA (2009), a
pesquisadora é graduada em Ciências Econômicas pela Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de
Mesquita Filho - UNESP (1999) e Mestre em Política Científica e Tecnológica pela Universidade
Estadual de Campinas- UNICAMP (2004). Realizou seus estudos de graduação em Dança na
Universidade Estadual de Campinas (2000-2005).
Heritage, tourism and the “authentic” Afro-Cuban experience: a case study of Rumba
Ruxandra Ana
Abstract: This paper looks at the rumba, understood as a field of practices with significant
social relevance, analyzing Afro-Cuban heritage in relation to cultural tourism. While Afro-Cuban
traditions nourish the tourist industry in one of the most tourism-oriented regions in the world, this does
not imply a better standard of living for the practitioners themselves. Based on fieldwork conducted in
Cuba over several months from 2011 to 2014, this paper addresses the contrasts built around the rumba,
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in light of state policies for the promotion of heritage and in the broader context of the global tourist
industry.
Bio: Ruxandra Ana holds a Master’s Degree in Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology from the
University of Warsaw, Poland. Her research focuses on Cuban dance, intangible cultural heritage,
ethnicity and identity.
Breakin' Down the Bloc: Hip-Hop Dance in Armenia
Serouj Aprahamian
Abstract: The post-Soviet transition from state socialism to market capitalism brought with it a
flood of new ideas and influences to countries of the former Eastern Bloc. Newly acquired access to mass
media and electronic communication exposed large numbers of young people to vibrant global art forms
such as Hip-Hop.
This paper will analyze the unique development of Hip-Hop dance in the former Soviet republic of
Armenia. It will focus specifically on Breaking, tracing its localized adaptation and growth in popularity
since the early 2000’s. Using qualitative interviews with a broad cross-section of dancers in the field, the
study will explore the role of Breaking in forging new identities in the context of economic and political
transition, and conclude with a consideration of the impact of Hip-Hop dance in other post-Soviet and
developing countries.
Bio: Serouj Aprahamian (better known by his dance name "Midus") has been active in the
breaking world since 1997, gaining notoriety internationally for his unique, abstract style. In 2001,
together with three other dancers, he produced an influential experimental dance video called Detours.
Originally from Los Angeles, Aprahamian currently lives in Yerevan, Armenia, where he teaches
breaking to teenagers at the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies. He also holds a Master’s in
International Relations from American University and is currently conducting research on the impact of
Hip-Hop dance in the post-Soviet sphere.
POSTMODERN DANCE AND DISABILITY: A PERSPECTIVE THROUGH A MIXED
ABILITY DANCE COMPANY
Stefanidaki Aristea
Abstract: This study’s purpose has been gathering data on how a Greek mixed ability dance
company operates and affects its dancers’ attitudes and beliefs. Allport’s contact theory formed the
theoretical basis of this study (Allport, 1954). The method that has been used for data gathering is the
semi – structured interview. Analysis based on the transcription and coding of such interviews provided a
clear perspective on the organization, the daily conditions and the climate changes within the group, from
the first rehearsal until the last performance. In addition, the data was used to investigate whether
Allport’s contact theory conditions were met.
Bio: Stefanidaki Aristea was born in Chania, 1982. She has received a BA (October 2004) and a
M.Sc (January 2014) in Physical Education and Sport from the National and Kapodistrian University of
Athens. She has specialized in working with people with disabilities at the Aristeotelian University of
Thessaloniki. She has teaching experience in the field of movement in creative dance, rhythmic
gymnastics, psychomotor and yoga. She has attended dance and yoga workshops since 2000
The reclaiming of ancient ideals in British modernist movement practice
Sue Ash
Abstract: In Delphi and the Dance (Dancing Times 1925) Madge Atkinson records her engagement with
the notion that dance began at the threshold of history’s religions, in Greece. Inspired by Isadora Duncan,
Atkinson pioneered her own movement practice which referenced Greek ideals; she called it Natural
Movement.
One of many dance innovators developing their practices in the early twentieth-century, Atkinson’s
work in Manchester contributed to an international zeitgeist which expressed the ‘now-ness’ of being
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human, through movement. My paper investigates this through their ideas of the natural, the ancient and
the Hellenic in the modern of movement.
Bio: Sue Ash is part-time doctoral student in the Department of English and Modern Languages,
Oxford Brookes University. Her interdisciplinary thesis investigates cultures of Modernism through the
lens of the moving body. Her essay Jeux (1913) forms a chapter in Bloomsbury Adaptations, Inspirations
and Influences (2014). Sue formed the Panel ‘Modernism and Dance’ for BAMS international
Conference: Modernism Now! (2014). After a professional career with Scottish Ballet, Sadlers Wells
Opera, film and teaching, Sue still dances.
The Position of the Turkish Folk Dances Departments in Culture Industry
Fusun Askar
Abstract: The folk dance practices have an important part in the art market in Tukey. In this
work, the marketing and promotion attempts of the institutions that conduct academic studies on
traditional dance will be evaluated through the comparison with other dance performing institutions.
Bio: Assistant Professor (2011), Faculty Member, State Conservatory of Turkish Music, Ege
University, Izmir, TURKEY. Turkish Folk Dance Department.
Worked in various capacities in the staging the performances of Ekin Dance Ensemble of the
Turkish Folk Dances Department both in Turkey and abroad since 1995. Worked as dancer, dance coach
and character makeup artist and conducted workshops. Worked as researcher and workshop instructor in
research projects held in the areas of traditional folk theater, dance, and costumes. Since 1995, taught
courses at Ege University with a focus on Character Makeup, Traditional Caucasian dances, Horon
dances, Artistic Image and Art Communication. Publications and research presentations focus on
fieldwork and staging of Turkish traditional dances.
Archived Bodies, Online Bodies: An Investigation into the Digitization of Bodily Training
Jen Aubrecht
Abstract: With the recent digitization of archival material by libraries, it is easy to access
material from the beginning of modern dance in the United States, which contextualizes the presence of
yoga as a training method and spiritual practice. Similarly, the rise in availability of online yoga videos
has allowed at-home practitioners to access classes with world-class instruction, visual examples of
multiple difficulty levels, and specific instructions for modifications and counter-indications to poses.
Changing presentations of bodily practices and shifts in conceptions of the body can illuminate current
understandings of both bodily labor and the training of dancers and non-dancers.
Bio: Jennifer Aubrecht (jaubr001@ucr.edu) investigates the intersections between the history of
concert dance and yoga in the United States, and the ways that the long history of yoga being practiced by
dancers has impacted both concert dance and critical dance studies. Aubrecht is a Ph.D. Candidate in
Critical Dance Studies at the University of California, Riverside; she holds a B.A. in Dance and English
from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities.
The Silent Memories of Spanish Dance Scene
Eva Aymami-Rene
Abstract: In 2009, beginning of Spanish economical crisis, choreographer Sol Pico presented
The Lake of Flies in Barcelona, Spain. This choreography invited the audience to celebrate the
choreographer’s fortieth birthday, revisiting her repertoire through memories and objects on stage that
refer to previous pieces of her career. Through her memories, the choreographer helps audiences to reflect
on the current problematic of gender and the conflicts inherited from recent Spanish history. In a society
still impacted by the silent memories of the past dictatorship (1939-1975), the ambiguous choice of
remembering in a modern performance, raises questions about the construction of national and gender
identity, both during the dictatorship and now.
Bio: Eva Aymami Reñe is a scholar, a dancer and choreographer. She is currently combining her
an Affiliate Lectureship at the Spanish and Portuguese Department, University of Cambridge with dance
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focused lectures at Anglia Ruskin University. Recently graduated from her PhD, Eva is researching on the
intersection of dance and political identities during the transition to democracy in Spain.
Site Dance, Embodiment, and Cultural Ecology: The Reflexive Relationship of Bodies & Space
Lauren Baines
Abstract: A dynamic, reflexive relationship exists between bodies and space as humans both
respond to and mold the world around them, and vice versa. Demonstrating this body-space
relationship as one of embodiment, site dance holds great potential for engaging community, activating
public space, and affecting change. By placing dance within the lived experience, site dance empowers
audiences to recognize their role as active agents shaping the non-static entity of space and thereby can
be used to engender new relationships to places within a community.
Bio: Lauren Baines is a California-based choreographer, performer, and scholar, who possesses
diverse arts management and curation experience. She holds a MFA in Dance from Mills College and a
BA and BS from Santa Clara University (triple majoring in Theatre Arts (dance emphasis), Art History,
and Psychology). Baines received the Leigh Weimers Emerging Artist Award in 2013 and has been
awarded several residencies. Her scholarship explores the role(s) of dance within contemporary
culture/society.
The way back to go forward – how can research inform educational practice
Egil Bakka
Abstract: This presentation will take examples from the work with Motion capture and
Elicitation interviews, and discuss how findings can be adapted for use in education. In an age of
austerity there is a particular need to show how research results can be made useful and a need to revisit,
scrutinise and develop curricula and methodology in dance education. Questions to be discussed is if the
ethnopedagogy created in schools can be critically evaluated and revised from the perspectives of
traditional ethnopedagogy, from ethnopedagogy aiming at cultural adaptation and from concrete research
projects such as those presented of the other panalists.
Bio: Egil Bakka is aprofessor emeritus of Dance studies (Norwegian University of Science and
Technology), and former director of the Norwegian Centre for Traditional Music and Dance who has
conducted extensive fieldwork in Norway, headed research projects and built institutions and educational
programs. His most recent works include Class dimensions of dance spaces: situating central agents
across countries and categories. In: Vedel & Hoppu (Eds): Dance Spaces.
Inherited Dreams: Gendering Process and African Contemporary Dance in Abidjan
Celia Weiss Bambara
Abstract: This presentation will describe the process of making a contemporary dance work in
Abidjan, Ivory Coast. As a Jewish American female choreographer with citizenship in the US and
Burkina Faso, my positionality and experience is articulated in this danced dialogue. Inherited Dreams
began began with Flavienne Lago of the Company Tche Tche right after of the civil war in 2013 and
continued with other Ivoirienne dance artists. This paper will describe some of the questions asked by
making the dance, the devices employed, difficulties in the process, as well as it’s successes in
presentation in Abidjan and failures.
Bio: Celia Weiss Bambara is a dancer,choreographer and a dance scholar. She is co-founder and
the current artistic director of the CCBdance Project. Celia’s written work appears in the Journal of
Haitian Studies, Australasian Drama Studies and Caribbean Dance Making. She has taught at a variety of
institutions in the US, the Caribbean and West Africa and is on faculty at the University of Abidjan.
Moving Crisis: Dancing as Political Praxis in the Age of Greek Depression
Christina Banalopoulou
Abstract: In the following paper I argue that Greek depression is the inevitable outcome of
synthetic politics that understand difference through identical opposition.
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It is my contention that dancing, as an embodied praxis embedded within present sociopolitical
territories and stratified actualities, envelops potentiality for what Deleuze and Guattari call de stratification and de - territorialization.
Drawing from their work, I call for a neo - realist understanding of the virtual capacities of the dancing
body, so we can move history beyond ordinarily conceived politics and introduce non yet imagined
bodies politics that still remain un - captured.
Bio: Christina Banalopoulou is a second year PhD student in Theatre, Dance and Performance
Studies at University of Maryland. She holds a BA in Sociology and a MA in Social and Cultural
Anthropology, both from Panteion University of Athens. She is a Certified Movement Analyst (CMA),
graduated from Laban/ Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York. She is a salsa dancer
and zumba instructor.
Dance-Advocacy through religion: the dance labor in Manipuri Dance
SRUTI BANDOPADHAY
Abstract: Manipur, the extreme North-East state of India, blends dance in their daily custom,
generating funds as socio-religious commitments. On proscenium, the ‘Cut & Paste’ presentations shred
off the ritual bindings. Naturally the economics took a U-turn and the concept of ‘nationalizing’ and
‘globalizing’ called for special budgeting for dance labor.
My paper aims for a critical mapping of the pedagogy of dance labor in Manipur those roots from the
local and takes the route of aesthetics in global context, thus acquiring dimensions beyond religious
bindings contributing even to the diaspora. A total contrast of local and the global is perceived.
Bio: Sruti Bandopadhay (b.1962) a perfect combination of dancer-scholar is a 'Top' Grade artist
of Manipuri Dance in Doordarshan and has performed extensively. She is PhD from Rabindra Bharati
University and D.Litt from Visva Bharati. She is awarded with the Fulbright Fellowship (2007) and the
Commonwealth Fellowship (2012). She was Professor in Dance at the Department of Dance, Rabindra
Bharati University and is now engaged as a Professor in Manipuri Dance at Sangit Bhavan, Visva Bharati,
Santiniketan.
The Impossibility of Indian Classical Dance
Anurima Banerji
Abstract: This paper explores how the category of “Indian classical dance” was invented and
established in the early twentieth century, and also explores the performative value of the concept – that
is, what the idea of “classical dance” does, how it is deployed, and the politics of its discursive
production and reception. After historicizing the term, the paper argues that Indian Classical Dance
(ICD) is not an ontological category, but an ideological one established by state institutions. It then
interrogates the constituent terms of ICD to proposes that is finally an impossible concept.
Bio: Anurima Banerji is assistant professor in the UCLA Department of World Arts and
Cultures/Dance.
Anthropology and Image for dance students at Natal/RN – Brazil, 2014.
José Duarte Barbosa Júnior
Abstract: “Anthropology and Image” is a course for undergraduate students of dance offered
in UFRN, Brazil. Course provides tools from anthropology to students exercise image interpretation,
theoretical and methodological basis for image use in dance and contribute to increase the
understanding about society and culture. Teaching methodology includes: lectures, photo analysis,
working group, fieldwork and seminar. The course is facing a pedagogy of autonomy in developing the
critical perception about image and social interaction in everyday life, becoming students most
sensitive to themes and objects for choreographic compositions creations.
Bio: Professor at the Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia (2015). Substitute
Professor of the Departamento de Antropologia da UFRN (2014). Master´s in Social Anthropology
(2013). Graduation in Social Sciences (2010). Currently is dedicated to research in urban and visual
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anthropology and teaching Anthropological Theory. Topics of interest: urban anthropology and
sociology, anthropology and dance, violence and images of the city.
Dance, reconstruction and intellectual property - Dance and authorship in the XXI Century
(roundtable)
Ana Beatriz Cerbino
Abstract: The objective is to initiate a investigation between dance, authorship, intellectual
property and choreography. For this, a look at what is meant by authoring in dance with the publication
of Chorégraphie, ou l’art de décrire la danse par caracteres (1700) by Raoul-Auger Feuillet and the
dispute with Pierre Beauchamp for the authorship of dance notation and recent discussions about
copyright and choreography will be made; as well as discuss some cases of revival/reconstruction. It's
not only understand such procedures as "embodied textual practices" (THOMAS, 2004), from the
perspective of dance notation, but also as embodied political and aesthetic options.
Bio: Professor at Fluminense Federal University (UFF). Doctoral degree from UFF (2007), in
History, was visiting scholar at NYU, in Performance Studies (2005). Graduated in Dance at
UniverCidade (2000), has a Master degree in Communication and Semiotics from PUC-São Paulo
(2003). Is the author of papers and books on dance and works with the themes of dance history and
memory. She is part of the Proprietas Network. She belongs to the editorial board of ABRACE.
An entrepreneurial self in a gift economy: Dancing online, producing culture
Harmony Bench
Abstract: This presentation begins with Foucault’s assertion in The Birth of Biopolitics that
neoliberal economic systems have turned workers into entrepreneurs of the self. Given the cultural
importance of so-called user-generated content in online spaces, and the emphasis on their creativity and
uncompensated labor as value-added, this paper analyzes the labor of amateurs and fans creating and
reproducing screen choreographies, participating in the circulation and embodiment of popular media’s
gestures both on and offline. I draw from examples such as Pharrell Williams’ online music video 24
Hours of Happy and global re-performances of its signature elements, Karen X. Cheng’s Dance in a Year
project, dance video games, among others. I suggest that what Lewis Hyde has described as circular
giving and what Henry Jenkins has called spreadable media offer specific ways to approach the
circulation of dances and dancing in digital gift economies. I argue that, in addition to creating value for
the ‘original’ product, these acts of fandom also serve as advertisements for entrepreneurial participants
who wish to monetize their fandom.
Bio: Harmony Bench is Assistant Professor of history and theory in the Department of Dance at
The Ohio State University. Her writing can be found in Dance Research Journal, The International
Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, Participations, and The International Journal of
Screendance, for which she currently serves as co-editor. In addition to publishing essays on net.art, viral
videos, flash mobs, mobile media, dance on television, and dance video games, she is working on a book
manuscript tentatively entitled Dance as Common: Movement as Belonging in Digital Cultures.
The Founding of American Ballet Theatre on the Precipice of World War II
Ninotchka Bennahum
Abstract: Founded by Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith in 1939/1940 on the eve of Germany’s
invasion of Poland, and renamed “America’s National Ballet Company” by the U.S. Senate in 2005,
American Ballet Theatre has played a vital role in the construction of American civic life and political
consciousness. Its ballets and myriad artists articulated a complex artistic and social iconography
reflective of European notions of classicism in ballet transformed into something contemporary and laced
with American themes. A safe-haven for political and artistic refugees fleeing fascism, totalitarianism and
artistic duress from the 1940s to the present day, Ballet Theatre has both inherited and affected the
cultural identity and social geography of big cities and small towns throughout the U.S. since its
inception.
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Bio: Ninotchka Devorah Bennahum, Associate Professor of Dance History &
Theory/Performance Studies in the Department of Theater & Dance at the University of California, Santa
Barbara, holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and
a B.A. in History and Art History from Swarthmore College. Her first book, Antonia Mercé, ‘La
Argentina’: Flamenco & the Spanish Avant-Garde (Wesleyan), is a biography of the great modernist
Spanish dance artist La Argentina. Her second book, Carmen, a Gypsy Geography (Wesleyan 2013),
traces a genealogical history of the Gypsy flamenca dancer from the lands of the ancient Middle East to
Hispano-Arab and Sephardic Spain. In 2012, she co-edited with her mother, Judith Chazin-Bennahum, a
global anthology of essays on movement and culture entitled The Living Dance (Kendall/Hunt).
Screening Popular Dance Advocacy – So You Think You Can Dance as Affective Dance Advocate
Elena Benthaus
Abstract: This presentation aims at thinking about the possibility of popular forms of dance
advocacy by considering if the increasing visibility of dance on the popular screen, specifically So You
Think You Can Dance, can be considered as an affective and thus effective advocate of dance in the age
of austerity. The question I want to consider in relation to this is how to approach dance advocacy from a
popular and affective mode of transmission, in which the screen becomes an affective facilitator.
Bio: Elena Benthaus is a PhD candidate at the School of Culture and Communication at the
University of Melbourne. She has a M.A. in English Literary Studies and Theatre Studies from Humboldt
University Berlin and Freie Universität Berlin and a degree in Modern and Contemporary Dance. Her
research project is concerned with the affective presence and presentation of dance on the popular screen
and its impact on spectatorship communities on social media.
Fantasmata and Presence. A Comparison Between Domenico Da Piacenza (1455) and Simona
Bertozzi.
Carolina Bergonzoni
Abstract: Simona Bertozzi is an Italian dancer, choreographer, and performer based in Bologna,
Italy. From 2008 to 2012, she worked on the project Homo Ludens. I propose this project, composed of
four performances, as a case-study that will investigate the multifaceted term ‘presence’ within the
context of dance. As a result of my research, I make an argument that a definition of presence, defined as
a tension between motion and stillness, can be founded in Domenico da Piacenza’s treatises Dela Arte di
Ballare et Danzare (c. 1455).
Bio: Carolina Bergonzoni is currently studying in the MA program in Comparative Media Arts at
Simon Fraser University (Vancouver). Her research interests include dance and phenomenology,
methodologies in dance practices and the definition of presence. She is also a dancer and she holds a BA
and an MA in Philosophical Science from University of Bologna.
Brazilian Popular Dances: Imaginary, Body and Cognition
Marta Bezerra
Abstract: This roundtable will present researches related to the popular Brazilian dances, in
their relations with body, cognition and imagery . For this, we compose a group of teachers and masters
of the School of Dance at the Federal University of Bahia, which has founded seven years ago the first
Master's degree in dance from the country. Thus, Brazilian popular dances are here understood as a
large field of body´s studies in different cultural contextes, that is, the body that communicates and
comprises itself in a local context in communication with the global context. Samba de Roda
Reconcavo Baiano and Fandango of Rio Grande do Sul are taken as case studies in this roundtable to
facilitate understanding our presentation.
Bio: Master in process at the Programme of Master on Dance in the Federal University of Bahia.
She has a dance degree in the Federal University of Bahia. She works with dance and nature, and about
the relation between body, perception and the enviroment.
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Martial Moves : new developments in the tradition of Thang-ta
Debanjali Biswas
Abstract: This paper studies the armed and unarmed techniques of Thang-ta, a tradition of
martial arts from Manipur that is often viewed as a martial dance. As one of the few surviving martial
traditions of India, at present, the line between dancers and warriors is often blurred when movements are
choreographed into dances depicting violence and transgression or as solitary, de-contextualised acts or in
theatre. Along with a brief historiography of the tradition, this paper will elucidate the contemporary
practices of Thang-ta, stylistic qualities of the martial dances and if the body of the warrior-dancer
informs the distinct development of ‘somatic nationalism’ in contemporary India.
Bio: Debanjali Biswas is a Commonwealth scholar presently pursuing her doctoral studies in
Contemporary India Research at King’s College, London. She has previously read theatre and
performance studies from School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU and social anthropology at School of
Oriental and African Studies. A trained dancer in Manipuri, she has scholarly interests in anthropology of
dance, community performances and south Asia.
Olivier Dubois’ Tragédie: Dancing as Walking as Labor in Contemporary France
Alison Bory
Abstract: In his largely pedestrian, yet corporeally demanding, dance Tragédie, French
choreographer Olivier Dubois stages eighteen nude, dancing bodies becoming evermore disheveled.
Accompanied by sonically-aggressive music and harsh lighting, the work reveals the physical
repercussions of dancing. Tragédie thus functions as an apt optic through which to interrogate tensions
in existent notions of dance as labor in France, a country facing mounting questions around its system
of arts funding, and its relationships to unions and unemployment benefits. We use the bodies in
Tragédie evidencing the physical effects of the labor as a frame to examine the implications of this
situation.
Bio: Alison Bory is Assistant Professor of Dance at Davidson College. A dance maker and
scholar, her research, which primarily examines the possibilities and complexities of autobiographical
performance forms, investigates the intersections of theory and practice. Her writing has been
published in a/b: Auto/Biography Studies journal and presented at the conferences of the SDHS,
CORD, WDA, and the National Women's Studies Association. She is also a member of AGA
Collaborative, a trio of artist-scholars, who work across geographic distance to co-create performance
and writing projects. She has an MFA and PhD from the University of California, Riverside.
Differences in Quality of Life in Participants in Hellenic Dance, Latin Dance and Exercise
Maria Bougiesi
Abstract: It is generally known that physical activity influences quality of life both in physical
and mental health. Moreover, nowadays the improvement of quality of life is a priority in society’s goals.
Dance is an enjoyable form of exercise and Hellenic dance is a popular leisure activity in all ages. The
most people combine Hellenic dance with Hellenic culture and conceive it as a connection with the past.
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the quality of life of participants in different types of
dance and exercise. In the study 200 young participants 25-34 years old formed 4 groups: a) sedentary
people, b) participants in team exercise programs, c) participants in Hellenic dance class and d)
participants in Latin dance class. The SF-36 questionnaire was used to assess the quality of life levels’
(Anagnostopoulos, Niakas, & Pappa, 2005). One-way MANOVA was used to assess the differences in
Quality of life parameters among the four groups. Participants in Hellenic dance had significantly higher
scores than all the other groups (p<.05) in 6 of 8 Quality of life parameters. Participants in Latin dance
scored significantly higher than exercisers in SF-36 Physical Role (p<.05). They also scored significantly
higher than non exercisers in Role Emotional (p<.05). The above results indicate that dance is connected
with higher Quality of life levels than exercise. Hellenic dance seems to have a stronger effect than Latin
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dance in this connection, proving not only its cultural importance but also its contribution in healthy
living.
Bio: Maria Bougiesi graduated from D.P.E.E. (Department of Physical Education and Sport
Science), at the University of Thessaly, Greece. She has a Master in the Psychology of Exercise at the
same University and also at the University of Leuven, Belgium and Jyvaskyla Finland. She continued in
Phd related with mental health, dance and exercise - a part of which took place at the University of
Magdeburg, Germany, where she focused on cognitive function parameters. She has been teaching Greek
dance both in Greece and abroad, with people of all ages.
Working Dancers
Konstantina Bousmpoura
Abstract: How are decisions made based on democratic and collective values when working
within a state-sponsored group? "Working dancers" came about as an ethnographic filmmaking
research project in 2009, inspired by the strong social demands being raised by a group of renowned
Argentinians dancers in the City of Buenos Aires who aimed to attain their labor rights and created the
first national company of contemporary dance. The emergence and consciousness raising of the dancer
and artist as a political subject in the special historical and social context of Buenos Aires from 2008 to
2014 is the central theme of this paper.
Bio: Konstantina Bousmpoura is a visual anthropologist and independent filmmaker. Since
2007 she has worked in research and direction of ethnographic documentaries and cultural audiovisual
productions in Seville, Buenos Aires and Athens. In 2009 won the first prize in Certamen de Creación
Joven Sevilla, with her first documentary “Feeling from Outside”, based on foreign flamenco dancers.
She is co-director and co-producer of the documentary “Working Dancers” a project funded by the
National Cinematography Board of Argentina.
Hidden creators, silent authors
Paola Secchin Braga
Abstract: This presentation proposes an analysis of a creative/restaging process in which the
question of authorship arises as the main issue: supposedly a Brazilian version of Jérôme Bel’s
"Véronique Doisneau" (2004), "Isabel Torres" (2005) emerges as an autonomous piece. The creative
work made by the dancer and the rehearsal assistant turned it into more than a mere version of the original
piece. Who signs "Isabel Torres"? Do dancer and assistant consider themselves as authors? How does the
choreographer deal with this issue? The work developed in this restaging process makes us question the
notion of authorship in contemporary dance.
Bio: A former dancer, Paola Braga has a BA in Dance and Psychology, obtained in Rio de
Janeiro. She also has a MA and a PhD in Dance, both from Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis,
France. Currently in Post-doctorate at the Graduate Program on Studies of Contemporary Arts/PPGCA, at
Universidade Federal Fluminense, she teaches and works on researches about the restaging of
choreographic work, biographies in dance and the body as the creator of meaning in dance.
Global Street Dance and Libidinal Economy
Naomi Bragin
Abstract: Global street dance is a transnational network of styles, based in Africanist
improvisational movement aesthetics. This presentation considers how global street dance circulates in
the libidinal economy of anti-blackness, which reveals racial logic underpinning conceptual divisions
of choreography/improvisation, professional/amateur, studio/street, gay/straight. Drawing from
personal experience as a street dance practitioner for the last two decades, I argue that libidinal
economy underwrites the celebratory consumption of global street dance in an era of liberal
multiculturalism and official colorblindness.
Bio: Naomi Bragin, a dancer, choreographer, cultural worker and scholar, is a PhD Candidate
in Performance Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She works at the intersection of
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dance, performance studies, critical black theory and performance ethnography. Her dissertation, Black
Power of Hip Hop Dance: On Kinesthetic Politics, is the first major theoretical investigation into
California's pre-history of hip hop dance during the late 1960s and 1970s. (www.naomibragin.com)
The paradoxes of spectacular / political performativity: Dionysiac dance in classical Greek theatre,
Olivier Dubois’ Tragédie, and the Femen’s sextremist protests
Michel Briand
Abstract: In Attic theatre (esp. in Dionysiac choruses, tragic in Aeschylus or Euripides, satyric in
Euripides’ Cyclops, or carnavalesque in Aristophanes), aesthetics, ethics, and politics intermingle in
kinaesthetic, musical, and textual pragmatics. This paper questions this reference to classical
performativity (esp. the gendered / queered bodies it stages), in contemporary performances, from Olivier
Dubois Tragédie (and the committed nudity it enacts) to the Femen’s sextremist protests. These issues are
central to philosophy of performance, from F. Nietzsche’s The birth of Tragedy (1872) to J. Butler & A.
Athanassiou, Dispossession: the Performative in the Political (2013).
Bio: Professor of ancient Greek literature and culture (University of Poitiers, France). Teaching
and research in ancient Greek poetry, rhetoric and fiction; cultural anthropology, gender and performance
in antiquity; classical references in modern and contemporary literature and dance; dance and philosophy.
Last Book: Pindare. Olympiques, Les Belles Lettres, 2014. Last articles in dance studies about:
ravissement, ecphrasis and kinaesthesis, transhistoric gestural schemes, and comparative aesthetics
(archaic / contemporary, time).
The Social and Economic Impact of Dance: Measuring and Producing Evidence
Zafeirenia Brokalaki
Abstract: When we talk about the value of art and consequently dance, we should always start
with the intrinsic, how dance and culture illuminate our inner world, give meaning to our existence and
enrich our everyday lives. As dance professionals, we have seen first-hand the impact of dance on
individuals, communities and more broadly across society. However, in the current socio-economic
environment, there is a pressing need for dance practitioners to understand and articulate their role and
purpose and to move beyond anecdote to provide compelling evidence of the role that dance can play in
tackling social, economic, cultural and individual concerns.
Exploring current theories of Social and Economic Impact Assessment for dance and studying
successful case studies from the UK and Greece, the presentation will propose potential ways of
planning, implementing, evaluating and funding dance projects of social character.
Bio: Based in London, Zafeirenia works as an arts fundraising and marketing consultant for
various cultural and education organizations including London Opera Holland Park, London School of
Business and Finance, East London Dance, Associated Studios, Emergency Exit Arts, Royal Ballet of
Birmingham, Sinthesis Co and many independent artists. She teaches at King’s College London, she
acts as an Academic Mentor and Academic Assessor for various education programmes and is awarded
with grants for a range of academic research programmes on the subject of "Measuring the Social and
Economic Impact of the Performing Arts" and on the area of “Improving Visitors’ Experiences for
Museums, Galleries and Artistic Venues”.
Urban, National, Transnational? The (R)evolution of the English Waltz
Theresa Jill Buckland
Abstract: Largely supplanted by an African-American inspired social dance repertoire, the
European rotary waltz was consciously rescued, transformed and promoted in London’s elite West End
ballrooms during the early 1920s. Together with the now codified foxtrot, tango and quickstep, it was
exported as the ‘English or international’ style.
Recent literature has considered this development through the lenses of mobility, nationalism, racism,
cultural imperialism and class control. Focusing on the early years of that (r)evolution of the waltz, I
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trouble these dominant interpretations of cultural appropriation and domination, through examination of
contemporary material conditions, key dancers’ testimonies and their choreographic choices.
Bio: Theresa Jill Buckland is Professor of Dance History and Ethnography at the University of
Roehampton, London. She is the editor of two international collections Dance in the Field: Theory,
Methods and Issues in Dance Ethnography (Macmillan, 1999), Dancing from Past to Present: Nation,
Culture, Identities (University of Wisconsin Press, 2006) and author of Society Dancing. Fashionable
Bodies in England 1870-1920 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).
Electra (1950): Argentine Ballet and Welfare Democratization in a Mass Public Event of First
Peronism
María Eugenia Cadús
Abstract: In its first two terms, the administration of Argentine President Perón introduced a
cultural project that mirrored its “welfare democratization” state policy, focused on expanding social
welfare programs. The government promoted access, until then very limited, of the popular sectors to the
arts, tourism, education, and leisure. This expansion challenged the standard definition of so-called “high”
culture opposite “popular/mass” culture. This paper examines a dance event that captured the debate
around this topic and the negotiations that were part of it: a version of Electra with the participation of the
Colón Theater Ballet, that concluded the festivities of “Loyalty Week”.
Bio: Ph.D. Candidate in History and Theory of Arts at Buenos Aires University (UBA)
(Argentina), with a Fellowship form the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research. Her
dissertation examines argentinian academic dance during the first peronism (1946-1955), making links
between dance and politic and State policies. She is Assitant Professor in the General Theory on Dance
Class, Arts Degree, UBA.
Balance of Power: U.S. Government-Sponsored Dance
Tanya Calamoneri
Abstract: In the face of dwindling resources for dance, DanceMotion USA, a program of the US
State Department produced by BAM, provides opportunities for the creation and presentation of dance
under the aegis of cultural diplomacy. This presenter model brings about new priorities, challenges, and
possibilities. How do issues of privilege and power play out in collaborations between visiting artists and
local companies? What is the interplay of traditional and contemporary dance in these works? What are
the benefits of this model for the dance field, and how do the sweaty bodies of dancers support and
subvert political aims?
Bio: Tanya Calamoneri is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance at Colgate University, and is a
former Project Manager of DanceMotion USA. She received her PhD from Temple University and her
MA from NYU. Her writing on butoh dance has been published in Dance Chronicle and Movement
Research Journal. Her research involves imagery, cognition, and cross-cultural studies. She is Artistic
Director of Company SoGoNo.
Dance, originality and otherness: the BPI method and the brazilians’ cultural manifestations
Flávio Campos
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the Brazilian method of dance composition
BPI (Dancer-Researcher-Performer) that was created by the Dr. Graziela Rodrigues in the 1980´s. Doing
so, I aim to show how such practices are developed from the experience of the performer on a chosen
popular manifestation such as a festivity or another cultural event. It also enables one to work directly
with popular knowledge that is passed from “generation to generation”. The investigation offers a brief
view of my PhD studies in which I aim to analyze the aesthetic specificities of this method.
Bio: Doctoral student in Scene’s Arts at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP, Brazil),
under the guidance of the dancer and Professor Graziela Rodrigues. Has a Master Degree in Scene’s Arts
from UNICAMP and undergraduation course in Scene’s Arts at the Federal University of State of Rio de
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Janeiro (UNIRIO, Brazil). During his postgraduate studies has been receiving scholarships from São
Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, Brazil).
Creating Guerrilla Dramaturgy
Julian Carter
Abstract: Dance critic Judith Mackrell wrote recently that dramaturgy might “go a long way to
help realise [dance’s] potential.” What kinds of change can dance dramaturgs help foster? When you
hear the words guerilla dramaturgy, what do you imagine? This workshop will create a collaborative
space for exploring what dramaturgy can contribute to dance under contemporary conditions of uneven
access to material and cultural resources. We invite artists, scholars, curators--anyone curious about
developing dramaturgical practices of questioning, relational process, and well-timed intervention--to
join us in talking, writing, watching, and participating in movement structures that lead toward creative
change.
Bio: Julian Carter writes about the bodily manifestation of dominant cultural forms. His book
The Heart of Whiteness (Duke 2007) explores the connection between “normal” sexuality and the
cultural invisibility of whiteness in the modern US. Recent essays appear in GLQ and The Transgender
Studies Reader, vol 2; he is currently working on a book about ballet swans.
Trail Guide to a Temporal-Aesthetic Map: Aesthetics, Discourse and Decision Making Strategies in
Rapper Dance Competition
Jeremy Carter-Gordon
Abstract: In this presentation I will investigate the aesthetic concepts and strategies used by
judges at the Dancing England Rapper Tournament (DERT) to evaluate rapper sword dancing. I am
interested in the layers of intersubjective discourse that allow adjudicators to transform an aesthetic
experience into qualitative, but also quantitative evaluation. Using a form of video-assisted interview I am
working to create temporal maps of three competition dances, through which I am able to identify and
evaluate the marked, "aesthetically dense" moments of dance in contrast to relatively unmarked space
surrounding them. I have used these tools to understand the different strategies used by different groups
of judges and attempt to explain major points of divergence between different judges’ preferences and
techniques. Finally I will discuss the effect of my research on the competition itself and new directions for
research in dance competition
Bio: Jeremy Carter-Gordon will finish the Choreomundus MA in Dance Knowledge Practice and
Heritage this summer. Recipient of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to study European hilt-and-point
sword dancing in 2011, he continues this study, along with social dance forms from the US and UK.
‘White Skin, Brown Masks’: the unattainable embodiment of Indianness
Elena Catalano
Abstract: Turning upside-down, and altering, Fanon’s iconic description of the colonised
psyche, this paper discusses the experience of non-Indian and non-Hindu subjects engaged in the
professional and semi-professional practice of Indian classical dance. The focus is on practitioners, who
have moved to India, whether to live there permanently or to stay for an indefinite length of time,
learning, performing and teaching Indian classical dance. The rationale behind these subjects’ decision
to migrate from the West/North to the East/South is based on the argument that Indian classical dance
is rooted in Indian culture and as such it requires one, who does not belong to it, to undergo a process
of voluntary acculturation in order to embody its aesthetic forms.
From a broader perspective, this paper invites dance scholars to think about new patterns of
circulation of cultural practices and about the role of ethnicity and race in artistic production, focusing
on the experience of subjects who, due to their assumed political and economical power, have often
being neglected by dance studies and post-colonial scholarship.
Bio: Elena Catalano has recently completed her doctoral studies at Durham University (UK)
with a research on somatic experience in Odissi. She presently works as Dance Lecturer at Kingston
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University of London. She also works as a dance practitioner, performing and teaching Odissi
throughout the UK. Elena has been the recipient of several awards for both her academic and artistic
achievements. These includes, among others, the Paola Bianchi Award (2009), Pauline Hodgens Award
(2010), Premlata Sharma Award (2012) for her dance writing, and the ICCR Scholarship (2010-12) and
Milap Dance Fellowship (2012-14) for advanced training in Odissi.
The imagination and meaning of the home for Taiwan people－Discussing from 2 pieces of dance
works：《HOME TEMPERATURE》and《Floating Domain》
Shu-Yu Chang
Abstract: What is the imagination and meaning about home or family to Taiwan people?
《Kangxi Dictionary》offers several explanations on the /jia/ (home or family); Home means living. …,
the says represent Taiwanese thinking way and living attitude from.
Taiwanese experienced colonial control since the seventeenth century till later of the twentieth century.
In Taiwan’s political ecology, the dictionary reminds us how important the meaning of the home. We
have many things to awareness、learn and understanding.
I attempt to find out something relative the imagination and meaning of the home from dance pieces
after colonized decades.
Bio: My name is Shu-Yu Chang from Taiwan. I am a graduate student of TNUA in Graduate
Institute of Dance. I worked in an international trading company for 19 years. I finished my college in
Japanese and spend much time to develop my work in dance as an amateur. I performed in the 100th
anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China.
Dancing the Thunderstorm: Negotiating Identity in Transnational Spaces through Contemporary
Chinese Dance in Hong Kong
Ting-Ting Chang
Abstract: This paper focuses on the choreographic aesthetics of Hong Kong choreographers Mui
Cheuk-Yin (1959-) and Xing Liang’s (1972-) Thunderstorm (2012). It is a crossover piece between
theatre and dance and a collaboration between choreographers Mui and Xing and theater director Tang
Shu-Wing. As a winner of the 2012 Hong Kong Dance Awards, Thunderstorm has been performed in the
2013 Huayi Festival (Singapore), 2014 Kwando Arts Festival (Taipei) and will also be touring
internationally in 2015. The original Thunderstorm was first published in 1933 by a renowned Chinese
playwright Cao Yu (1910-1996). The plot centers on the family Zhou’s psychological and physical
destruction as a result of incest and oppression. Because of its popularity, Thunderstorm has been restaged widely throughout theaters, films, and dance productions. By examining this dance version, I
discuss how the choreographers focus on the embodiment of narrative through the dancing body.
Bio: Ting-Ting Chang, an assistant professor in dance at National Taiwan University of Arts,
holds a PhD from University of California, Riverside, and an MFA from University of California, Irvine.
She was an Andrew Mellon Post-doctoral Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis. Her research
focuses on the contemporary dance development in Asia and cross-cultural performance study. Her
interests include post-colonialism, nationalism, diaspora study and globalization. As a choreographer and
the artistic director of T.T.C.Dance, Chang has presented works in the American Dance Festival, ACDFA
Gala, China National Lotus Cup Dance Competition, Festival d’Avignon Off and McCallum Theatre’s
International Choreography Festival.
Prosperity Within Austerity: exploring body percussion and body music in the making
Natasa Chanta-Martin
Abstract: This study examines the process of prosperity within and during a period of austerity
from the lens of an American art form, which has been developing in Greece. Within the past years,
Greece has come to meet Body Percussion (BP) and Body Music (BM) quite widely. These arts have
become one of the elements, which flourished during the core years of the so-called economic crisis in
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Greece. This flourishing will be explored in two directions: BP and BM will be examined firstly with
regards to the forms themselves and secondly to the socio-cultural relationships that govern the
continuous elaboration of the forms.
Bio: Natasha Hantas-Martin has obtained a BA in Sociology from Panteion University (Athens).
In 2014 she completed her MA in Dance, making her the first Greek scholarship holder of
Choreomundus: International Master in Dance Knowledge, Practice, and Heritage. Natasha has acquired
her dancer titles and teacher certificates from the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (I.S.T.D., UK)
and the Royal Academy of Dance (R.A.D., UK) in the genres of Classical Ballet, Modern Theatre, and
Tap.
Reflections of individual cultural identity in dance: The example of two Bulgarian immigrants in
Athens
Chariton Charitonidis
Abstract: This study explores aspects of cultural identity of two Bulgarian immigrants, as
these are reflected in their dance preferences in contemporary Athens . Using methodological tools of
anthropological critique and the "new" reflexive anthropology, the study highlights the internalpersonal and external (social, political, economic) factors that mould cultural identity over time,
whereby the past becomes a key factor influencing the actions of people in the "present" context. The
study draws on Rice’s work (1999) -the comparison with the "protagonists" of his ethnography,
Kostandin Varimezov and his wife Todora Varimezova, is inevitable- and discusses the meaning of
music and dance for a couple of Bulgarian immigrants living in Athens while struggling -once morewith an economic crisis.
Bio: Chariton Charitonidis was born in Athens in 1976. He holds a B.Sc. majoring in Greek
Traditional Dances from the School of Physical Education and Sport Science (National and
Kapodistrian University of Athens), where he is an M.A. student in Folklore-Dance Anthropology. He
works as a dancer, dance instructor and musician (gaida, tsabouna, floghera -wind instruments).
The Glittering Goddess: Ida Rubinstein and Greek Tragedy
Judith Chazin-Bennahum
Abstract: In this presentation I explore three of Ida Rubinstein’s rarely discussed productions
that centered on Greek mythology: She performed in Sophocles’ Antigone (1904), with costumes by Léon
Bakst, in St. Petersburg, in Émile Verhaeren’s Hélène de Sparte (1912) with décor and costumes by Bakst
and music by Déodat de Séverac at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, and in Amphion (1931) with poetry by
Paul Valéry, music by Arthur Honegger and décor and costumes by Alexandre Benois at the Paris Opéra.
They represent key moments in Rubinstein’s career, and in the careers of her collaborators.
Bio: Judith Chazin-Bennahum, Distinguished Professor Emerita, researcher, and
choreographer. She was Principal Soloist with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company when Antony
Tudor was Director and also danced with Robert Joffrey and Agnes de Mille. Included in her publications
are Dance in the Shadow of the Guillotine, (1988) on late eighteenth century French ballet, The Ballets of
Antony Tudor which received the De la Torre Bueno Prize in 1995, and a biography of René Blum
published by Oxford University Press in 2011.
Jumped From Underground Ballroom to International Stage: The Rise of Ballroom Dancing
Through 6 Decades in Taiwan
Hsi-Chieh Cheng
Abstract: Ballroom dancing has become increasingly popular in Taiwan either as a leisure
activity or as a category of sports competition. On the basis of the evolution of the name of ballroom
dancing, I divide the history of ballroom dancing into three phases---1950-1969, 1970-1989, 1990now---exploring its features and developmental trajectory.
The study shows that the evolution of ballroom dancing primarily encompasses six domains---
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“Environment”, “Name”, “Participant”, “Teaching”, “Management”, and “Teacher”--- jointly reflecting
a trend for ballroom dancing to become an increasingly recognized sport in Taiwan.
Bio: His-Chieh Cheng holds a MA in Dance Education from Taipei National University of the
Arts. She is a ballroom dance professional and currently works as Executive Secretary , Taipei Dance
Continuing Education Associate. Her research aims on the history of ballroom dance in Taiwan and
creative way of teaching Ballroom dance. In 2014, His-Chieh wins the title of champion in closed
professional Latin in Taiwan.
Contemporary Dance in Cambodia: Why Do We Dance? How Do we Dance?
Lin Chihyu
Abstract: In Cambodia, Contemporary Dance just made its first step. About over ten years,
many artists decided to become pioneer of Contemporary Dance in Cambodia, most of them are the
traditional dancers or folk dancers. With their background, they try to develop their own Cambodian
Contemporary Dance with their unique body language. Why do they choose to be a Contemporary
dancer/ choreographer? How do they adapt these two different dance form? In the other hand, in recent
years, we can see that in many Contemporary Dance pieces, these Cambodian artists try to discuss the
Khmer Rouge in different aspects. Why do they choose this topic? What do they want to express in
these pieces? And does these pieces reflect the people’s imagination to the society?
Bio: Chih-yu is a graduate student in Taipei national University of the Arts Dance Department.
Slow Walking as Performance Technique: the Body Training System of Legend Lin Dance
Theatre
Tsai Tsai Ching
Abstract: Legend Lin Dance Theatre is founded by Lin Lee-Chen in Taiwan in 1995. For over
a decade, the stylized body training system tells the spirituality in the repertoires.
This study examines slow walking as a technique used in performance by methodology of the
theatre anthropology. The concept of pre-expressivity is the relevance between training and performing.
Through the repetitive practice, slow walking can be conscious or unconscious used in the
performance. Based on rigorous training from the dedicated dancers, slow walking helps to create the
dancers’ presence on stage and enhances the performers’ and audiences’ sense of existence.
Bio: Tsai Tsai-Ching obtained her BFA from National Sun Yat-sen University in 2012. She
continued graduate studies the same year, and is now studying in Taipei National University of the
Arts. With interests in performing arts, she has experienced acting training, script writing and dancing.
She continues joins class to experience the unique training system by Legend Lin Dance Theatre since
2014. Tsai-Ching’s research has been presented at National Taiwan University of Arts in Taiwan
(2014).
“Folk Dance in China: the Dance Pioneer Dai Ailian (1916-2006)”
Eva Shan Chou
Abstract: Anthropological studies in 1920s China revealed the cultures of villages, but the ability
to collect dance began only with Dai Ailian (1916-2006), a dedicated pioneer with an unusual range of
skills and training. Dai was born of Chinese ancestry in Trinidad, received ballet and modern dance
training in England, and arrived in China in 1940 during World War II. The areas unoccupied by Japanese
forces were hinterlands rich with the dance of minority peoples, and here she began her work. Through
Dai, this paper examines the trajectory of folk in twentieth-century China, including state use of “folk” to
define nationhood.
Bio: Eva S. Chou is writing a history of ballet in socialist China (1949-1989). Her previous books
were studies of Du Fu (712-770), the preeminent poet of traditional China, and of Lu Xun (1881-1936), a
giant of modern literature. Those two studies examined major artistic works and figures in their political
and cultural contexts. The design of her ballet history likewise firmly embeds an artistic subject in its
contemporary and reception contexts.
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The Apollonian Codification of American Contemporary Dance
Erika Julian Colombi
Abstract: This panel looks to explore the current transnational genre of Contemporary dance.
American contemporary dance was formed as a Dionysian rebellion against the Apollonian codification
of theater dance to embrace the evolution that includes the melding of the genres together. The panel
will explore the historical implications of contemporary dance, the codification of pedagogical
practices, and the future of this current ambiguous dance genre that is exploding globally. Some
questions to be discussed include: What is contemporary dance? How do practitioners begin to teach
this genre that is now being asked of them throughout higher education? Who are the pioneers?
Bio: Erika Colombi has more than 30 years of dance experience. She did her initial training in
Boise, Idaho with American Festival Ballet and then professionally with Idaho Dance Theater, Ballet
Idaho and Corpus Christi Ballet. Erika went on to earn her MS in Dance Pedagogy from University of
Idaho and a MFA from University of Arizona. Erika is adjunct faculty at University of Arizona and
Pima Community College in Tucson, AZ where she currently resides.
Visions of Landscape in Martha Graham's "Errand into the Maze"
Jennifer L. Conley
Abstract: Martha Graham's telling of the Greek myth of Ariadne and the Minotaur in "Errand
into the Maze" is emboldened by a dark landscape suggested by Isamu Noguchi's sparse set design. This
set creates a place for Ariadne to accomplish the errand of facing her fear and allows for a triumphant
emergence from the darkness. After the destruction of this set in Superstorm Sandy of 2012, this ballet
was re-envisioned without Noguchi's design and a new sense of landscape emerged. This research
investigates the two distinct landscapes of "Errand into the Maze" through a close analysis of the works,
and interviews with company members and artistic directors.
Bio: Alumni of the Martha Graham Dance Company and Pearl Lang Dance Theatre, Jennifer is a
solo artist performing the work of early modern dance. Her research explores the role of legacy in
relation to contemporary embodiment, and the cultivation of ecological awareness of self and
environment/body and Earth. Jennifer earned her Ph.D. from Temple University, MFA from New York
University, and serves as Assistant Professor at Franklin and Marshall College and regisseur with the
Martha Graham Center.
Body, art and research in Klauss Vianna: between dance and theatre
Ana Maria Rodriguez Costas
Abstract: This panel presents a reflection on the work of Klauss Vianna (1928-1992), trying to
situate him in contemporary society through glances at fields such as history, poetics of art and somatic
education. Drawing on these axes, we enunciate and discuss his position in the Brazilian culture,
locating him in the modernity and post-modernity of art. Based on his activities in the fields of training
and creation during his career in Brazil, this reflection starts from his core interests: physical body
research - in dance and in theatre - expanding into the performing arts and the society of his time.
Bio: Ana Maria Rodriguez Costas Dance artist and somatic educator. PhD Professor of the
Dance Department at the University of Campinas, São Paulo/UNICAMP.
Creative process in the Dancer-Researcher-Performer method: the relationship between director
and performer
Elisa Massariolli da Costa
Abstract: This work presents a previous analysis of the specifities of the relationship between
director and performer that exists when using the Dancer-Researcher-Performer method (BPI in
portuguese). BPI is a Brazilian dance creation method in which it is proposed to the interpreter to live an
otherness experience through fieldwork in Brazilian cultural manifestations. In this method, the director
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acts as a midwife providing the "birth" of a dance that already exists in the interpreter's body, generated
from its encounter with the field.
Bio: Elisa Costa is a PhD candidate in performing arts at the State University of Campinas
(UNICAMP), Brazil, under the guidance of Professor Dr. Graziela Rodrigues. Holding a master and a
bachelor in dance at UNICAMP, she is a certified classical ballet dancer who started dancing when she
was aged four. Since 2007, she has been dedicating herself to researches in the Dancer-ResearcherPerformer method (BPI), on the topics of creation process and brazilian dances.
‘Playing Mas’ on Campus: Dance and Public Demonstrations at the University of the West
Indies, Trinidad
Sally Crawford
Abstract: In Trinidad the act of ‘playing mas’ in carnival is about transformation and the
intersection of traditional characters with contemporary social issues. When the mas moves from the
streets of Port of Spain to a university campus, dance and theatrical performance become a means for
students to engage with social issues in public spaces. In February 2014 the performing arts students of
the University of the West Indies St Augustine campus ‘played mas’ to raise awareness for several
issues in the department. Later in that same month students also produced ‘The Old Yard’, part of the
annual Trinidad Carnival celebration. Both performances utilised dance to communicate how socioeconomic issues impacted daily life on campus and within a national performance community.
Applying historical and ethnographic frameworks I explore how the students used the act of playing
mas as a means to negotiate their identity as performers and students in a university setting.
Bio: Sally Crawford holds a PhD in Dance Ethnography from De Montfort University, an MA
in Choreography from Laban, and a BFA in Dance from UMKC. As a professional dance practitioner
and choreographers she has worked with dance and theatre companies in the US and UK. She is
currently teaching at the University of the West Indies in St Augustine, Trinidad.
Choreographing Collaboration: Advocating for Artists and Scholars
Clare Croft
Abstract: This panel examines existing models for collaboration between dance artists and
dance scholars, advocating for bringing together dance researchers across the false divides of artist and
scholar, humanities and arts. While these kinds of collaborations have become increasingly prevalent in
European academic and arts systems, they remain somewhat rare in the US. This roundtable brings
together four dance researchers all working together in the American Midwest in a number of
collaborations to consider what we bring to one another’s individual work, the role of physical
practices and writing practices in scholar/artist collaborations, and the institutional maneuvers required
to sustain collaboration.
Bio: Clare Croft is a dance historian, performance theorist, dance dramaturg. She is the author
of the recently published book, Dancers as Diplomats: American Choreography in Cultural Exchange.
Currently she is at work, as curator and editor, on the anthology/performance project, Meanings and
Makings of Queer Dance. Clare is an Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Michigan,
where she teaches in the BFA and MFA dance programs.
Diverse Classrooms and Curriculums in Dance Studies: Addressing Equality in the Classroom
Meiver de la Cruz
Abstract: The body is central both dance theory and to political conversations surrounding issues
of race, ability, gender, sexuality among other intersecting categories. What are ways to make significant
interventions regarding considerations of diversity in the field of dance studies? How can a diverse
classroom and curriculum enhance teaching and learning? How do we relate these investments to reading
materials, objects of study, and teaching methodologies? What implications might these connections have
on course and curriculum design for dance majors, dance programs, performance works and events?
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Bio: This round table is organized by the CORD and SDHS Graduate Representatives. Meiver de
la Cruz (SDHS Grad Rep) is a PhD candidate in Performance Studies at Northwestern University.
Interplay between social and aesthetic issues in the Odissi dance class in Bhubaneswar, India
Barbara Curda
Abstract: In the Indian post-Independence period, high class women – some of whom belonged
to Indian metropolitan cities - were instrumental in establishing male Oriya performers as the legitimate
transmitters of the dance form Odissi, now officially considered to be the Indian classical dance form of
the Indian state Odisha (formerly Orissa). Until this day, ethnicity and gender constitute relevant markers
in the common representations of the genealogy of the dance, according to which transmission belongs to
Oriya males from modest social backgrounds, whereas performance is seen as an activity best suited for
high class females.
Bio Degrees: 2013: doctoral thesis in anthropology of dance defended at Blaise Pascal university,
Clermont-Ferrand, France, completed under the guidance of Professor Georgiana Wierre-Gore. 2003:
Masters degree in sociology, university of Toulouse-le-Mirail, France.
2001: degree Alankar Purna in dance, obtained at the Indian institution Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva
Mahavidyalaya (Mumbai) after 8 years of training in the dance school Nrutyayan in the Indian classical
dance Odissi in Bhubaneswar, India. I am presently teaching in university sector at Blaise Pascal
university, Clermont-Ferrand, with focus on the body and dance in anthropological perspectives.
Transmitting and Distributing Bodily Knowledge in the Digital Age
Shannon Cuykendall
Abstract: We explore embodiment in the digital age—a time where dance is now often passed
down from body--to computer--to body. While some believe digitally-mediated transmission of bodily
knowledge to be “disembodied,” we propose that digital technology can extend our conceptions of
embodiment by creating more space for knowledge and growth within the field of dance. We seek to
understand the expanding notion of embodiment through a case study that examines the transmission of
bodily knowledge in the performance Longing and Forgetting. We compare differences in transmitting
bodily knowledge through multiple modes: phenomenological accounts, text, and video.
Bio: Shannon Cuykendall is a PhD student at SFU SIAT studying dance cognition and
kinesthetic empathy. Shannon is interested in the processes of articulating, transmitting, and distributing
kinesthetic knowledge to support growth within the field of dance and in technology
design. Additionally, she has studied how dancers practice movement through marking and its effect on
performance. Shannon received her BFA in Ballet Pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma and her
MFA in Dance from UC Irvine.
POPULAR DANCE AS THE EMBODIED EXPRESSION OF MUSICAL PATTERNS AND OF
COSTUME DESIGN. THE CASE OF RALLOU MANOU'S CHOREOGRAPHY ON
HADJIDAKIS' MUSIC AND YIANNIS MORALIS’ COSTUMES.
RENATA DALIANOUDI
Abstract: Does music “embody” the dancing movement? Or does popular dance embody
musical patterns and costume designs?
This paper will try to explain, how popular dance can reflect the costume design and the patterns
of music, and lead to a creative collaboration among these arts. For the performances of the Greek
Chorodrama (Manou’s Dancetheater Company) the composer, the painter, the writer and the
choreographer worked at the same time, interactively; Manou “translated” the traditional and modern
elements of each art into movement, while Manos Hadjidaki (Oscar awarded composer) and Yiannis
Moralis (well known Greek painter) gave to music, sets & costumes a “corporal dimension”,
correspondingly. As a result, the final “product” was a united, inseparable cultural event, which
exceeded the dance performance and became a cultural product, with further aesthetic, artistic,
pedagogical and social value.
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Bio: UNIVERSITY AND MUSICAL STUDIES
• PhD. Musicology (specialization in urban Ethnomusicology), Athens University (Greece).
• Bachelor in Musicology, Dpt of “Μusic Studies”, Athens University.
• Piano, Accordion, and Organ studies at the Athens Conservatory
• Classical Ballet and Rhythmics, National Conservatory of Athens.
• Greek folk dances and Tango Argentino.
Analyzing the aesthetics of dance instructional design. An example from Greek traditional dance
teaching
ASPASIA DANIA
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyze those principles that should govern dance lesson
design so that dance teaching can have the impact of an aesthetically elevated experience on every
student dancer. With Greek traditional dance at the background and under the prism of modern sociocognitive and aesthetic theories, the attributes of aesthetic teaching practices are reviewed. The design
and implementation of a newly established method, the Laban Notation method for Teaching Dance, is
used as an example. The author’s objective is to add a new perspective to the design of dance teaching.
Bio: Aspasia Dania is a Physical Education Teacher currently working at the research lab of
Sport Pedagogy of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Science in Athens, Greece, where she
received her Master degree in 2009 and her Doctorate degree in 2013. Her research interests and
publications are on the application of innovative dance and physical education teaching methods and
media, designed under the prism of modern socio-cognitive theories.
The Undergraduate Program in Dance at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil:
experiences and perspectives
Monica Dantas
Abstract: The purpose of this communication is to discuss the implementation of the
undergraduate program in Dance at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
The program was created in 2009 in a free, public university. In 2001, an evaluation process of the
curriculum and the education program began. In this communication, we approach aspects of the Dance
program, such as mission and goal, students' profile, practice areas, concepts guiding the curriculum,
and the pedagogical proposal of the course. We also aim to reflect on the implications of its
implementation in the artistic atmosphere of the city.
Bio: Monica Fagundes Dantas (Brazil) earned her PhD from Études et pratiques des arts, at the
Université du Québec à Montréal. She has a Master’s in Human Movement Sciences at Federal
University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil, and has been a professor at UFRGS
since 1995, teaching in the Physical Education and in the Dance Programmes (undergraduate level) and
in the Performing Arts Programme (Graduate level). She is also a contemporary dancer.
Raising spectors: Cargo's socio-historical memory
Sarah Davies Cordova
Abstract: Magnet Theatre, the South African physical theatre company orients its productions to
reflect, comment on and re-imagine the socio-historical processes at work in South African society during
critical junctures of the nation-state’s social transformation. Their 2007 piece Cargo works at the
intersections of spectral archeology – of bones and taut muscles – re-membering the corporeal dynamics
of human needs and rights. The piece focuses on the material and physical recovery of archeological
palimpsests that hold and pattern the corporeal dynamics of travel, of exclusion, and of dehumanisation to
perform the connections that inform constructions of lost and erased memory.
Bio: Sarah Davies Cordova's research examines dance performance and literature and their
intersections with memory, histories and social engagement and struggles. Her interdisciplinary work
focuses on social and theatrical dance and socio-cultural representations in nineteenth-century France and
in Francophone, slave-storied, colonial and post-colonial works of the Antilles and Africa. She is
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currently Chair of the Editorial Board of SDHS, Senior Research Fellow at the University of
Johannesburg and teaches Francophone literatures and cultures at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
The Alevi Semahs in Turkey and Europe: Heritage and Transcendence.
Sinibaldo De Rosa
Abstract: The semah is a ritual practice involving music and movement performed by AleviBektaşi devotees. In 2010 this was inscribed in the UNESCO representative list of intangible cultural
heritage, a process that implements changed public discussions about it and about the Alevis. At present
these have to cope with the difficult social status of a non-Sunni minority group in Turkey and nonChristian one in Europe. The luck of understanding of their tenets of belief and of their political demands
seems to fuel dangerous processes of cultural misrecognition, while at the same time the semah seems to
resist official clear-cut categorizations.
Bio: Sinibaldo De Rosa is a PhD candidate at the University of Exeter. He holds a BA in Cultural
Anthropology from the University of Bologna and a Research Master’s degree in Area Studies: Turkey
from Leiden University. Since 2013 he studies the Kinetography Laban at the CNSMDP in France. As a
cultural anthropologist he is especially interested in experimental performances and pedagogy,
kinaesthetic traditions, collaborative research in ritual, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
“Dancer-Researcher-Performer: a brazilian method”
Nara Cálipo Dilly
Abstract: The presentation "Dancer-Researcher-Performer: a brazilian method" will address a
method of research and creation in dance (BPI - Bailarino-Pesquisador-Intérprete, in Portuguese),
which proposes the development of the dancer framed in popular manifestations in Brazil , where the
subject first contacts its own origin, then performs field research in some popular manifestation. The
BPI leads the interpreter in an integrative way, going against the current trend in the dance, in Which
the dancer must leave its body at the disposal of idealizations. We will describe the process in the BPI
whose fieldwork took place with the Terecô agrarian religious manifestation, of rural women that work
as breakers of the babassu coconut.
Bio: Nara Dilly is an artist and researcher, graduated in dance from the State University of
Campinas / BRAZIL, Master and PhD student in Theatre Arts from the same university. She works
with the Brazilian method Dancer-Researcher-Performer (BPI) since 2007, researching social niches as
women coffee harvesters and currently with women babassu coconut breakers in Brazil. Her current
research project proposes the study of artistic reception by the cohabited source, ie, which was
researched for artistic creation.
Dance, ‘stereotypes’ and gender relations. The case of the lowland and mountain communities of
Karditsa, Thessaly.
Konstantinos Dimopoulos
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to show the gender social structures and relations within dance
and dance practices, as they are imprinted on the mountain and lowland areas, in combination with the
predominant social structures. For this purpose, we made use of the theoretical model of Hanna, where
dance and dance executions are fields of negotiation of gender identity, as well as Cowan’ s model,
according to which social gender can be studied within the context of ‘dance events’. Through the
analysis of these ‘events’, several discrepancies in social structures and relations were detected between
the lowland and mountain communities. These differences are based on dance occasions, participation or
lack of participation of both genders in these occasions, according to dance norms, dance order and dance
types. The above constitute gender diversity among lowland and mountain communities, as a result of
local social structures and the performative acts.
Bio: Konstantinos Dimopoulos was born in Trikala in 1983. He holds a B.Sc. majoring in Greek
Traditional Dances and an M.Sc. in Folklore-Dance Anthropology from the School of Physical Education
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and Sports Science (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens). He is a PhD student in FolkloreDance Anthropology at the same Department. He works as a dancer and a dance instructor.
“Cut and Paste” Methodologies within Choreographies of Popular Dance
Sherril Dodds
Abstract: In our roundtable, we propose a “cut and paste” danced and spoken format to explore
popular dance as a practice broadly rooted in modes of quotation and innovation, and iteration and rearticulation. We will dance and speak our ideas in response to three areas of popular practice. I focus on
hip hop battles to explore how the generic foundations of hip hop are simultaneously invoked, elided and
transformed due to the mobile montage of dancing faces and bodies. I draw upon Henry Louis Gates’s
(1988) concept of signifyin(g) to demonstrate the explicit quoting and riffing within hip hop as a critical
commentary on the battle context.
Bio: Sherril Dodds is Chair and Professor of Dance at Temple University.
Jonathan Burrows’ ‘out-of-a-suitcase’ dances: Or the affirmative power of reduction
Daniela Perazzo Domm
Abstract: For more than a decade Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion have created a number
of ‘out-of-a-suitcase’ duets. Limitations of technical and scenographic requirements have been
consciously embraced as a response to a difficult economic climate. This paper discusses the radical
rethinking of choreography exemplified by Burrows and Fargion’s duets since 2002, with a particular
focus on the political content of Body Not Fit For Purpose (2014), as discussed in recent conversations
with the artists. Particular attention is given to the productive implications of their reductionist aesthetics,
through a reappraisal of its emancipatory prospects.
Bio: Daniela Perazzo Domm is a Lecturer in Dance at Kingston University. She holds a PhD in
Dance Studies from the University of Surrey (funded by a University scholarship), where she also
lectured in critical theory and dance analysis. Her doctoral research constructs a poetics of the work of
Jonathan Burrows. Her interests revolve around the interpretation of contemporary experimental
choreography. She contributed to Decentring Dancing Texts (Lansdale, 2008) and has published in
academic journals.
Advocating Inclusion: teaching, learning, and performing mixed ability dance in a post-secondary
Fine Arts program
Lisa Doolittle
Abstract: Combining Disability and Dance may not be new, yet enacting inclusive dance/drama
education in a university remains rare. This presentation looks at a mixed-ability university course
followed by a large-scale production that advocates inclusion in the university and promotion of the
developmentally disabled in society.
The research, part of a five-year national project, Art for Social Change: an integrated research
partnership in teaching, capacity building and evaluation (Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada 2013-2018), draws on the theoretical perspectives of disability, performance and
dance studies, particularly concepts linking embodiment and activism, and on pedagogical concepts
embedded in the community-engaged arts for change context.
Bio: Bringing together expertise in dance, theatre for change, community engagement,
interdisciplinary teaching, and scholarship, Doolittle’s research strives to create social action through
community–university partnerships, teaching and performance. She has led participatory theatre and
dance projects in London, Malawi, and in Canada, most recently with people with developmental
disabilities. She has presented and published internationally on community-engaged and intercultural
performance, Canadian multiculturalism, and indigenous dance. Doolittle is Professor in Theatre Arts at
the University of Lethbridge.
Eva Palmer Dances Aeschylus in Delphi
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Samuel N Dorf
Abstract: Eva Palmer-Sikelianos founded the modern Delphic Festival in 1927 to revive Ancient
Greek rites. This paper explores Palmer’s choreography, music and dramaturgy for her reconstructed
Prometheus Bound in light of her own research on ancient Greek culture and our modern theories of
historical reenactment. Based on film, autobiography, and analysis of movement vocabulary, I compared
Palmer’s work to other reenactments of ancient Greece. I argue that Palmer’s project to reenact
“authentic” Greek theater and choreography illustrates that theories of theatrical historical reconstruction
in the early twentieth century were heavily influenced by contemporary theatrical, political, and social
events.
Bio: Samuel N. Dorf is an assistant professor of music at the University of Dayton in Dayton,
Ohio. He received a Ph.D. in Musicology from Northwestern University in 2009. Dr. Dorf has published
articles dealing with the performance and reinvention of ancient Greek music and dance in fin-de-siècle
Paris, and queer music reception. His research areas include intersections between musicology,
performance studies, reception studies, queer studies, and the history of performance practice.
Dance and Guerilla Dramaturgy
Amie Dowling
Abstract: As we search for ways to sustain the most vulnerable artists and communities in this
age of severe austerities and easy spectacles, we return to the idea that dance has its own modes of
enacting politics. In this panel, we propose two different models of dance’s intervention in the public
sphere: first, the act of guerilla dramaturgy in ballet oligarchy; second, the intervention of dance into the
racist system of mass incarceration in the US. We intend to collaboratively envision a third potential
model: dance as an Arendtian public sphere, a place in which every citizen has the right to political
action.
Bio: Amie Dowling is Chair of the Performing Arts Department at the University of San
Francisco, and an artist in residence at the San Francisco Jails and San Quentin Prison. Amie’s project
Well Contested Sites, a dance/theater film that examines the impact of incarceration on the body, received
the 2013 International Screendance Jury Prize. Through a partnership with Teacher For Social Justice, the
film is used throughout the US to facilitate conversations about mass incarceration.
Choreography is critical: Choreography as core curricula in the UK and USA
Shantel Ehrenberg
Abstract: Dr Ehrenberg will present the perspective, for the above proposed panel, of how
choreography is a core curricula for a number of BA, MA, and MFA programmes in the USA and UK.
Having studied and taught in a number of institutions with strong dance degrees across the USA and UK
(e.g., Rutgers University, New York University, University of California, Trinity Laban, Bath Spa
University, University of Surrey), Dr Ehrenberg will argue for some of the ways that choreography is
essential as a core subject of these programmes and as such, choreography needs to be considered
seriously for how it can inform curriculum needs, as proposed by the above over-arching abstract, in
Greece.
Bio: Dr Shantel Ehrenberg is a dance practitioner, researcher and academic. She is currently
Lecturer in Dance & Theatre and MA Dance Programme Director at the University of Surrey, UK.
Shantel’s current research interests span the topics of kinaesthesia, practice-as-research, and
choreographic thinking. See also,http://shantelehrenberg.weebly.com
Staging Understanding in Turkish Folk Dance Departments
Sema Erkan
Abstract: The current staging understanding will be evaluated throughout the analysis of the
Turkish folk dance departments’ curriculum. Also the presentation techniques that differ according to the
historical process will be discussed within the context of institutions.
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Bio: Worked as a dancer and dance instructor for Ekin Dance Ensemble (which is the dance
ensemble of Turkish Folk Dance Department) in international and domestic performances since 1995.
Worked as researcher and workshop instructor in research projects held in the areas of traditional folk
theater, dance, and costumes. Worked as choreographer for the Izmir State Theatre, several private
theaters, and Koy-u Kırmızı and Kampanalar Çalıyor (dance theaters) Archive with Creating Models in
Turkish Folk Dance Department’s Stage Activities and within Makeup Lessons, (Researcher), Izmir,
2014.
Collaborative strategies in a world of minimal resources: co-creating the international dance
theatre project Donmuş Rüya (Frozen Dream)
Ayrin ERSÖZ
Abstract: In June 2014, Turkish choreographer Ayrin Ersöz and American choreographer Julia
M. Ritter collaborated on the creation and presentation of Donmuş Rüya (Frozen Dream), an eveninglength immersive dance theatre production, performed as a parallel project of the 19th International
Istanbul Theatre Festival (IKSV). During a 60 minute lecture-demonstration for CORD/SDHS, Ersöz and
Ritter propose sharing three aspects of Donmuş Rüya: (1) performance video excerpts illustrating our
approaches to making site-sensitive immersive dance in the absence of resources, (2) analysis of our
tactics for networking with multiple stakeholders to gain support, and (3) demonstrating and involving
conference participants in movement and dance strategies we deployed to engage our audiences during
the immersive performance.
Bio: Born in Bulgaria Ayrin Ersöz is a choreographer and academician based in Istanbul. She
received her B.A. from the Dance Department at the School of Art and Design at Yildiz Technical
University in 2003 and is a PhD degree holder from Theater Criticism and Dramaturgy Department at
Istanbul University. As a freelance choreographer her pieces had performed in various national venues of
Turkey and in Europe. Ayrin Ersöz is currently the director of the Dance Program at Yildiz Technical
University in Istanbul.
Queer Temporality, Ephemerality, and Performance: Reconstructing Them
Randi Evans
Abstract: To think about austerity across contrasting points in time is to consider relationships
between bodies and their histories. This paper uses the re-performance of Them (1986/2010), a dancetheater work originally conceived and choreographed by Ishmael Houston-Jones at the height of the
AIDS crisis, to consider relationships among queer temporality and performance, dance score as
ephemera, and the repetition of gesture in connecting bodies across time and space. Further, how this
work exemplifies a form of intergenerational sharing and bestowment of histories through dance, which
becomes a conduit to consider both the past and future.
Bio: Randi Evans is a PhD student in Performance Studies at UC Berkeley. Research interests
include dance studies, social practice, curatorial practice, and community-based art practices. She
received her BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts, her MA in Cultural Studies from the
University of Washington, and a certificate in curatorial practice in performance from Wesleyan
University.
Rolling and Trembling of the Abdomen. Movement as a subaltern subject in colonial Egypt.
Maria Faidi
Abstract: Accordingly to Shay and Sellers-Young (2005) “the term “belly dance” was adopted by
natives and non-natives to denote all solo dance forms from Morocco to Uzbekistan that engage the hips,
torso, arms and hands in undulations, shimmies, circles and spirals.” My presentation will be organised as
follows: firstly, I am going to explain succinctly how I will use here the term “subaltern” in relation to
dance and colonialism. Secondly, I am going to present the main scenarios, actors, and factors in which
the rolling and trembling of the abdomen was danced, watched, desired and hated at the end of the
nineteenth century, provoking strong love/hate reactions among the fin de siecle public.
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This research focuses on the agency of oriental dance as a mediator in the cultural and economical
relations between the metropolis and the colony. It tackles aspects of race, class and gender intertwining
dance history and dance analysis methods.
Bio: PhD Candidate at the Dance Dep. University of Chichester; Raks al-Sharqi Performer,
Researcher and Teacher; Pilates, Stretching & Body Consciousness Trainer; Visual Artist, Show Business
Manager & Entrepreneur. As Visiting Scholar conducted studies at: the Dance Dep. Steinhardt School of
Education & TISCH School of the Arts (NYU); Dept. of Visual and Performing Arts American
University in Cairo (AUC).
‘Ftou!Freedom for all'; Interacting Through Dance
Clio Fanouraki
Abstract: In this paper I will discuss the movie and arts education project ‘Ftou!Freedom for all’
in which traditional and contemporary dance and play motivate students from different countries to
interact with each other. "Ftou!Freedom for all" took place in a seaside village in Crete, where a
children’s team from all over the world participates in an environmental dance workshop, taught by Sarah
from England and Samila from Crete. The group gets acquainted with the locals, while by playing and
dancing, they stimulate the interaction of cultures, traditions and they communicate beyond every lingual
barrier, every border".The issue "how does traditional dance represent and maintain the concept of “folk”
in an era of cosmopolitan living" will be discussed through the movie's making processes and the
underlying theory of dance and drama education.
Bio: Clio Fanouraki holds a doctorate degree in theatre/drama education from the University of
Patras, Department Theatre Studies. She has graduated from the University of Athens, Department
Theatre Studies and the Drama School of Yorgos Armenis. She holds a Master Degree in Theatre and
Contemporary Practice from the University of Hull and a first class honors’ Bachelor degree in Film
Studies from the University of Greenwich. Her current research focuses on the teaching of Ancient and
Modern Greek language through dramatization and οn multidisciplinary approaches to arts education, and
she isthe co-founder of the non profitable company for arts and education Amusic FREEater. .
Contemporary ballet – global economies and cultural/national exchanges (Round Table)
Kathrina Farrugia-Kriel
Abstract: In this roundtable contribution, I explore the resurgence of ballet in South Africa
within the contemporary parameters of Joburg Ballet against its historical, postcolonial and post-1994
political context. I interrogate the impact of the company’s recent rebranding, funding and outreach
projects including the Pirouette Challenge within social media. This intervention will also focus on the
rise and impact of the prolific black ballerina, Kitty Phetla, on youth culture within the local
communities within Johannesburg and its suburbs and review her positions as a role model in dance
against the current economic, political and cultural exchanges surrounding ballet in South Africa.
Bio: Dr Kathrina Farrugia-Kriel is Senior Lecturer in Dance Studies at the Faculty of Education
(Royal Academy of Dance) in London and sits on the Executive Board of the Society of Dance History
Scholars (2012-2015). Dr. Farrugia-Kriel has presented at several international conferences within
North America, Europe and South Africa. She has recently published in the South African Dance
Journal as well as co-edited Network of Pointes (2015).
Experiencing dance as a social process. A case-study of the summer _paniyiri_ in Ikaria island.
Katerina (Aikaterini) Fatourou
Abstract: The Ikarian _paniyiri_, one of the main cultural events in the island of Ikaria, has
always acted as an important social process with various functions. Nowadays, it has also incorporated
another role, acting as a cultural product aimed for touristic attraction. This transformation has affected
the musical and dancing performance in the _paniyiri_, and especially the performance of the
“ikariotiko”, the local dance of Ikaria. This presentation investigates the multiple functions of dancing
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in the Ikarian _paniyiri_, the redefining of culture in a globalized setting, as well as, the process of
participant integration, through an intersubjective interpretation.
Bio: Katerina Fatourou is a Ph.D. candidate in Ethnomusicology at the Music Department,
University of Athens. Her dissertation investigates performative arts, such as music and dance, as
contemporary cultural symbols with multiple interpretations. She draws upon a long-term participant
experience in cultural events performed in Ikaria island, the field of her research. Katerina holds a
MMus in Ethnomusicology from Goldsmiths College, University of London and a B.A. in Musicology
from the University of Athens.
Brazilian Popular Dances: Imaginary, Body and Cognition
Michelle Favero
Abstract: This roundtable will present researches related to the popular Brazilian dances, in
their relations with body, cognition and imagery . For this, we compose a group of teachers and masters
of the School of Dance at the Federal University of Bahia, which has founded seven years ago the first
Master's degree in dance from the country. Thus, Brazilian popular dances are here understood as a
large field of body´s studies in different cultural contextes, that is, the body that communicates and
comprises itself in a local context in communication with the global context. Samba de Roda
Reconcavo Baiano and Fandango of Rio Grande do Sul are taken as case studies in this roundtable to
facilitate understanding our presentation.
Bio: Michelle Favero: Master in process at the Programme of Master on Dance in the Federal
University of Bahia. Bachelor's in Fisioterapia from Federal University of Minas Gerais (2010). She has
experience in Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy.
Everybody Included: Inhabiting Transitory Scenarios as Somatic-Performative Grounding
Ciane Fernandes
Abstract: This lecture-demonstration aims at discussing and further developing a performance project
which has been happening since September 2012 in different locations, under the Graduate Program of
Performing Arts / Federal University of Bahia, Brazil. As part of our Somatic-Performative Approach, we
invite the audience to experience the project in relation to the local landscape of the conference site
responding to the questions of the Conference looking the role of dance actions in public spheres.
Together, we aim at proposing an experience of transgression of spatial expectations and
regulations, therefore questioning the relationship between body, space and power. How to empower the
body's experience alongside and through the constant displacement of productive time and goal-oriented
scenarios within increasingly decentralising global instability? How to retrace personal groundings within
communal unpredictable compositions? These are the founding questions which we intend to explore
during the proposed activity.
Bio: Ciane Fernandes holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in art and humanities for performing artists from
New York University, a post-doctoral degree in Contemporary Culture and Communications from
Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), and a Certificate of Movement Analysis from Laban/Bartenieff
Institute of Movement Studies, where she is an associate researcher. Since 1998, she is tenured professor
at the School of Theater and at the Performing Arts Graduate Program at UFBA, founder and director of
the A-FETO Dance Theater Collective, in association with the Performance Laboratory, where she
developed the Somatic-Performative Research. She is the author of Pina Bausch and the Wuppertal Dance
Theater: the Aesthetics of Repetition and Transformation (Peter Lang) and The Moving Researcher:
(Jessica Kingsley), and editor of eight academic journals on Dance Theater and Somatic Education
(UFBA).
Brazilian Popular Dances: Imaginary, Body and Cognition
Thais Ferreira
Abstract: This roundtable will present researches related to the popular Brazilian dances, in
their relations with body, cognition and imagery . For this, we compose a group of teachers and masters
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of the School of Dance at the Federal University of Bahia, which has founded seven years ago the first
Master's degree in dance from the country. Thus, Brazilian popular dances are here understood as a
large field of body´s studies in different cultural contextes, that is, the body that communicates and
comprises itself in a local context in communication with the global context. Samba de Roda
Reconcavo Baiano and Fandango of Rio Grande do Sul are taken as case studies in this roundtable to
facilitate understanding our presentation.
Bio: Master in process at the Programme of Master on Dance in the Federal University of Bahia.
She's bachelor in Sports Education at the Federal University of Parana. She is teacher in the public
schools of Parana and she works with popular culture in the schools.
Economies of The Flesh: Scripting Puerto Rican Colonial History Through Dance
Brianna Figueroa
Abstract: West Side Story’s Anita, played most notably by Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno,
proclaims boldly “I like to be in America!” Flashing her bright skirts around her shapely legs, she
grounds her Puerto Rican body firmly “on the island Manhattan.” This pervading, dramatized image of
the dancing Puerto Rican begs questions about the reality of the Puerto Rican lived experience. What does
it means to make and present Puerto Rican dance on the American mainland when systemic racism,
classism, and other realms of oppression continue to mar the full inclusion of Latina/o bodies? How are
quotidian histories of colonialism, citizenship, and neoliberal contact between the U.S. and Puerto Rico
accounted for and scripted when the Puerto Rican body is mobilized through dance? My study examines
Historias (1992), an evening length work by Puerto Rican choreographer Merián Soto, in an effort to
evaluate dance as a fundamental site of cultural work.
Bio: Brianna is currently pursuing her PhD in Performance as Public Practice from the University
of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on the historical presence and work of Latina/a identified
choreographers producing in the western genres of modern and postmodern dance within the U.S. As a
performer and choreographer, Brianna’s own work considers the ways that gender, sexuality, ethnicity,
race, and history can be explored, challenged, and shared through movement.
The Problem with Dance Genre Labels
Jennifer Fisher
Abstract: Dance labels become institutionalized though they are rarely agreed upon. Should
labels shift or stick? Historians make decisions that eventually are out of date. Journalists and scholars
argue for naming strategies based on heritage, aesthetics, precedent, personal preference, commercial
value, or political expedience. Dance world examples include calling ballet “Euro-American” or, more
accurately, “Euro-Afro-American,” or naming ballet and modern “Western theatrical dance. What is
“traditional,” “folk,” “cultural dance,” “contemporary”? Using rhetorical hermeneutics as a starting point,
what do practitioners, audiences, and scholars think is at stake in such labels, and how can they shift to
keep up with the times?
Bio: Jennifer Fisher, Ph.D., is the author of Nutcracker Nation: How an Old World Ballet
Became a Christmas Tradition in the New World (Yale, 2003), which won the Special Citation of the De
La Torre Bueno Prize given by the Society of Dance History Scholars. She co-edited with Anthony Shay
When Men Dance: Choreographing Masculinities Across Borders (Oxford, 2009). An associate professor
at the University of California, she is writing a “memoir ethnography” titled An Autobiography of Ballet.
Muted Voices of Teachers and Students
Norma Sue Fisher-Stitt
Abstract: In the majority of historical accounts, we hear about the activities and aspirations of
"icons;" in the case of dance this means principal dancers and choreographers (usually with international
reputations). In this presentation, I will share the voices of teachers and students from a ballet
conservatory, as they recall their experiences in a shifting political and technical landscape associated
with changes in leadership and power relations. Issues associated with oral histories and social memories
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will be addressed, including Nora's differentiation between lieux and milieux and the interaction between
memory and history in "performances of the past."
Bio: Norma Sue Fisher-Stitt is a Professor in the Dance Department at York University in
Toronto, where she teaches at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Dr. Fisher-Stitt is the author of The
Ballet Class: A History of Canada’s National Ballet School and she has presented papers at the Society of
Dance History Scholars, the Canadian Society for Dance Studies, the European Association of Dance
Historians, and the Canadian Association for Theatre Research
Choreographing Protest
Susanne Foellmer
Abstract: Recent political insurrections feature an increasing entanglement of artistic and
political action. Protesters during the Taksim Square occupation in Istanbul for instance disposed of
artistic practices to subvert governmental prohibitions of public assembly, using tactics of re-claiming
public space. In this regard dance explicitly can serve as a tool for agency: as critical practice (Martin
1998) during junctures of riot. This paper examines the specific methods in those situations referring to
e.g. de Certeau’s conception of tactics versus strategy (1984). Given this theoretical frame I will focus on
how selected operations are being executed at the intersection of arts and politics.
Bio: Assistant professor for theatre and dance at Freie Universitaet Berlin. Research emphasis:
Dance/performance of the 1920s and today focusing a.o. corporeality, mediality and politics. From 2014
direction of the research project “On Remnants and Vestiges. Strategies of Remaining in the Performing
Arts” (German Research Foundation). Publications, a.o.: “Valeska Gert” (2006), “Am Rand der Koerper.
Inventuren des Unabgeschlossenen im zeitgenoessischen Tanz” (2009), “Re-Cyclings. Shifting Time,
Changing Genre in the Moving Museum” (DRJ: Dance and the Museum, 2014).
Originality Meets Austerity: A Case Study of Style Elements Crew
Mary Fogarty
Abstract: In a 2013 blog post leading up to the19th anniversary event of an American West
Coast hip hop dance crew called Style Elements, Andrew "A-Game" Mam describes both the impact of
the crew internationally and the challenges in explaining this impact. He writes: "it is hard to pinpoint
exactly why Style Elements [crew] just 'had it' and why their contributions and impact were undeniable...
What is harder to do is to deny the influence they enacted."
My talk will examine the cultural processes and technological shifts that took place in the 1990s and
how these processes were impacting street dance practices, receptions and reputations. I will do so
through a case study of Style Elements Crew, a collection of dancers who won numerous battles over this
time period and traveled to Germany to win Battle of the Year in 1997. I argue that to understand the
aesthetic developments of dancers, one must start with the socioeconomic and cultural specificities of the
time; an era marked by scarcity, ingenuity, and a stress on originality.
Bio: Mary Fogarty, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Dance in the School of the Arts, Media,
Performance and Design at York University (Toronto, Canada). As a Visiting Scholar at New York
University's Hip Hop Education Centre (2013-2015) she is working in collaboration with hip hop pioneer,
Ken Swift, on a book project and is also co-editing The Oxford Handbook of Hip-Hop Dance Studies.
Into the Wind: Imagining Landscapes of Renewal
Jessica Fogel
Abstract: How can site-specific performances encourage audiences to envision their
community’s potential for sustainable development? What is the impact of attending a performance
within a blighted landscape and collectively imagining its transformation? Addressing these questions,
this lecture-demonstration presents excerpts from an interdisciplinary performance entitled Into the Wind,
inspired by the potential for harnessing wind energy in the Great Lakes. The project, which brought
together artists, ecologists, urban planners, and audiences from across the Midwest on the site of a once
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thriving engine factory in Muskegon, Michigan, excavated histories of the community’s economic rise
and decline.
Bio: Jessica Fogel's choreography has been produced nationally and internationally since 1974.
She spent a decade in NYC where she performed with several companies and was artistic director of
Jessica Fogel and Dancers. A Professor of Dance at the University of Michigan and Artistic Director of
Ann Arbor Dance Works, she has received grants from the NEA, Rockefeller Foundation, Michigan
Council for Arts, ArtServe Michigan, the Cultural Council Foundation of New York, and numerous
university sources.
From the Stage to the Street and Back Again: Organized Dancers, Labor, and Memory in PostCrisis Buenos Aires
Victoria Fortuna
Abstract: This presentation examines the Buenos Aires, Argentina based Organized Dancers, a
labor rights group turned contemporary dance company. The group formed initially following work
related accidents and dismissals of dancers from the prestigious state supported General San Martín
Municipal Theater Contemporary Ballet. Through the use of resistive choreographies on and off the
theatrical stage, Organized Dancers insisted that dance be recognized as productive labor. Declaring
that dancers, like other workers, “have a right to rights,” Organized Dancers’ instantiated a linkage
between labor activism, the imagination of new political futures, and the memory of histories of
political violence in Argentina.
Bio: Victoria Fortuna is a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Dance at Oberlin College. She is
currently preparing a book manuscript on the relationship between Buenos Aires, Argentina based
contemporary dance practices and histories of political and economic violence from the 1960s to the
present. She has received grants and awards from Fulbright, the Society of Dance History Scholars and
the American Society for Theatre Research, and her writings have appeared in Performance Research,
Theatre Journal, and e-misférica. She will join the dance faculty at Reed College in the fall.
Academic research of Greek traditional dance in Greece and abroad: a critical review of
dissertations and theses
Giorgos Fountzoulas
Abstract: Since 1909 Greek traditional dance has been part of public physical education and
since 1983 a subject matter of the Departments of Physical Education and Sports Science in Greece. At
the late 1980’s, a new era opened up for its study and research through the completion of master
dissertations and doctoral theses in Greece and abroad, an era that since then is constantly flourishing.
Based on this, the aim of this paper is to present, categorize and evaluate the existing dissertations and
theses on Greek traditional dance in Greece and abroad. It can be argued that up to now Greek traditional
dance academic research is multifaceted both theoretically and methodologically, thus allocating value to
the Greek traditional dance itself locally and internationally. Yet there is still a lot to be done towards this
direction, a fact that is questionable because of the shrinking resources in the age of austerity.
Bio: Giorgos Fountzoulas was born in Athens in 1988. He holds a B.Sc. majoring in Greek
Traditional Dances from the School of Physical Education and Sports Science (National and Kapodistrian
University of Athens), where he is an M.A. student in Folklore-Dance Anthropology. He works as a
dancer and a dance instructor.
The roles of institutions and non-institutional organisations in the Italian dance and performance
scene in the era of the crisis. The Veneto Region: an Italian case study.
Elisa Frasson
Abstract: This paper investigates the roles and situation of the institutional and non-institutional
organisations within Italian contemporary dance and performance scene (focused on the Veneto Region),
by looking at structures, collectives, self-organised movements and socio-political landscapes from the
beginning of the financial crisis (2009).
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To what extent are the influences of institutions evident in the Italian contemporary dance scene in the era
of crisis? How does the lack of institutional support affect the inter-relationship between artists and the
socio-political landscape? Which desires and necessities are bringing the emerging non-institutional
groups?
Bio: Elisa Frasson (Italy) is a dance scholar, movement educator and dancer. With a Master in
Performing Arts (Ca’ Foscari University, Venice), she is a PhD candidate (Roehampton University,
London). She is a SME (BMC®) and Pilates instructor. Beside her artistic projects, she works with
children, teenagers and adults in various educational contexts. She has coordinated dance workshops and
events in collaboration with Ca’ Foscari University and Centro Teatrale di Ricerca, hosting artists as
Simone Forti.
"Dancing Through Austerity: Bronislava Nijinska's Theatre de la Danse, 1932-34"
Lynn Garafola
Abstract: In 1932, at the height of the Depression, choreographer Bronislava Nijinska
launched her third independent company in little more than a dozen years. Virtually unstudied, Theatre
de la Danse was intended both the showcase older works and to serve as a vehicle for the creation of
new ones. Among the latter were "Variations," a semi-plotless ballet to Beethoven, and "Hamlet," a
retelling of the Shakespeare play in which Nijinska herself took the part of the hero, the last of several
male roles that she crafted for herself. Paris-based, Theatre de la Danse made its debut at the OperaComique and folded two years later after a season at the Theatre du Chatelet. This paper, drawing
chiefly on unpublished materials in the Bronislava Nijinska Collection at the Library of Congress, will
examine not only Nijinska's struggle to maintain the company but also the calamitous effect of the
Depression on the broader Russian emigre dance community in France.
Bio: Lynn Garafola is a Professor of Dance at Barnard College, Columbia University, in New
York City. A dance historian and critic, she is the author of "Diaghilev's Ballets Russes" and "Legacies
of Twentieth-Century Dance," and the editor of several books, including "The Diaries of Marius
Petipa" (which she also translated), "André Levinson on Dance: Writings from Paris in the Twenties"
(with Joan Acocella); "Rethinking the Sylph: New Perspectives on the Romantic Ballet"; "José Limón:
An Unfinished Memoir," and "The Ballets Russes and Its World.”
Institutional changes on the subject of dance in education during Greece's 2010-2014 economic
crisis
Eleftheria Gartzonika
Abstract: Since 2009, the year the economic crisis broke out in Greece and the country resorted
to a bailout by the IMF, a series of structural changes took place in various government sectors. Important
changes were designed for and began to be implemented in the public education sector including all
educational grades: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary. This paper focuses on the institutional changes that
took place on the subject of Dance in Primary education from 2010 until today. For the first time, the
curriculum of dance in education is expanded upon with the inclusion of all forms of dance, instead of
only Greek folk dances, as was the case from 1914 until today. The importance of this change lies in the
fact that it takes place in an environment of a general cultural and economic crisis in Greece.
Bio: Eleftheria Gartzonika is a physical education advisor for the West Attica region of Greece.
She is a graduate of the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, National University of
Athens, and holds a PhD in the area of Dance in Education. Her publications included papers in collective
tomes of convention minutes and scientific magazines. She has organized and taught many seminars on
the subject of Greek traditional dance in education.
A tale of two Russias: Les Noces as the place were two visions of the home country clashed
Raf Geenens
Abstract: This paper reads Les Noces in light of the discord between Nijinska and Diaghilev.
Diaghilev wanted Les Noces to evoke traditional Russian community life. Nijinska, with vivid
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memories of the Soviet regime, held no such sentiments and had no enthusiasm for a lost collectivism,
nor for a new, artificial collectivism. This tension is readable in the choreography. Although Les Noces
recounts a countryside wedding, Nijinska’s ambivalence shines through: she insistently focuses on the
ritual’s harshness. Nijinska also submitted to Diaghilev’s wish to incorporate folkloristic movements.
Yet in Nijinska’s hands these movements do not echo the innocence of Russian pastoral dancing.
Bio: Raf Geenens (PhD, 2008) was educated at the universities of Brussels, Leuven, and Paris
VIII Vincennes. He is now a lecturer and researcher in philosophy at the KU Leuven (Belgium). Raf
Geenens’s primary research interests are in continental political and legal thought, yet he also has a
vivid interest in the history and the philosophy of dance.
Pathways of a disassembly: from the poetics of the body to the contemporary scene
Silvia Maria Geraldi
Abstract: This Lecture-Demonstration aims at synthesize the creative journey that resulted in the
production of the choreographic work Rehearsal of small distances. The creation investigated the
relationship between body/space from two main references: the anthropological studies of Edward Hall
about the use of space by humans within the context of culture; the research on the phenomenological
space conducted by the somatic educator Hubert Godard. The communication will be made in the
disassembly of the scene, a kind of educational performance, with the intention of making the artistic
process visible and promoting a discussion about the structural systems involved in the creation.
Bio: Silvia Geraldi is a dance artist, professor and researcher of the Dance Department / Arts
Institute at the State University of Campinas – Unicamp (São Paulo, Brazil). She has a Master’s degree in
Education and PhD in Arts, both from Unicamp. Her present postdoctoral research investigates the hybrid
scene of contemporary dance from the theoretical perspectives of theatricality and performativity. She is
certified as a teacher/practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education.
Contemporary ballet – global economies and cultural/national exchanges (Round Table)
Julia Gleich
Abstract: In April 2013, Luke Jennings’ article for The Guardian titled “Sexism in Dance:
Where are all the female choreographers?” illuminated experiences of female choreographers in the UK
(including the thwarted ambitions of one choreographer from the Royal Ballet). In February 2015,
Jennings tweeted about the all-female triple bill at the English National Ballet; “Sorry to strike a sour
note, but "all female" choreographic events are not the answer”. I interrogate these idiosyncrasies and
question: how do we normalise women’s creative work in ballet? To that end, I produce CounterPointe:
women making work on pointe in both NYC and London.
Bio: Julia K. Gleich (MFA, MA) is Choreographer and founder of Gleich Dances
www.gleichdances.org. She is Head of Choreography at London Studio Centre and faculty at Trinity
Laban. As Co-Founder of Norte Maar for Collaborative Projects in the Arts in Bushwick Brooklyn,
NY, Gleich produces and curates CounterPointe: women making work for pointe in NYC and London.
She was awarded the 2014 Distinguished Alumna medal by the University of Utah Ballet Department.
Flamenco and the Spanish Festival System
Theresa Goldbach
Abstract: In my paper, I will examine the links between flamenco, Spanish dance forms, and
constructions of Spanish nationalism. The current economic crisis in Spain manifested in the flamenco
world most immediately as a shift in the state sponsorship of the artform to the Festival model. I will
analyze how the Spanish state, both under Franco and currently under Rajoy, utilized the imagery,
history, and global perceptions of flamenco and in particular the flamenco dancer as an advertising tool. I
will briefly analyze shifting gender norms in the genre of flamenco as seen in festival programming.
Using archival documents and current festival data, I will place the two eras in conversation with each
other and develop a theory of Spanish national crisis and flamenco. I will also investigate the underlying
ideological motivations that cause these connections.
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Bio: Theresa Goldbach is currently working on a PhD in Critical Dance Studies at the University
of California at Riverside. She has performed with Fandango San Antonio, Ballet Folklorico de San
Antonio, Rumba Brava, Estampa Española, and Viva Flamenco. Goldbach attended the University of
Texas at Austin and graduated from the University of New Mexico's Master's program in Dance History
in 2014. Goldbach conducted most of the research for her Master's thesis, "Fascism, Flamenco, and Ballet
Español: Nacionalflamenquismo," in the Archivo General de la Administración in Alcalá de Henares,
Spain. Her research interests include flamenco and Spanish dance during the reign of General Francisco
Franco, politics and dance, and bar culture.
Advocacy, Austerity and Internationalisation in the Anthropology of Dance
Georgiana Gore
Abstract: In this round table, Georgiana Gore shall demonstrate how collaboration and shared
but limited resources (see Candau 2013 on open and closed exchange) have been the means by which
the anthropology of dance as a legitimate discipline within academia has been established across
Europe. They will discuss how the International Council for Traditional Music’s Study Group on
Ethnochoreology has provided a context for fostering international events (such as the Study Group’s
Nafplion symposium organised by Loutzaki in 1992) and exchanges, giving rise to EU Intensive
programmes and an Erasmus Mundus masters programme, Choreomundus.
Bio: Georgiana Gore, Professor of Anthropology of Dance at Blaise Pascal University
Clermont-Ferrand (France) and member of ACTé research centre, is local convenor for the Erasmus
Mundus masters in Dance, Knowledge, Practice and Heritage - Choreomundus. Her publications
include Anthropologie de la danse: genèse et construction d'une discipline, with Andrée Grau,
University of Roehampton London, a participant in the roundtable, as are Rena Loutzaki and Maria
Koutsouba, both formerly or currently of the University of Athens.
Bacchic Fevers: The 19th century’s imagination of the ancient Greek Dark Ages
Kelina Gotman
Abstract: This paper examines the mid-nineteenth century fantasy of a convulsive, ancient Greek
Dionysianism erupting at the height of the European Middle Ages. This paper examines the paradoxical
conjugation of nineteenth-century fantasies of Dionysian revelry and disinhibition, which would influence
the Cambridge Ritualists and Isadora Duncan, among others; and the concomitant fantasy of the
medieval, a period characterized by crass irrationalism, and mechanical – animal and childlike –
imitation.
Bio: Kélina Gotman received her PhD in Theatre from Columbia University in New York. She is
currently Lecturer in Theatre and Performance Studies in the Department of English at King’s College
London (UK). She has taught cultural and critical theory, performance, and writing at Columbia, The
New School, and Bard College. This paper draws from her book-length manuscript, Choreomania: Dance,
Disorder and the Disciplines. She has published in PAJ, About Performance, Choreographic Practices,
Conversations across the Field of Dance Studies and elsewhere.
From West to Near-East : Inscribing & Erasing Democratic Traces
Sozita Goudouna
Abstract: The presentation will examine and compare two interdisciplinary interventions that
took place in the public sphere at Monastiraki Square in Athens (November 2013) and Martyrs' Square
in Beirut (October 2014). The projects investigate the ways in which the mapping of one structure,
originally composed in one medium (drawing), is mapped onto another structure in another medium
(dance) based on the work of visual artist Mat Chivers. The paper focuses on dance interventions in
public spaces so as to explore the ways citizens can reclaim democratic practices in urban centres and
the ways citizens interact with public art in European and Near-East contexts.
Bio: Dr Sozita Goudouna's book on respiration and art entitled ‘Mediated Breath’ is
forthcoming in 2015. The researcher is collaborating with Marina Abramovic's production “Seven
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Deaths,” conceived by the artist in collaboration with 7 directors such as Polanski and Iñárritu. Sozita
has curated intermedia projects in venues such as the Shunt Vaults, Hunterian Museum, French
Institute, ICA, Barbican Centre, Benaki Museum, Byzantine Museum, Historical Archives Museum,
Place-London and in the public sphere. The scholar holds a PhD and MA from the University of
London.
Politics on Display: The Show (Achilles’ Heels)
Ellen Graff
Abstract: When she created the protagonist Jocasta in her dance Night Journey, Martha
Graham gave voice/motion to the remarkably silent mother in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. When Richard
Move appropriates Graham’s female voice in Martha@Mother’s, the issue of female representation
becomes more complicated. Exploring Richard Move’s ballet, The Show (Achilles’ Heels),
choreographed initially for White Oak and restaged for the Graham Company in 2013, Graff’s paper
questions how sexuality, display, and desire interact in the dance and how Graham’s female perspective
on the classical Greek theater is decentered.
Bio: Ellen Graff first danced professionally with the Martha Graham Dance Company.
Additional performing experience includes Broadway musical theatre, film and television. Graff holds
a Ph.D from NYU, and her book, Stepping Left, is the first extended study of the intersection of dance
and politics in the modern dance world of the 1930s. Teaching appointments include Barnard College,
NYU, the New School and California State University Long Beach, where she coordinated an MFA
program. Currently she teaches in the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program and at the Martha Graham School.
Resonances of the Tragic: Pina Bausch's Orpheus and Eurydike (1975)
Nicole Haitzinger
Abstract: From the perspective of dance studies, the tragic emerges from the representation by
means of the moving and moved body of a gruesome monstrosity at the limits of what is imaginable; but
how exactly does the mise-en-scène of the ambivalent, ambiguous and paradoxical through figures and
figurations of pathos function to make the tragic appear?
Two exemplary productions from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, respectively – Jean-Georges
Noverre’s Agamemnon vengé (1771) and Luigi Manzotti’s Excelsior (1881) – will form the central
corpus for the elaboration of resonances of the tragic between event and affect en detail. A concluding
discussion will seek to illuminate implications for our understanding of more recent performances.
Bio: Nicole Haitzinger completed her PhD studies at the Vienna University, department for
Theatre, Film and Media Studies. Currently she is as an associated professor at the department for Art,
Music and Dance Studies at the University of Salzburg. As a dramaturge and curator she is participating
in various international projects and theory-practice modules. Publications: DenkFiguren. Performatives
zwischen Bewegen, Schreiben und Erfinden (edited with Karin Fenböck, 2010). Interaktion und
Rhythmus (edited with Claudia Jeschke and Gabi Vettermann, 2010). Versehen. Tanz in allen Medien
(edited with Helmut Ploebst, 2011).
“Cut and Paste” Methodologies within Choreographies of Popular Dance
Joanna Hall
Abstract: In our roundtable we propose a “cut and paste” danced and spoken format to explore
popular dance as a practice broadly rooted in modes of quotation and innovation, and iteration and rearticulation. We will dance and speak our ideas in response to three areas of popular practice. I focus on
the hip-hop dance theatre work Frusted (Igbokwe and Seutin, 2010), which uses multiple street dance
styles. I explore how a “cut and paste” approach to the construction of hip-hop dance theatre distorts and
translates the rhetorical ‘truth effects’ (Frow, 2006) of these dance genres in a performative act of
interpretation.
Bio: Joanna Hall is Principal Lecturer at Kingston University (UK). Her research focuses on
contemporary popular dances, and the relationships between dance and cultural identities. Jo is Chair of
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the SDHS working group for Popular, Social and Vernacular Dance, a founding member of the PoP
Moves research group and has contributed to Bodies of Sound: Studies Across Popular Music and Dance
(Dodds & Cook, 2013) and Decentring Dancing Texts: the Challenge of Interpreting Dances (Lansdale,
2008).
Re-Visiting Movement Choirs: on collective performance, space and the question of support
Yvonne Hardt
Abstract: In recent years the theorization of dance as critical and political practice has focused
on the “resisting” qualities of dance. „Withholding“ or „arresting“ are terms used to qualify dance as a
means for questioning economic and artistic practices. This paper likes to problematize such a view by
both pondering the question of how to conceptualize acting bodies in forming political spaces and by
grounding this discussion in a historical comparison. I like to re-visit and question my older research on
movement choirs, and propose that the notion of supporting, transmitting and sharing are evenly
significant strategies to choreographies of protest.
Bio: Yvonne Hardt is Professor for Dance Studies and Choreography at the University of Music
and Dance Cologne. Her main research areas are dance history and the critical investigation of its
methodology and use in performative practices, gender and media and dance and institution. She also
works as a choreographer. Selected book publications: Choreographie-Medien-Gender (2013, ed. with
Angerer/Weber); Choreographie und Institution: (2011, ed. with Stern); Politische Körper.
Ausdruckstanz, Choreographien des Protests (2004).
Mini & Macho, Small & Sexy: The Perpetuation of Heteronormativity, Hegemonic Masculinity
and Femininity Within the Culture of Competitive (Jazz and Hip Hop) Dance
Carolyn Hebert
Abstract: This paper critically examines current trends in competitive jazz and hip hop dance
through assessments of routines performed by various commercial dance studios at four Ontario
competitions. As a competitive dance studio choreographer and researcher, I question the role that
competitive dance culture plays in the gendering and sexualization of amateur dancing bodies. What
are the implications of the perpetuation of hetero-normativity, hegemonic masculinity and femininity
through the dances created for competition on adolescent dancing bodies? What other options are
available for private competitive dance studios wishing to simultaneously participate in and disrupt this
culture without loosing their businesses?
Bio: Carolyn earned her BA History at the University of Ottawa and recently completed the
MA Dance at York University. As a teacher and choreographer, Carolyn works with competitive and
recreational students in private dance schools. Using the case-study of an all-male jazz class, her major
research focuses on gender specific pedagogies. She is also interested in the history of Canada's sex
industry, and most recently, exploring the development of the Canadian tap dance community.
Aman, Aman (Mercy, Mercy): Conjuring the Feminine in the Music and Dance of Reibetiko
Constance Valis Hill
Abstract: As a feminist scholar and second-generation Greek American, I am drawn to the
music of Reibetiko and its dance form Zeibetiko, a solo improvised dance in the rhythm of 9/4 in which
a male dancer performs a solo lamentation. Reibetiko offers a unique means to explore questions of
gender, both in terms of the relations between men and women in the musical circles and stylized
representations of women found in song lyrics composed by men. I argue that Reibetiko is a “womansong,” rooted in the Greek lament, long been considered a traditional female practice in rural Greek
villages; and the genre’s traditional masculine exclusivity in performance has relinquished itself to
Greek society’s women over the past decade.
Bio: Constance Valis Hill has taught at the Alvin Ailey School of American Dance,
Conservatoire d’arts Dramatique in Paris, and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she earned a
Ph.D. in Performance Studies. Her book, Brotherhood in Rhythm: The Jazz Tap Dancing of the
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Nicholas Brothers (2000) received the Deems Taylor ASCAP Award; Tap Dancing America, A
Cultural History (2010) was supported by grants from the John Simon Guggenheim and John D.
Rockefeller and Foundations.
Embodying Brazilian mestiçagem: Eros Volúsia’s choreographies of blackness
Ana Paula Höfling
Abstract: Eros Volúsia, one of Brazil’s most celebrated dancers of the early twentieth century,
fashioned herself as the embodiment of a new Brazilian identity defined in terms of racial hybridity, or
mestiçagem. This paper examines Volúsia’s performance as a guest soloist in the 1943 ballet titled Leilão
(auction, here referring to a slave auction). While all other (white) dancers performed the role of “slaves”
in blackface, Volúsia, her image of national mestiça well-established, did not wear black make-up. I
analyze the attitudes towards blackness, mestiçagem, and Brazilian national identity present in the critical
reception to Volúsia’s performance.
Bio: Ana Paula Höfling is Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of North Carolina,
Greensboro. She holds a PhD in Culture and Performance from UCLA and an MFA in Dance from the
University of Hawai`i. She was an Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for the Americas at
Wesleyan University (2012-2014). Her forthcoming book examines the influence of capoeira manuals
and staged capoeira shows on what we understand as capoeira today.
“The Place Went Crazy:” Dance, Labor, and Identity in the U.S. Comprehensive Employment
Training Act (CETA) 1974-1982
Colleen Hooper
Abstract: For eight years, dancers in the United States performed and taught as employees of the
federal government. They were eligible for the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA), a
Department of Labor program that assisted the unemployed during the recession of the late 1970s. CETA
evolved in the wake of the 1960s, and this decade was characterized by dissent: the civil rights
movement, antiwar demonstrations, gay rights, and second wave feminism defied the status quo and
redefined participatory democracy. I argue that “dance as public service” provided an alternative to the
formalist aesthetics that dominated concert dance during this time period. Through a combination of
qualitative interviews, textual analysis, and archival research, I make the claim that CETA dancers
experienced a socially engaged alternative to the Western theatrical experience.
Bio: Colleen Hooper is a Temple University PhD Fellowship recipient and she holds a B.A. in
Dance and English from George Washington University and a M.F.A. in Dance from Temple University.
Her research focuses on how dance functions as public service and she is writing about dancers funded by
the Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA) from 1974-1982. She received the 2013 Edrie
Ferdun Award for Scholarly Achievement and her choreography has been presented in New York City,
Philadelphia, and Milwaukee. She serves as the Dance Research Journal Editorial Assistant and is a
Graduate Student Representative to the Society of Dance History Scholars Board of Directors.
Choreographing In an Age of Austerity: 21st Century Bulgarian Folk Stage Repertoire
Daniela Ivanova-Nyberg
Abstract: Under examination is the creative approach, viewed first as a process of composing
attractive choreographies (called “experiments”) and second, as a strategy for gaining financial support
for placing new choreographies on stage. After providing data regarding the socialist era achievements of
Bulgarian folk choreography institutions and ensemble genre, the paper focuses on the period after 1990
in which ensembles lost governmental support and experienced a dramatic economic transition. The
researcher argues that efforts to cope with this difficult situation, along with absence of censorship, were
among the most significant factors in shaping today’s wide variety in folk dance stage repertoire.
Bio: Dr. Daniela Ivanova-Nyberg serves as a Director of Dance Folklore program at the
Bulgarian Cultural and Heritage Center of Seattle. She received her PhD from the Institute of Art Studies
at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. She graduated from St. Kliment Ohridski Sofia University
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with MA degrees in Bulgarian Philology (specialization in Folklore) and Philosophy, with Studies of
Culture – Minor. She also holds BA in choreography from the Sofia Institute for Music and
Choreography.
Traditional Dance in the context of cosmopolitan living
Ananda Shankar Jayant
Abstract: The two styles that I have trained in are Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi, two classical
and traditional styles from the South of India. My paper will share insights and introductions to dance
training as evolved by me, even as I teach and choreograph in a traditional dance style, living as we do a
contemporary life. My paper will present excerpts from two of my choreographic works that sidestep the
traditional contexts, and yet uses the grammar and idiom of classical dance to present universal ideas.
The two productions are Navarasa – Expressions of life, which is divested of the usual lyric, story,
myth and metaphor that is integral to Classical Indian dance And Dancing Tales .. Panchatantra , similar
to the Aesop’s Fables, where stories of deep value is presented through the prism of humour The
paper/lecture demonstration will explore the dichotomy of content and context of a traditional art form
that is being navigated, by modern teachers of classical dance.
Bio: Dr Ananda Shankar Jayant, is one of India’s most eminent and renowned dancers and is
celebrated as one of India’s leading classical dancers, choreographers and dance scholars
Performing in the two classical styles of Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi, Ananda, imbues to the technique
and grammar of her dance, a sparkling quality that bristles with life. She is the Artistic Director of
Shankarananda Kalakshetra.Ananda has been decorated with India's 4th highest civilian award , "Padma
Shri" in 2007 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi (India's apex cultural body) award for Bharatanatyam in
2009. A TED speaker in 2009, Ananda’s TED talk is now much viewed and highly ranked as one of 12
Incredible TED talks on cancer.
The Existentialism in Choreography —Taking “Floating Flowers” as an Example
Tzu-Yin Hsu
Abstract: Mr. Po-Cheng Tsai, a Taiwanese choreographer created Floating Flowers, inspired by
the water lanterns of the Ghost Festival, in which the water carried away the wish to those passed away,
but uncertain where it will arrive. It was with this unknown feeling that the choreographer was inspired.
This paper will begin with the related theories of Existentialism’s definition. “Floating Flowers,” that I
found the mental state and personal values of the choreographer, has echoed the definition of the dance
and Albert Camus’s masterpiece, “Strangers.”.
Bio: As an independent dance researcher, Tzu-yin uses writings as a medium to connect
choreography to the audience, offering different layers of understanding on dance aesthetics. Begun her
dance studies since 1996, she always interested in artistic creation and experience, from fields as varied as
dance, fashion, films and literature. Tzu-yin is currently pursuit her MA degree in graduate school of
dance theory, Taipei National University of Arts, Taiwan.
Human Economies and Performing Possibilities
Naomi Jackson
Abstract: As traditional economic/ideological structures for dance continue to fail an increasing
number of dance makers are taking matters into their own hands. In the United States, and around the
world, dancers are rediscovering collectivism and applying radically inclusive, non-hierarchical,
collaborative strategies to their cultural production and community-building practices. In New York, for
instance, AUNTS regularly produces dance events that are party and performance, auto-curated and exist
in a barter economy. This presentation involves discussing these emerging dance collectives, to
understand what drives them, and examine their specific discourses, uses of technology, barter
economies, collaborative dance making processes and related aesthetics.
Bio: Naomi Jackson is an Associate Professor in the School of Film, Dance, and Theatre at
Arizona State University. Her books include, Converging Movements: Modern Dance and Jewish Culture
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at the 92nd Street Y, Right to Dance/Dancing for Rights, and Dance, Human Rights and Social Justice:
Dignity in Motion (edited with Toni Shapiro-Phim). She has served as a member of the boards of the
Society of Dance History Scholars and Congress on Research in Dance.
“Do Not Cross the Line: Dance as Political Protest in Christopher Winkler’s The True Face”
Hanna Järvinen
Abstract: This paper discusses how the relationship of dance and political activity play out in
Christopher Winkler's 2013 choreography The True Face: Dance is Not Enough (German: Das Wahre
Gesicht: Dance is Not Enough), which won the Faust Preise in choreography for 2014. Contrasting this
kind of choreographed movement in proscenium space with André Lepecki's (2006) argument about
stillness as protesting modernity's imperative to move, I ask what is the political engagement of this
dance the subject of which is political dance or at least corporeal actions in politicized settings. This
relates in particular to the role of locality (localization) in a work meant for the global marketplace of
art dance and hence, the possible effect of performance in the local political scene. What goes
unquestioned and is taken for granted in this series of representations of political protests in a work that
asks what is the capacity of dance to protest?
Bio: Dr Hanna Järvinen is a Lecturer at the Performing Arts Research Centre of the Theatre
Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland. Her book, Dancing Genius: The Stardom of
Vaslav Nijinsky (Palgrave Macmillan 2014) unwraps the sexualized and racialized media discourse
around a particular dancer used to promote the status of art dance at a particular historical moment. Dr
Järvinen has published in e.g. The Senses and Society, Dance Research, and Dance Research Journal
and is also the current Treasurer of SDHS.
“Women Ethnographers in the World of Hip Hop Dance”
Imani Kai Johnson
Abstract: Gender is an oft talked about aspect of male-dominated Hip Hop dance and streetdance
communities. Questions about gender in Hip Hop typically refer to the presence of a handful of women
and girl practitioners in spaces predominated by men, and includes questions of discrimination and
exploitation. Yet the politics of gender are more intricate than the disproportionate numbers make
evident. Women ethnographers, documentarians, visual artists, and practitioner-scholars are active
members in streetdance communities in a distinct way. These women (myself included) come from
different parts of the world and have carved out critical spaces of participation in Hip Hop, and spaces for
critical analyses of Hip Hop. Put in conversation with work on Hip Hop feminism and dance
ethnography, this paper demonstrates how women ethnographers play a significant role in understanding
Hip Hop dance.
Bio: Dr. Johnson is an interdisciplinary scholar specializing in black aesthetics and ritual cultures
within Hip Hop dance. Her manuscript, Dark Matter in B-boying Cyphers: Hip Hop in a Global Context,
examines the invisible dimensions of dance circles (called cyphers). She is currently Assistant Professor
of Critical Dance Studies at UC Riverside.
She’s Beauty and She’s Grace(less): The Mercurial Femininity of the Modern Disney Princess
Michelle Johnson
Abstract: Examining Disney’s Tangled (2010), Brave (2012), and Frozen (2013), I investigate
the development and divergence of contemporary princess figures from “classic” Walt Disney
models. How do these modern princesses resolve the incongruity between their official social stations,
proscribed behaviour, and “real” personalities through their bodies over the course of the films? Viewing
the body of the Disney princess as symbolic of a larger female “social body” and conflict that occurs
within her as representative of the forces which shape female identity, I integrate my study with dance
scholarship regarding movement as indicative of an Apollonian/Dionysian dialectic working within
culture.
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Bio: Michelle Johnson received a B.A. in Japanese Language and Literature from the University
of Wisconsin–Madison in 2009 and an M.A. in Dance (Culture and Performance Studies) at the
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in 2013. She is currently a PhD student in Dance Studies at York
University in Toronto, where her research interests include movement analysis in animation, fairy-tale
narrative and archetypes in ballet, musical theatre, and dance education.
Winin’ Through The Violence: Policing the 2011 West Indian American Day Parade Scandal
Adanna Jones
Abstract: In September 2011, the NYPD launched an investigation of some of its patrol
officers after a controversial video, “featuring uniformed officers gyrating and rubbing their crotches
against semi-nude women at the violence-racked West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn.” Because
Caribbean bodies are (sexually) marked and recognized by their renowned ability to roll their hips, or
wine and wukkup as it is commonly known throughout the Caribbean, this paper problematizes the
ways in which winin’ Caribbean revelers are sexualized against the backdrop of violence that mars the
post-9/11 Carnival festivities. In effect, the danced interactions between these officers and winin’
Carnival revelers lends itself as a critical tool in unraveling the anxieties that continue to mark the
black dancing Caribbean body as exotic, vulgar, and primitive, especially within the global tourist
market.
Bio: Adanna Jones is currently a PhD candidate in the Critical Dance Studies program. She
received her BFA in Dance from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University and has since
performed in professional dance companies based in NYC, including Julia Ritter Performance Group
and Souloworks. While at UCR, she has both choreographed and danced in performances for the annual
Graduate Student Dance concert and with many of the MFA candidates in the Experimental
Choreography Program. Currently, she is completing her dissertation on how Caribbean identities are
mediated within the United States, through the performance of winin’ (a hip-rolling dance popularly
performed at Caribbean Carnivals).
Greek dance, identity and difference in a cosmopolitan Europe
Sofia Kalogeropoulou
Abstract: Greek dance constitutes a lived culture of the masses that affirms the Greek identity
and contributes to the diverse dance heritage of the European cultural landscape reflecting the idea of
‘unity in diversity’. In this paper I explore the role of dance as a form of everyday nationalism during the
current crisis. Does it act as a psychological boost and infuse pride to help overcome the crisis? Or are
financial instability and the austerity measures imposed by the Troika provoking fears of loss of cultural
identity and sparking a backlash in which dance is used for exclusive nationalist purposes?
Bio: Sofia is a Teaching Fellow at the School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences
at University of Otago, New Zealand. She holds a Masters of Dance Studies (University of Otago) and a
Bachelor of Performing Arts (University of Auckland). She was a principal dancer with Company Z and
worked with re-known New Zealand choreographers such as Timothy Gordon and Mary-Jane O’Reilly.
Her research focuses on dance, culture and national identity and dance and gender.
Dancing with Castoriadis: Disrupting the Corporeal Imaginary
Thomas Kampe
Abstract: This presentation questions the potential of touch-based somatic-informed dance
practices for criticality and alternative world-making. It weaves critical praxis and thinking emerging
from The Feldenkrais Method (FM) and Contact Improvisation (CI) into the world of Greek-born socialtheorist and psychoanalyst Cornelius Castoriadis (1922-1997). His writings on autonomy, self-creation,
the radical imagination and the Social Imaginary, are set against questions regarding the construction of a
shared alternative corporeal imaginary through Feldenkrais-informed CI-practices. The presentation
draws on practice-led research and the work of Sicilian arts-activist collective 'Dance Attack'. Their anti-
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capitalist performance-interventions emerged from soma/site-choreographic workshops undertaken with
the author between 2008 and 2011.
Bio: Thomas Kampe (PhD) works as Senior Lecturer for Acting at Bath Spa University, UK. He
is a teacher of the Feldenkrais Method ® which forms a foundation for his teaching, research and artistic
practice. His most recent publications on Somatics and criticality include the chapter ‘The Art of Making
Choices: The Feldenkrais Method as a Soma-Critique’ (Triarchy Press 2015), and ‘Eros and Inquiry –
The Feldenkrais Method as a Complex Resource (TDPT 2015).
Kenosis – a new conceptualisation of Nijinsky‘s Faune?
Gediminas Karoblis
Abstract: Kenosis (from the Greek word for emptiness κένωσις, kénōsis) is the concept
developed by Eastern Orthodox theology. It means the 'self-emptying' of one's own energy (energeia) as
separate from essence (ousia). In this paper I will conceptualise Nijinsky’s Faune as presentation of
kenotic (emptying) aesthetics. I will build my argument on “Nijinsky’s Faune restored” (Guest and
Jeschke 1991) and the impact of Riemannian geometry on modern philosophy and art. As a side track, I
will argue against the separation of modern and post-modern aesthetics in modern dance history (Banes
1987).
Bio: Gediminas Karoblis (Dr. Phil., 2003) is full-time Associate Professor in Dance studies at the
Department of Music, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The fields of interest:
phenomenological philosophy, philosophy of movement, social and competitive ballroom dancing, 19th
century-derived round European dancing. He also teaches Argentine tango and other social ballroom
dances.
Sense and Sensuality: the Sensual Investigation in Gaga, Ohad Naharin's Movement Research.
Einav Katan
Abstract: Following the sensual emphasis in Gaga and current discussions in philosophies of
embodiment and enactivism the presentation deals with the connection between the senses and the act of
making sense in movement. Accordingly, the senses enact the movement of thinking. Sensory
information is the primary factor for perceptual processes. However, from the movement research we
learn that sensuality per se cannot create thoughtful understanding of physical dynamics. For that reason
sensory information has to be comprehended. Thus, the perceptual process of movement has to assimilate,
inter alia, detachment from the senses.
Bio: Einav Katan is a postdoctoral fellow at the interdisciplinary laboratory: Image Knowledge
Gestaltung, Humboldt University, Berlin. Her research integrates philosophy of dance with embodied
philosophy of mind. As a former dancer and a teacher in the program for Master in Choreography at HZT
Berlin she integrates the theoretical research with its artistic aspects. Her PhD “Body of Knowledge;
Embodied Philosophy in Gaga, Ohad Naharin Movement Research” was conferred by Tel-Aviv
University on August 2014.
Politics of Performance: Dance for Advocacy of Marginalized Communities in Post-Apartheid
South Africa
Ketu H. Katrak
Abstract: Selected contemporary performances in South Africa address the marginalized in the
post-apartheid era. In this new democracy (since 1994) that guarantees rights of sexual orientation and
equal access to the physically challenged, the realities on the ground are strikingly different. I analyze the
work of three artist/activist choreographers who address and challenge these inequalities. 1) Jay Pather’s
site-specific work entitled, the beautiful ones must be born, on Constitution Hill that once housed political
prisoners, and that now houses South Africa’s Constitutional Court, portrays socio-economic inequities
among the majority of blacks struggling with poverty and unemployment under a corrupt government. 2)
Gerard Samuel and Lliane Loots’ significant work with the physically challenged. In 2000, Samuel
established a youth dance group entitled “LeftFeetFirst”. Now, as Head of the School of Dance at the
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University of Cape Town, he includes the topic of disability into the academic program of Dance. Lliane
Loots, Artistic Director of Flatfoot Dance Company in Durban, has taught Dance in Education courses
since 1995 at the University of KwaZulu Natal, and since 2000 includes “disability arts”. 3) Mamela
Nyamza’s collaboration with UK-based artist, Mojisola Debayo in I Stand Corrected addresses issues of
homophobia and rape, based on the murder of two lesbians. It challenges the horrific phrase, “corrective
rape” used to justify violence against lesbians. All these artists’ multidisciplinary work presents dancers
dialoguing with visual art and architecture, movement working in contradistinction to video footage,
bringing together the verbal, kinetic, and aural in unusual soundscapes and affective performances.
Bio: Ketu H. Katrak is Professor in the Department of Drama at the University of California,
Irvine. She is the author of Contemporary Indian Dance: New Creative Choreography in India and the
Diaspora (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, ppb 2014), and other publications in the fields of Postcolonial
Theory and Women Writers, and Performance Theory.
Dancing through the Downturn: British Asian Dance in an Age of Austerity
Anusha Kedhar
Abstract: Using the short dance film “The Art of Defining Me” (2013) as a framing device, I
examine how South Asian dancers have deployed various corporeal tactics in response to economic
austerity and an increasingly racialized political climate in the UK. In addition, I show how austerity, and
the competition for shrinking resources, has increased the value of British Asian dancers’ affective labor,
known as a USP (“Unique Selling Point”), which is marketed to funders and venues, and traded on the
dance marketplace. At a time when economic cuts and immigration and citizenship regulations have
restricted the ability of brown bodies to move across stages as well as borders, I argue that studying the
material and immaterial labor of British Asian dancers can shed light on the vexed relationship between
race, neoliberalism, and the body.
Bio: Anusha Kedhar (Ph.D. Critical Dance Studies, UCR) is an Assistant Professor of Dance at
Colorado College and a practicing Bharata Natyam artist. She is currently working on a book manuscript
on transnational South Asian dancers and the corporeal dimensions (and limits) of ‘flexible citizenship’ in
late capitalism. Her article on "Flexibility and Its Bodily Limits" was published in DRJ in 2014.
The Blogged Identity—How Artistic Ideologies Manifest in Acts of Written Self-Advocacy
Fenella Kennedy
Abstract: To what extent can linguistic choices encode artistic ideologies? Can we render these
choices visible through the examination of dance blogs as an act of self-advocacy? This paper explores
blog posts by dancers and choreographers in the UK and USA, using the tools of discourse analysis to
connect choices in grammar, vocabulary and syntax to various styles of western concert dance.
Understanding the construction of a casually written (blogged) identity may give us ways to examine
our creative choices, and translate them across media for globalised and inter-disciplinary audiences.
Bio: Fenella Kennedy recently moved from England to The Ohio State University, where her
graduate research focuses on the interaction between dance, perception and language. Prior to her
relocation she taught at the TrinityLaban Conservatoire, as well as performing in London and Europe.
Her work includes the reconstruction of graham repertoire, the investigation of travesty dancers in 19th
century ballet, and her last lecture demonstration, a collaboration with Julia Gleich, was titled: A
Choreographer and an Analyst Walk into a Barre.
Staging Mobility/Staging Displacement: The Politics of the Indian Dancing Body in the Age of
Neoliberalism
Kelly Klein
Abstract: This presentation explores the use of the Indian dancing body to celebrate the mobility
of subjects—and, by extension, capital—in neoliberal globalization as well as intervene in free-market
ideology with the staging of displacement. Political undercurrents in the “fusion of East-West song and
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dance” presented at newly elected Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi’s pageant at Madison Square
Garden are compared to those of the combination of contemporary dance with Classical Indian dance in
Darpana Performing Group’s The Dammed. Through these cosmopolitan choreographies, the political
potential of the dancing body to both support and resist neoliberalism is revealed.
Bio: Driven by a commitment to embodied knowledge, cultural sustainability, and social justice,
Kelly Klein began researching dance, gender, and feminist theory at Wesleyan University. Her doctoral
work at Ohio State is centered on embodied research, activist performance in India and the US,
transnational feminism, and queer praxis and has been supported by the Mershon Center, the Vera J.
Blaine Special Project Fund, the Karen A. Bell Dance Fund, and the International Award for
Visual/Performing Arts.
Mary Wigman the Witch
Alexandra Kolb
Abstract: My paper investigates the different versions of Mary Wigman’s famous Hexentanz
(Witch Dance) which spanned three political regimes including the Third Reich. I examine how the
cultural and political milieus of these different periods may have shaped, through Wigman’s imagination
if not necessarily consciously, the form and iconography of the works. I also intend a rereading of the
central figure of the witch. Although Hexentanz has been interpreted as feminist in current research (e.g.
Banes 1998), early 20th-century inquests into historical witchcraft trials reveal interpretations ranging
from anti-clerical and feminist, to racist and anti-semitic.
Bio: Alexandra Kolb is Associate Professor in Dance at Middlesex University, London. She is the
author of "Performing Femininity: Dance and Literature in German Modernism" (2009), editor of "Dance
and Politics" (2011), and contributor to a wide range of international dance and arts journals. She is
recipient of the Gertrude Lippincott Award for the best English-language article published in dance
studies (2014) and a Harry Ransom Fellowship at the University of Texas at Austin (2013).
PRESENT AND PAST: DANCE AND FAMILY RELATIONS IN THE VILLAGE OF
FARAKLATA, KEFALONIA, GREECE.
VARVARA KOSMATOU
Abstract: This study investigates the dynamic nature of dancing as a means of handling social
and family relations in Faraklata village of Kefalonia island, Greece. The data revealed that the parallel
organisation of two village-fairs on Easter Monday in Faraklata captures the inter-community,
competitive relations between the local families Agiodimitriotes and the foreign families Agionikokliotes.
Dance constitutes a symbol of this competition. Family competition is apportioned even more in the
micro-level of neighbourhood, with dance before 1953 earthquake signifying the unity and autonomy of
each neighbourhood and post 1953 until today, highlighting the new family-neighbourhood
differentiation and the new social-economical conditions.
Bio: Dr Varvara Kosmatou, Folklorist- Dance Anthropologist
Born in Kefalonia, Greece. She completed her undergraduate studies and obtained a Ph. D in FolkloreAnthropology of Dance from School of Physical Education and Sports Science of the University of
Athens. She holds a master’s degree from the Greek Open University and the University of Surrey ,
United Kingdom, on Performing Arts. She has published a book and papers for the dances of Kefalonia,
Greece.
Touring Exoticisms: Inbal Dance Theater in the U.S.
Hannah Kosstrin
Abstract: Sol Hurok presented Inbal Dance Theater on a 1958 U.S. tour to attract support for
Israeli institutions. Fueled by fascination with ethnologic dances, American critical response touted
Inbal’s presentation of Yemenite traditions through contemporary choreographic conventions. I focus
on this tour, and Inbal’s Greatest Story Ever Told (1962) performance, to argue that Inbal’s reception
as a blend of perceived antiquity and modernity reflected a postwar exchange of commodifiable non-
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Western traditions within a theatrical framework. Inbal’s U.S. visits demonstrate a double exoticism:
assimilated American Jews experienced a foreign Jewishness, while non-Jewish audience members
watched Jewish bodies further exoticized within Hurok’s frame.
Bio: Hannah Kosstrin, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Department of Dance and affiliated
with the Melton Center for Jewish Studies at The Ohio State University. Her book examines Jewishness
and gender in Anna Sokolow’s choreography in the U.S., Mexico, and Israel. She is project director for
KineScribe, Treasurer of the Congress on Research in Dance, and a member of the Society of Dance
History Scholars Editorial Board and the Dance Notation Bureau Professional Advisory Committee.
Exercise Cut & Paste : Les Noces
Elena Koukoli
Abstract: Engaging with specific discussions on translation (Benjamin, Derrida, Ricoeur), I
will discuss my work, Exercise: Les Noces, as a project which suspends between the genres of dance
and theatre. I am deploying the concept of translation both from linguistics and philosophy as a
methodology that allows the re-embodiment of a text from one cultural system to another and whose
performance, inevitably incomplete, reveals the virtual possibilities of a pre-existent text. Therefore,
unsettling the conventional function of reconstruction – that is the creation of historical reproductions,
this paper is exploring how such interventions/translations affect economies of movement signification,
authorship and documentation.
Bio: Elena Koukoli is a Greek artist based in London. She is a PhD research candidate at
Trinity Laban and scholar of NEON organisation. She holds an MA in Dance Theatre, Laban, an MA in
Drawing, Camberwell College and a BA(Hons) in Fine Arts from AUTH. Her work has been exhibited
in theatres and galleries throughout Greece, Italy, Germany and UK. She is also a founding member of
the collectives Trio(UK/GR/USA) and KangarooCourt(GR).
The study of dance in Greek universities: its past, present and future locally and globally
Maria Koutsouba
Abstract: Dance, as a subject matter of academic study, was introduced in Greek universities in
ay1980s, initially with an emphasis on its traditional form and its practice due to socio-historical and
political reasons. In the course of time, other dance forms were also included, while theoretical inquiries
followed international dance studies pursuits, though dance has never been an autonomous academic
subject matter throughout all this time. The aim of this presentation is to look at the past, present and
future position of the study of dance in Greek universities. I will argue that the study of dance in Greek
universities, despite the imposed measures of austerity, addresses issues surrounding dance advocacy thus
contributing to the value of dance itself.
Bio: Dr. Maria Koustouba is an Associate Professor at the School of Physical Education and
Sport Science, University of Athens and Tutor at the Hellenic Open University. She graduated from the
PE Department (University of Athens, 1989), completed her Masters (MA) in Dance Studies (University
of Surrey, 1991) and was awarded a doctorate in Ethnochoreology (University of London, 1997).
Additionally, she is specialised in Labanotation, and in Open and Distance Education. She is member of
scientific organisations in Greece and abroad, while her research interests/publications are on
ethnochoreology/dance anthropology, dance notation and analysis, and as on educational innovations in
dance.
"There's Something I Forgot to Tell You": Unworking the Indebted Body in Lenio Kaklea's
Arranged by Date
Macklin Kowal
Abstract: According to Nietzsche, memory is the very condition of debt's possibility. In order to
incur debt, one must possess the faculty to remember. Greek choreographer Lenio Kaklea departs from
this conjecture in her 2013 piece, Arranged by Date. A response to Greece's government-debt crisis, the
dance evaluates the recognizant body as the crux of all debt economies. This paper argues that Arranged
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by Date theorizes the forgetful body as a primary site of debt's crisis, and ultimately questions the
promises and risks of a will to forget as a political strategy of resistance in the face of austerity.
Bio: Macklin Kowal is a PhD fellow in Dance Studies at Temple University. His work focuses on
embodied economies of language operating within and against the paradigm of global neoliberalism. He
holds an MA in Performance Studies from New York University and a BA in French Literature from San
Francisco State University. He has additionally studied dance theory at l'Université de Paris 8. Kowal is
an active choreographer as well as an academic.
Aesthetic criteria of dance as an art form in sports choreography
Maria Kritikou
Abstract: In the current Olympic cycle (2013-16), the World Federation of Gymnastics places
emphasis on the aesthetic value of the programs. The main technical and physical preparation tool for
the aesthetic performance of the programs considered in both cases the choreography which is the link
between performance and aesthetics and it's based on the elements of classical dance (Pica, 1988).
Although aesthetics has been studied primarily in the arts, the research that examines the aesthetic
performance of sports choreography is limited. This study aims to identify the artistic criteria of dance
and their contribution to the aesthetic performance of sports choreography.
Bio: Maria Kritikou is a postgraduate student in the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport
Science, with a specialization in sport and dance training at Kapodistrian Univesity of Athens. Her
research interests include the gymnastics training and the factors that contribute to the best sports
performance. Specifically, her work examines the combination of the qualitative and quantitive
elements of gymnastics and dance performance.
Divine Messengers from Foreign Skies? Winged Deities in Chinese Classical Dunhuang Mural
Dance
Lanlan Kuang
Abstract: The interaction between Hellenistic Greece and Buddhism started when Alexander the
Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire and further regions of Central Asia. Buddhism would then be
transmitted from Central Asia and India to China through the ancient Silk Road, eventually to be
translated and emerged as Chinese Buddhism with significant changes that may be traced from
the bianxiang (narrative images of Buddhist sutra) found in the UNESCO Dunhuang Mogao Caves in
Gansu Province, China. This paper presents an aesthetic investigation on the syncretic processes by
studying the artistic representation of winged deities in Greek mythology, such as Nike and the creature
griffin, and the theatrical performance ofapsara, angelic attendants of Hindu and Buddhist mythology in
the classical Chinese Dunhuang mural dance programs. TheDunhuang mural dance is a multifaceted
genre of music, dance, and theatrical performances that was created in the twentieth century and based
primarily on artifacts excavated from China's northwestern frontier metropolis, Dunhuang. Historically,
Dunhuang was a locus for religious, cultural, and intellectual influences on the Silk Road but
was strongly imbued with the customs and institutions of central China. Artifacts excavated from
Dunhuang reveal a certain distinctive aesthetic ideal derived from within such a historical cosmopolitan
context and inspired the modern creation of expressive arts such as the Dunhuang mural dance genre.
Following the “Cut & Paste” conference theme, this study highlights the West-East negotiation by tracing
the changing elements in contemporary apsara dance programs and offering an explanation in aesthetic
terms.
Bio: Dr. Lanlan Kuang is a U.S. Fulbright Scholar who specialized in the arts and humanities of
China. She currently teaches aesthetics and Asian humanities at the University of Central
Florida's Philosophy Department. She directs the China-U.S. Ethnic Cultural Exchange & Joint Research
Initiatives, the first and only overseas research base for the Center for Ethnic and Folk Literature and Art
Development, Ministry of Culture of China and oversees projects such as the annual Sino-American
University Student Microfilm Competition, now an official part of the Shanghai International Film
Festival and Miami International Film Festival. Dr. Kuang is a merit research fellow appointed by
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China's Ministry of Culture for her contributions on safeguarding folk arts and heritage culture. She has
a PhD from Indiana University, Bloomington’s Folklore and Ethnomusicology Institute, and her new
book on the expressive arts from along the Silk Road, The Dunhuang Performing Arts in Global
Context is currently in print and will be available in Fall 2015.
Pathways of a disassembly: from the poetics of the body to the contemporary scene
Marisa Martins Lambert
Abstract: This Lecture-Demonstration aims at synthesize the creative journey that resulted in the
production of the choreographic work Rehearsal of small distances. The creation investigated the
relationship between body/space from two main references: the anthropological studies of Edward Hall
about the use of space by humans within the context of culture; the research on the phenomenological
space conducted by the somatic educator Hubert Godard. The communication will be made in the
disassembly of the scene, a kind of educational performance, with the intention of making visible the
artistic process and promotes a discussion about the structural systems involved in the creation.
Bio: Born in Brazil, Marisa Lambert early developed a strong interest in body expressiveness and
movement creative communication. First mastered in trends of modern dance, she refined her knowledge
of movement art through the experiences she acquired as a choreographer, interpreter and
Laban/Bartenieff dance researcher in Canada/USA. With a PhD in Arts, she recently became an
Associated Coordinator at Campinas State University Dance Department, São Paulo, where she has been
a Chair Professor since 2002.
New Dance Market in Popular Culture; Alternative and Strategic Way
Jeesun Lee
Abstract: From the operas to the sport games, various performances have been screened in
theaters. So the new concept of “alternative content” or “event cinema” has come to the fore. These
contents are integrating the live and the recorded through filmic language and 3D technology. In the
alternative content market, dance occupies a fairly large part along with opera. In line with the overseas
case, interest in alternative content is intense in Korea. This study investigates the background of
development, the trends of producing, and aesthetical issues on dance as alternative content in the
popular culture market.
Bio: Jeesun Lee is Research Professor at Dance Research Institute of Ewha Womans
University, Member of Editorial Board and Director of Dance History Subcommittee at the Korean
Society for Dance Studies, Seoul Korea. She lectures and researches in the fields of dance history,
criticism and aesthetics especially on digital media. She received 2014 Best Paper Support Fund from
National Research Fund of Korea with the article; “Contemporary Dance as a Gesamtdatenwerk”
(2013).
Politics and Cultural Space: representation of Greek Mythology in Dance
Jiwon Lee
Abstract: Medea is the representative tragedy of Greek mythology that portrays a woman’s
conflict, envy, and revenge that originates from an intense love. Medea is often called the archetype of a
femme fatale as she is a vicious, cold-blooded, and frightening character. This study will examine the
meanings of the Medea myth as interpreted by Sasha Waltz. In this work, Waltz restores and interprets a
Medea of this age by experimenting with different possibilities. Specifically, she rules out extreme
characters that give too much emphasis to femininity and creates a repository of environment by actively
employing group dance.
Bio: A Faculty Member at SookMyung Univ. An Associate Editor in The Korean Journal of
Dance Studies Thematic Approach to Dance(2013), Seoul: Dusol(ISBN 978-89-85874-66-3)
Dance and Body Politics(2011), Seoul: Dusol(ISBN 978-89-85874-50-2)
Type of Narrative Reproduction in Contemporary Dance and its Analysis, -focusing on「Veronique
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Doisneau」-Dance Research Journal of Korea, 2014
Existential Meaning and Interpretation of German Modern Dance in the 20th Century, The Korean
Journal of Dance Studies 2014
Diverse Classrooms and Curriculums in Dance Studies: Addressing Equality in the Classroom
Lizzie Leopold
Abstract: The body is central both dance theory and to political conversations surrounding issues
of race, ability, gender, sexuality among other intersecting categories. What are ways to make significant
interventions regarding considerations of diversity in the field of dance studies? How can a diverse
classroom and curriculum enhance teaching and learning? How do we relate these investments to reading
materials, objects of study, and teaching methodologies? What implications might these connections have
on course and curriculum design for dance majors, dance programs, performance works and events?
Bio: This round table is organized by the CORD and SDHS Graduate Representatives. Lizzie
Leopold (CORD Grad Rep) is a PhD candidate at Northwestern University in the Interdisciplinary
Theater & Drama Program.
Dancing Against Austerity: Taiwanese Choreographer HUANG Yi’s Career in the Era of Digital
Performance
Yatin LIN
Abstract: Taiwanese dancer/choreographer/videographer HUANG Yi (1983~) incorporates
videography, digital arts, and even mechanics in his choreography, winning numerous recognitions,
including his latest endeavor dancing with an industrial robot titled: Huang Yi & KUKA (2012).
Although the “extra” elements he incorporates increase the cost of his productions, nevertheless, his talent
and determination has been acknowledged by government and private sectors both at home and abroad. I
present the case of Huang Yi as an artist who perseveres regardless of limited funding situation. His
successful career represents the possibility for choreographers to go against adversity, attaining their own
artistic goals.
Bio: LIN Yatin, Ph.D. teaches in the School of Dance and the School of Cultural Resources at the
Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan. Her research on the Sinophone dance world such as
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and Taiwan’s changing cultural identity are published in Identity and
Diversity: Celebrating Dance in Taiwan and the Routledge Dance Studies Reader (2nd Ed.), among
others. She serves on the Dance Research Society of Taiwan’s Board of Directors.
Mayday: post-crisis affect and aesthetics of the spasm in the works of Mélanie Demers
Kallee Lins
Abstract: Mélanie Demers, artistic director of Mayday Danse, notes that the name of her
company dichotomously evokes both crisis and hope. Her physical vocabulary-relying on motifs of
spasm, falling, and collapse-aesthetically demonstrates her fascination with crisis-states. This paper is
part of a larger project placing Demers' work in dialogue with other choreographers using a similarly
"spasmodic" aesthetic, and positions their work in the context of political repercussions following the
2007-2008 global financial crisis. This paper seeks to locate the affective resonances between Demers'
recent choreographies and the dominant social affects of the same period, particularly during the 2012
Quebec student movement.
Bio: Following her MA in Theatre and Performance Studies, Kallee moved to York
University’s Graduate Program in Dance and Dance Studies for her PhD. Entering into her third year of
the program, her research focuses on the ways in which the body functions politically in contemporary
performance, the interactions between contemporary choreography and recent socioeconomic
discourses, and the affective experience of socio-political crisis. Kallee is also an arts administrator,
frequent dance writer/reviewer and sometimes dramaturge.
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Walls: Aesthetic Choreographic-Dialogues between Effects of Sense Production and Production
of Presence on Contemporary Dance Scene.
Gomes de Lira
Abstract: Walls is a choreographic research proposal, developed since 2012, which activates
memory and magnified consciousness levels in the objective and subjective relations of
experimentation of the body in space and space in the body. It analyses the way the body behaves in the
vertical plane, through the experimentation on walls with climbing holds. In addition, the study
investigates the dialogue of the body with the verticality, even if it is not in the vertical plane. The wall
is projected through images that causes the dialogic relationship between the movements made in real
time and their relation with the wall virtually projected. In this perspective, the project also argues
about the oscillation between the effect of production of sense and of presence that happen in the
contemporary aesthetics of dance.
Bio: I am a graduate student in dance major at Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte
(UFRN), currently registered as scholarship student of Scientific Initiation guided by the doctor
Professor Maria de Lurdes Barros da Paixão in the project called “Walls” working in the research and
on creation in dance, which results in a solo and an article for the final project. I have two solos created
in classes and participated for two and a half years at the University Extension Group Gaya
Contemporary Dance.
Transmission and cognitive learning strategies - Measuring children’s clapping game and studying
interaction of the two small experts
Siri Mæland
Abstract: Researchers within the field of ethnochoreology, musicology, children's education and
pedagogy, have investigated and referred to children’s use of clapping games in many countries. The
games seem to be in constant flux of creative processes innovating on textual, musical and kinetic
elements. The pilot project was two adults performing a clapping game in the motion capture laboratory.
One adult was teaching the game to the other and we saw the improvement of the movements of the
beginner as the game was learnt. How are the movements’ children use transferred to another child and
how are the games improvised?
Bio: Siri Mæland is Assistant Professor in Traditional Dance at the Sff, Norwegian Centre for
Traditional Music and Dance, Trondheim since 2001. She is currently on leave to undertake a cotutelle
doctorate - phd, focussing on transmission of traditional dance at NTNU, Norwegian University for
Science and Technology and UBP, Université Blaise Pascal. She holds a MA degree in Ethnomusicology,
focusing on the dance revival movement in Norway. She is a lecturer, dancer and dance teacher.
Panibharata, from Low Caste Drummer to Cosmopolitan Artist: Sinhala Nationalism and Staging
Folk Dance in Sri Lanka
Sudesh Mantillake
Abstract: Sinhala folk dance came to stage in the context of the rise of Sinhala nationalism in Sri
Lanka. English-educated Sinhala elites elevated Panibharata, a low caste (berava) drummer who only
studied up to grade four in school, into a cosmopolitan artist. They promoted and exposed Panibharata to
Rabindranath Tagore. Panibharata completely invented a staged Sinhala “folk” dance to meet the tastes of
middle-class audiences. Panibharata’s model of folk dance has continued to be interpreted as Sinhala
national folk dance in Sinhala society and promoted as traditional Sinhala folk dance by the Sri Lankan
state through the public school dance curriculum.
Bio: Sudesh Mantillake is a dancer, choreographer, researcher and a second year PhD student in
Theatre and Performance Studies at University of Maryland, USA. He has a BA degree from University
of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and MSc from University of Lugano, Switzerland. His research interests include
Dance historiography, Kandyan dance, Mindfulness and Performance, and Engaged Buddhism. Sudesh is
a lecturer (on leave) in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
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Heritage Convention and the Case of Dance
Zoi N. MARGARI
Abstract: In 2003 UNESCO adopted the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible
Cultural Heritage and introduced in a global perspective, new socio-political and economical international
parameters on protection and promotion of Cultural Heritage. In this context, dance as an immaterial
cultural aspect, lies at the heart of international developments. In our essay we will present cases of dance
phenomena figuring in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists in order to discuss the ways in
which ubiquitous dance practices are changing due to the processes of (re)negotiating their existence
values in the novel international socio-cultural context.
Bio: Zoi N. Margari, Research fellow of the Hellenic Folklore Research Centre, Academy of
Athens (from 2009), studied Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology (PhD, Msc, DEA) in France. She has
worked as a Lecturer (permanent) at the Department of Traditional Music of the Technological
Educational Institute of Epirus (1999-2009). Her research interests are in the fields of cultural
anthropology focusing at the performance and dance ethnology research. She has published books and
papers and has presented her work in numerous international conferences.
"Free” Dance: EU/US
Felicia McCarren
Abstract: Philosophers often speak of dance as an image or practice of freedom. But arguments
constructing dance as “free” often leave out the work that subtends dance performance. Dance scholars
have focused on this work, invisible or less-visible, as it is subsumed in performance and as it structures
the contexts of production and reception.
This paper raises a question arising from the double meaning of the word “free”: does concert dance
model a political practice of being free via an economic concept of “free”? Is dance freer (ethically,
philosophically) when it is not free (economically) or when it is not part of a “free market”?
Bio: Felicia is the author of Dance Pathologies: Performance, Poetics, Medicine (1998) and
Dancing Machines: Choreographies of the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (2003) both from Stanford
University Press. Her new book, French Moves; The Cultural Politics of le hip hop (Oxford, 2013)
exploring the urban dance of minorities in France, was awarded the 2014 De la Torre Bueno Prize, and
the Oustanding Publication of the Year 2014 from the Congress on Research in Dance. She is Professor
of French at Tulane University in New Orleans, and a member of the Paris-based research group, Danse,
Culture, Historiographie
The Whirling Sema Ritual and Performance Practitioners: issues of authenticity, change, and EastWest exchange.
Hannah McClure
Abstract: There is a movement form very close to Greece, across the waters of the Mediterranean in the
land of modern day Turkey, which is a noble part of antiquity and which has faced sweeping changes in
last century. Pressures from nationalistic, touristic, and other special interests particular to modernity
have shaped and re-shaped this ancient form dramatically. This is the sema ritual of the whirling
dervish.
This presentation presents perspectives of the modern Sufi initiate, who negotiates issues of
ownership, authenticity, function, and form through and with the act of performance. The whirling sema
is also uniquely spiritual and devotional, opening up questions of religious importance through the EastWest interchanges of its practitioners, initiates and performers.
Bio: Hannah J. McClure is an initiated Mevlevi semazen, having completed her training at The
Study Society in London. Her whirling practise has informed her artistic practise greatly, introducing
methodological and conceptual changes and challenges to both. She is currently finishing up her
doctorate on Mevlevi whirling and performance practise at The University of East London, negotiating
issues of embodiment and presence by applying Sufi discourse to the fields of dance and performance
studies.
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Teaching Salsa Cubana in the European Salsa Congress Circuit
Joanna Menet
Abstract: This paper explores the commodification of Salsa Cubana and focuses on the
(re)production of gendered and racialized bodies in the Salsa scene. As nowadays there are several
popular Salsa styles teachers of Salsa Cubana pursue different strategies to promote the dance as a joyful,
authentic and exotic social experience, stressing its Afro-Cuban roots.
Drawing on participant observation at several Salsa congresses in Europe and Cuba and in-depth
interviews with internationally operating Salsa instructors, the paper disentangles the making of Salsa
Cubana in the transnational congress circuit.
Bio: Joanna Menet is a third-year PhD candidate at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. In
her doctoral research she applies a transnational perspective to examine the links between gender,
ethnicity and mobility among salsa dancers. She conducted ethnographic fieldwork at various sites across
Europe and in Cuba. Joanna holds a Master’s Degree in Social Anthropology from the University of
Zurich. Her research interests include mobility, ethnicity, gender and dance.
Experiences of dancing on the academic research in Brazil
Sandra Meyer
Abstract: The communication presents some reflections about dance experiences in the
academic research at the context of UDESC, a Brazilian public university. The involvement of
researchers in own dance practices in the university requires epistemological and methodological
challenges. Identify the knowledge implicit in the act of dancing allows the visibility and legitimacy of
knowledge that emerges from experience, moving the bipartisan relationship between practice and
theory and its methodological, ethical and political implications. How to transform a danced experience
in materials for a possible epistemology? Can the artistic processes in dance discuss the notions of
truth, universality, method, and hypothesis?
Bio: Sandra Meyer, choreographer and scholar, is a dance professor in the Arts Center at Santa
Catarina State University (UDESC), in Florianópolis, Brazil. She teaches in the Theatre and Dance
Master and PhD Program (PPGT/UDESC). She has PhD in Arts, Communication and Semiotics
(PUC/São Paulo) and conducts research, publications and academic advising in the field of dance and
theater.
Austerity's Aesthetics: Bare Bones Butoh"'s Celebration of Less and Less
Katherine Mezur
Abstract: This presentation focuses on a singular biannual (or more) community butoh
performance-event, "Bare Bone Butoh," which has continued for over fifteen years in the San Francisco
Bay Area. Bare Bones Butoh is a spare, tiny, and insular event. The questions I explore concern how
"austerity" acts on this fragile communal process event and its aesthetic development. Does this spare
event nurture new processes and challenge ideas concerning the Bay Area butoh's transformation of the
"dance of darkness"? Alternatively, has Bare Bones Butoh become isolated and precious in its poor
theatre style? Does its very austerity make it exclusive?
Bio: Katherine Mezur is a freelance dance, theatre, and performance studies scholar, artist and
dramaturg. Mezur holds a PhD in Theatre and Dance from the University of Hawai'i Manoa, (MA Dance
Studies, Mills College, BA Film Studies, Hampshire/Mt. Holyoke). Her research focuses on transnational
Asia Pacific particularly the performance influences and practices from East Asia and Japan. Mezur has
written extensively on Japanese traditional and contemporary performance, girl cultures and kawaii or
cute subversive art and practices, media and robotic performance, and gender performance from kabuki to
J-pop.
Dancing the Political Possibility: Bodies and Space in the Neoliberal City.
Andreea S. Micu
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Abstract: My paper examines how both social movements and dance practices in the street can
converge in transforming public space, creating a different experience of space-time that is the essential
condition of revolutionary possibility. Interrogating these aesthetic practices, I argue that the political
efficacy of performance lies in the possibilities it opens affectively, whether that implies examining our
subject positioning within the existing neoliberal economic order or just finding new ways of being
together collectively. My research on social movements and performance deliberately cuts across art
and politics to interrogate the epistemological possibilities that emerge at the intersection of both.
Bio: Andreea S. Micu is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Performance Studies at
Northwestern University. Her research looks at performance and performance-based activism that
opposes neoliberal economies in the current European economic crisis. Her ethnographic work takes
place in Spain, Italy, and Greece. Andreea received her B.A. in Journalism and Communication from
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in Spain. She received her M.A. in Performance Studies from Texas
A&M University.
'Non Finito' in contemporary dance making
Ariadne Mikou
Abstract: This paper aims to concentrate in the artistic status of ‘non finito’ and to question
how it manifests in contemporary dance. The affiliation of dance with the academy, the impact of the
'digital age' and the visual culture, but also the economic decrease that restricts dance artists from
arriving in their final product might be some of the possible reasons that explain the shift towards
creative process. What is clear so far it is that since dance became less and less narrative, the sharing of
process started to increase rapidly, and the value of dance as product is being challenged.
Bio: Ariadne Mikou is an interdisciplinary and independent dance artist from Greece. Her
research emphasizes the application of the process and conceptual thinking behind architectural design
in the making of kinesthetic choreographic environments. Her own works have been presented in
Greece, Italy and USA, and since 2011 she is co-founder with Andrea Bonadio of 'future Mellon/not
yet art', an art-research roaming project.
The Cuna: An Expression of Cultural Preservation and Creole Identity in Nineteenth Century New
Mexico
Kathy Milazzo
Abstract: In her 1846 diary, Susan Magoffin reports on the cuna she witnessed in a gambling
hall in Santa Fe. Her descriptions echo accounts of Spanish dances from previous centuries, dances
created at crossroads in the Spanish Americas. Was the cuna a remnant of dances forgotten in other
Spanish lands? Between 1810 and 1846, New Mexico progressed from a Spanish colony, to an
independent Mexico, before it was absorbed into the United States. Building on narratives found in
eyewitness accounts, this paper reveals the role dance played as a preservation site of things Spanish in
the geographically isolated New Mexican territory.
Bio: Kathy Milazzo received her Ph.D. in Dance Studies from the University of Surrey. She
published chapters in Flamenco on the Global Stage (McFarland 2015), in Judith Bennahum’s, The
Living Dance (Kendall Hunt 2007 and 2012), and in several publications emanating from conference
presentations. She has been a Dance Studies Lecturer at the University of Surrey and the University of
New Mexico in Albuquerque and is presently working at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History.
Cabaret: A Study in Choreography of Fascism, Sexuality, and Politics
Dara Milovanovic
Abstract: Bob Fosse’s 1972 film Cabaret is a cultural product showcasing popular dance as a
source of political commentary, critique, and resistance. Although, the gruesome themes are usually
reserved for dramatic films, this feel-good musical captures the contradictory nature of impeding war
and the rise of the oppressive regime. This presentation focuses on discussion of performance of
sexuality as a tool employed to convey meanings surrounding politics and social development of the
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time. In this film sexuality acts a social commentary and critique whereby the fetishistic nature of the
dichotomous sexual desire presented on stage exemplifies the simultaneous fascination and disgust felt
towards social and cultural control of fascism in Weimar Germany.
Bio: Dara Milovanovic is dancer, scholar and a lecturer in the Department of Dance at
University of Nicosia. She is currently pursuing her PhD in the Drama and Theatre Department at
Royal Holloway, University of London. Dara holds an MA in American Dance Studies from Florida
State University and BSc in History and Politics from Drexel University. Her research interests include
cultural analysis of popular and screen dance.
Towards a Postcolonial Cosmopolitanism: Akram Khan and the Politics of Othering
Dr Royona Mitra
Abstract: This paper argues that the multilayered semantic that characterises the choreographic
oeuvre of the acclaimed British-Asian artist Akram Khan, deploys ‘Othering’ as an aestheticisation
process through which Khan and his audience encounter multiple versions of himself. However, what
distinguishes Khan’s process of ‘Othering’ from the banal cultural inquisitiveness of white
cosmopolitanism is that he approaches ‘Othering’ as a self-reflexive exercise, in his attempt to locate the
innumerable Others in his own self. In other words, it is from his own position of the Other, that Khan
engages critically and artistically with alterities in order to examine his own multiple selves.
Bio: Royona is a Lecturer in Theatre at Brunel University London, where she teaches dance
theatre, intercultural performance and critical theory. Her monograph Akram Khan: Dancing New
Interculturalism is due for publication in May 2015 with Palgrave Macmillan, and is the first book length
project to examine the works of this seminal British-Asian artist. She has published on body, sexuality
and identity in Dance Research Journal, Feminist Review, Women and Performance: A Journal of
Feminist Theory.
Bring It!: Black Girls Dancing Werking Class
Raquel Monroe
Abstract: “Bring It!” a reality television featuring the Dancing Dolls an elite African American
majorette hip hop competition group, combines the current obsession with the laboring dancing bodies of
adolescent girls and their overbearing mothers, with the working class aesthetics of African Americans in
the American South. I argue that the Dancing Dolls usurp the hegemonic representations of dance and
dancing bodies in popular culture. Bring It! and its focus on majorettes, challenges the classist and at
times racist assumptions about dance training and what constitutes “technique,” and the expectations of
how “fit” dancing bodies should appear. Further, the dance techniques performed by the Dancing Dolls
and other hip-hop majorette groups intersects multiple discourses on sexuality and the black female
dancing body.
Bio: Raquel Monroe (Ph.D., UCLA) is an Assistant Professor in Dance at Columbia College
Chicago. Her current manuscript blends feminist ethnography, performance analysis, and critical race
and queer theories to explore the choreographies of sexuality, activism, and nostalgia by black female
cultural producers in popular culture. Monroe is published in the Journal of Pan African Studies, E.
Patrick Johnson’s and Ramón Rivera-Severa’s solo/black/woman: Performing Black Feminisms, and
Melissa Blanco-Borreli’s The Oxford Handbook: Dance and the Popular Screen. She serves on the board
for the Society of Dance History Scholars, is a member of the Collegium for African Diaspora Dance, and
an enthusiastic yoga instructor.
Choreographing Collaboration: Advocating for Artists and Scholars
Jennifer Monson
Abstract: This panel examines existing models for collaboration between dance artists and
dance scholars, advocating for bringing together dance researchers across the false divides of artist and
scholar, humanities and arts. While these kinds of collaborations have become increasingly prevalent in
European academic and arts systems, they remain somewhat rare in the US. This roundtable brings
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together four dance researchers all working together in the American Midwest in a number of
collaborations to consider what we bring to one another’s individual work, the role of physical
practices and writing practices in scholar/artist collaborations, and the institutional maneuvers required
to sustain collaboration.
Bio: Jennifer Monson uses choreographic practice as a means to discover connections between
environmental, philosophical and aesthetic approaches to knowledge and understandings of our
surroundings. As Artistic Director of iLAND she creates large-scale dance projects informed and
inspired by phenomena of the natural and the built environment. Monson is on the faculty at the
University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign in the Dance Department and is currently a Marsh Professor
at Large at the University of Vermont.
Screening Subjects: Transnational Dancehall Culture in a Social Media Age
Celena Monteiro
Abstract: Dancehall, a popular dance style originating from downtown Kingston Jamaica, now
circulates across transnational spaces through digital media and postcolonial consumption systems.
This presentation will study dancehall in the twenty-first century as an information age space for
transcultural production, with a focus on female participation. It will interrogate the authoritative role
of the video camera in the scene, and the impact that the use of screens has on the practitioners'
cultural, phenomenological and economic experience. The discussion will analyse the engagement of
diversely situated females in relation to questions of mobility, visibility and power.
Bio: Celena Monteiro is an AHRC PhD candidate and Dance Studies lecturer at the University
of Chichester, UK. The working title for her current research is 'European Dancehall Queen
Competitions in the Digital Age: Transcultural Feminine Identity Production in Performance'. She
previously graduated with distinction in MA Dance Anthropology from the University of Roehampton
and for her BA Dance and Culture at the University of Surrey was awarded the Pauline Hodgens Prize
for Outstanding Academic Writing.
Ancient, Queer, and Latino Excess in José Limón’s Biblical Dances
James Moreno
Abstract: José Limon’s most widely circulated dances of the 1950s include The Exiles, The
Visitation, The Traitor, There is a Time, and Missa Brevis, all of which are based on biblical narratives.
In this presentation, I examine how Limon’s choreography of and performance in these dances operated
through notions of “excess” ascribed to ancient societies, queerness, and latinidad. I ask how notions of
ancient excess and the purported excesses of Limón’s non-white queer body met, collided, and ran
parallel in Limón’s choreography and performances to produce some of the most renowned works of
post-war US modern dance.
Bio: James Moreno is Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Kansas where he
teaches dance studies, contemporary dance technique, and choreography. His research investigates race
and gender in mid-century US modern dance with a focus on José Limón, Erick Hawkins, and Charles
Weidman. Moreno holds a PhD in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and is published
in Dance Chronicle: Studies in Dance and the Related Arts and Conversations Across the Field of
Dance Studies.
Aspects of professional dance education in Greece
Daphne Mourelou
Abstract: This research focuses on public professional dance education in Greece. The basic
points that it inquires are: the student selection process and possible inequalities that might take root
throughout the three-year education, the aesthetic canon of each academy and the impact on teaching and
identity formation, the disciplinary methods and the technologies that the students form, the role of
gender, the attrition of the dancer’s body. These aspects are considered through a critical perspective and
in close relation to the historical configuration of the dance field.
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Bio: Daphne Mourelou has studied Political Science in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and
dance in Rallou Manou’s Professional Dance School. She owns a master’s degree in Political Science and
Sociology and is currently a Phd student (National and Kapodistrian University of Greece). She is a dance
instructor and dance history teacher.
Body, art and research in Klauss Vianna: between dance and theatre
Cássia Navas
Abstract: This panel presents a reflection on the work of Klauss Vianna (1928-1992), trying to
situate him in contemporary society through glances at fields such as history, poetics of art and somatic
education. Drawing on these axes, we enunciate and discuss his position in the Brazilian culture,
locating him in the modernity and post-modernity of art. Based on his activities in the fields of training
and creation during his career in Brazil, this reflection starts from his core interests: physical body
research - in dance and in theatre - expanding into the performing arts and the society of his time.
Bio: Cássia Navas PhD Professor of the Dance Department at the University of Campinas, São
Paulo/UNICAMP. Researcher at the Post Graduate Program of Performing Arts/UNICAMP.
What do you want to see now?
Mariela Nestora
Abstract: This collaborative research explores the position of contemporary dance and dance
artists during the precarious sociopolitical context in Greece, from the points of view of both the
theorist and the artist. There is a growing interest from the artistic community outside of Greece in
observing how artists inside Greece deal with the ‘crisis’ and whether recent artistic practices here,
present a paradigm of future developments in other European countries. For addressing these issues,
this research will use a theoretical approach, drawing theories from neoliberalism and the arts, and a
field research study engaging with a group of artists and performing art’s theorists from Greece and
other European countries.
Bio: Mariela Nestora was born in Athens. She studied Biology- B.Sc., Queen Mary and
Westfield, followed by a M.Sc. at St.Mary’s Medical School, Imperial College, in Human Molecular
Genetics. Then she went to London Contemporary Dance School for dance and choreography and
completed her studies with a diploma on Visual Design for Dance at the Laban Centre. She creates
works for YELP danceco. and she has been commissioned to choreograph dance, and for theatre, films
and videos.
Brazilian Popular Dances: Imaginary, Body and Cognition
Denny Neves:
Abstract: This roundtable will present researches related to the popular Brazilian dances, in
their relations with body, cognition and imagery . For this, we compose a group of teachers and masters
of the School of Dance at the Federal University of Bahia, which has founded seven years ago the first
Master's degree in dance from the country. Thus, Brazilian popular dances are here understood as a
large field of body´s studies in different cultural contextes, that is, the body that communicates and
comprises itself in a local context in communication with the global context. Samba de Roda
Reconcavo Baiano and Fandango of Rio Grande do Sul are taken as case studies in this roundtable to
facilitate understanding our presentation.
Bio: Master in process at the Programme of Master on Dance in the Federal University of Bahia.
Dance degree by Federal University of Bahia (2006) . He´s Popular Dances´ teacher at the Cultural
Foundation of Bahia.
Dance and cultural policy. The contemporary dance places as a way of Greek traditional dance’s
management.
Niki Niora
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Abstract: The purpose of the present work is to present the basic principles of the cultural
management, the cultural policy in Greece that has been applied in the field of the Greek traditional dance
in the recent years as well as its commercialization by clubs and associations. In this announcement I use
the dancing clubs and the dancing corporations as dance places in order to examine:
1. If these places operate as dance, song and music depositaries and in what way it is achieved and 2. If
the club operates as a place of ascent for the organizers, with the profit being the ultimate purpose.
Bio: Niora Niki is a teacher of Physical Education and Sport Science. She graduated from the PE
Department (University of Athens, 1989), completed her Masters (MA) in Dance Studies (University of
Athens, 2009) and she is a doctoral student in Dance Anthropology/Folklore. Additionally, she has a
dance experience for 26 years, she is a member of the Lyceum Club of Greek Women since 1989 and she
has presented papers in conferences and seminars. Her research interests are on ethnochoreology/dance
anthropology, dance notation and analysis, dance education and dance management.
Austerity Talk: Dancing, volunteering, gossiping and getting-by in one dance society in Serbia
Dunja Njaradi
Abstract: This paper will explore narratives of belonging and common good in neoliberal Serbia
by exploring stories, gossips and work patterns shared by the members of folk-dance society ‘Mladost’
(Youth) in the city of Subotica. With the austerity measures in Serbia ‘Mladost’ faces serious crisis: a
crisis which created novel work practices and new kinds of relationships between dancers and the state
which Andrea Muehlebach calls ‘ethical citizenship’ in neoliberal era. Therefore, I will explore these
relationships between crisis and ethical citizenship to depict new citizens-subjects and new relational
affectivities and productivities in the advancing neoliberalism of Serbian society.
Bio: Dunja Njaradi (PhD Lancaster University UK) is dance anthropologist interested in
traditional dances, folk art and religious performances. She published Backstage Economies: Labour and
Masculinities in Contemporary European Dance published by Chester University Press in 2014. She is
currently teaching ethnology and anthropology at the Department for Ethnomusicology at the University
of Arts Belgrade and she is associate and review editor for the Journal of Dance, Movement and
Spiritualities published biannually by the Intellect Press.
Contemporary ballet – global economies and cultural/national exchanges (Round Table)
Ann Nugent
Abstract: In Enter Dionysus: William Forsythe and his controversial approach to ballet, the
dualism between Apollo and Dionysus has come to signify order versus chaos, or the calculated versus
the instinctive. Forsythe’s Orpheus (1979, Stuttgart Ballet) made a radical departure from ballet’s
classical principles, from Apollonian classicism to Dionysian expressionism. This paper will compare
Orpheus and its emphasis on Nietzsche’s twin sides of human nature (the dual elements of tragedy)
with Forsythe’s Eidos: Telos (1995, Ballet Frankfurt). By allowing Dionysus to enter the picture,
Forsythe was able to contribute to ballet’s controversial but also seminal evolution on the cusp of the
20th/21st centuries.
Bio: Dr Ann Nugent is a British dance critic and senior lecturer at the University of Chichester.
Her research focuses on the choreography of William Forsythe. Following some 50 articles, papers and
broadcasts, she is currently completing a monograph on his work for publication. She was founding
editor of Dance Now and editor of Dance Theatre Journal. She continues to work as a freelance critic,
and is a regular contributor to the Shinshokan Dance Magazine, Japan.
Contemporary ballet – global economies and cultural/national exchanges (Round Table)
Jill Nunes Jensen
Abstract: Alonzo King LINES Ballet frequently invites cultural/national exchanges through
choreographic and musical exploration. In contribution to this roundtable discussion, I historicize
pieces of King’s that renounce ballet’s fixity in terms of vocabulary, structure, organization, musicality,
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and philosophy. Recognizing that King is not the only ballet choreographer to use movement ideas and
musical compositions outside of the classical paradigm, I propose what is vanguard is King’s crosscultural dialogues all the while holding on to much of ballet’s technical foundation. AKLB remains
committed to ballet, yet it does so while looking far beyond the boundaries of its conventions.
Bio: Jill Nunes Jensen, Ph.D., instructs courses in dance history and ballet at Loyola
Marymount University in Los Angeles. In 2014 Dr. Nunes Jensen completed a two year term on the
SDHS Executive Board as the Corresponding Secretary. Her research on Alonzo King LINES Ballet
has been published in When Men Dance, Dance Chronicle, and Theatre Survey. Additionally, she has
an article on King and LINES that will be published in Dance in American Culture (forthcoming).
The Scholarly Gains of the Graduates With a Traditional Dance Training
Merih Oldac
Abstract: The educational outcomes of the Turkish folk dance departments will be compared
with the mission and vision of the programme. The reality faced by the graduates in professional life will
be handled from the economic and social perspectives.
Bio: Merih OLDAC Lecturer (1995) State Conservatory of Turkish Music, Ege University,
Izmir,TURKEY Turkish Folk Dance Department. M.A. 1999; Turkish Folk Dance, Institute of Social
Sciences, Ege University B.A. 1995; Turkish Folk Dance, State Conservatory of Turkish Music, Ege
University Worked in various capacities in the staging the performances of Ekin Dance Ensemble of the
Turkish Folk Dances Department both in Turkey and abroad since 1995. Since 1995, taught courses at
Ege University with a focus on Traditional Dance Clothing Traditional Turkish dances , Benesh
Movement Notation and research presentations focus on fieldwork and staging of Turkish traditional
dances.
Apocalypsis cum figuris and the counterculture: a political contestation through art
Lidia Olinto do Valle Silva
Abstract: Apocalypsis cum figuris (1969) was the last play produced by the Laboratory
Theater and directed by Jerzy Grotowski. This play has many particularities that are linked to the
historical context in which it was created: the counterculture period. In the artist field, it was also a
period of deep questioning in which many artists and groups started to controvert the main paradigms
of Art. One of these groups was the Laboratory Theater. Through a phenomenological analysis, this
paper explores the Apocalypsis specificities, demonstrating how in this play radical changes were
proposed, as, for example, the concept of ‘no play acting’.
Bio: Since 2000, works professionally as performer, assistant director and producer in Brazil.
Studied with Benes Markes, Briget Pannet, Thomas Richards, Mietek Janowski and other Brazilian
masters. PHD student in Scenic Arts at UNICAMP. Has a Master Degree in Scenic Arts from
UNICAMP and graduated in Scenic Arts at UNIRIO with scholarships from the Brazilian government.
During her graduate studies, has produced academic events and published articles in important theatre
magazines in Brazil.
The Kinesthetic Chorus: Empathy, Memory, and Dance in Ancient Greece
Sarah Olsen
Abstract: This paper examines ancient Greek conceptions of kinesthetic empathy. I argue that a
range of early Greek texts describe such embodied identification with dance performance, but that these
descriptions are not neutral reflections of lived experience. Rather, they strategically construct kinesthetic
empathy as a pleasurable response linked specifically with choral performance (communal song and
dance) and conditioned by memory and familiarity. The concept is, therefore, part of a broader cultural
ideology linking communal dance with social cohesion and cultural continuity.
Bio: I am currently a PhD student in Classics at the University of California, Berkeley. My
dissertation, entitled "Beyond Choreia," explores the history and social role of solo and individual dance
forms in ancient Greece. In general, my work focuses on ancient dance, music, and performance, with a
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particular attention to gender and sexuality. I have also published on the ancient Greek novel and the
representation of dance in Greek vase painting.
Dance and education in the Principality of Samos: the traditional and bourgeois influences at the
crossroads of East and West
Alexia Orfanou
Abstract: This paper focuses on the dance education in the Principality of Samos (1834-1913),
which was a ‘semi-autonomous’ regime with Ottoman suzerainty and unique local institutional context. It
uses the historical research, analysis which is principally based on primary sources such as local
newspapers. In this paper, the dance is considered as a component of cultural identity. The official
program, of the dance parties of the Prince of Samos, included ‘European’ and traditional folk dances:
‘kalamatiano’ the traditional folk dance of Kalamata’s of Peloponnese and the traditional folk dance of
Samos island. The traditional dances expressed the Greek version of Orientalism.
Bio: Alexia Orfanou was born in Athens, the city where she resides until today. She is historian
specialized in the history of education. Her personal interests are directed in writing children's literature.
Choreographing Extinction: Dinosaur Bodies in Western Animation
Jonathan Osborn
Abstract: By focusing on the cultivation of terrain outside the domain of orthodox research, I
suggest the development of a new ecology of Dance Studies based on a pragmatic acknowledgement of
current conditions of creation, production, reception and (dis)embodiment. Rather than habituating the
“real” dancing body and its cultural products to a current admittedly hostile climate, I postulate that the
re-purposing of developed methodologies derived from the study of the “dancing body” towards new
subjects of knowledge may be a more fruitful, relevant and useful trajectory for Dance Studies within an
increasingly technologically mediated world.
Bio: Jonathan Osborn received a BA in English Literature from the University of British
Colombia and an MA in Dance from York University. Currently in the second year of his PhD in Dance
Studies at York, his research interests include monsters, robots, video games, digital animation and
animals.
It Matters How you Move: What Dance can Offer the “Hard” Sciences
Janet O'Shea
Abstract: Studies of neuroplasticity indicate that the brain is subject to change However, ideas
of what constitutes movement remain uniform in neuroscience. There is little attention to the wide
variation in what constitutes physical movement and almost no consideration of force, effort, direction,
timing, and dynamics of movement. This paper addresses this gap in scientific analyses, suggesting that
the close analysis of movement benefits scientific studies and, thus, that the discipline of dance studies
has much to offer the so-called hard sciences.
Bio: Janet O’Shea, Professor of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, is the Principal Investigator of
a Transdisciplinary Seed Grant on martial arts and cognition. A dancer, dance writer, and martial artist,
her publications include dance history and theory articles, a monograph (At Home in the World:
Bharata Natyam on the Global Stage) and an edited volume (The Routledge Dance Studies Reader, 2nd
Edition) as well as dance journalism and short fiction. Her research focuses on the close analysis of
movement as it opens out to social, political, and scientific interpretation.
The Foundation Process of the Turkish Folk Dance Departments
Mehmet Ocal OZBİLGİN
Abstract: The economic and political development of the Turkish folk dances since the
Republican period will be analysed and the Turkish folk dance departments’ institutionalization as
independent branches of art will be evaluated under this title.
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Bio: Academic degrees: BA, MA, PhD, (9 Eylül-Ege University, Turkey/ Elte University,
Hungary) Career: 1991- Lecturer at State Turkish Music Conservatory, Turkish Folk Dance Dept. (Ege
University, Turkey) 1994 – 2007 Art Director of EKIN Ensemble of Folk Dance Department (Ege
University, Turkey) 1998 – Member of the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM)
Ethnochoreology Sub-Study Group 2007-2012 Vice Director of State Turkish Music 2007
Break-in Point: Somatic Narratives, the convergence of arts and science in the transformation of
temporal communities
Jiannis Pachos
Abstract: Through the application the performance concepts somatic ethic and affect, this paper
will present critical reflection on the 2012 performance Break-in Point, analyzing it as an imaginative
somatic site/zone for engaging spiritual and epistemological transformation of performers and audiences.
Three periods in the life of the project will be highlighted: 1) script building and rehearsal, 2) live
encounters between and among performers and audiences, and 3) beyond the theatre, digital engagements
in the classroom and pedagogy. These periods represent process, product, and dissemination,
respectively; denoting periods in the construction of temporal communities created by the somatic
convergence of arts and science.
Bio: Dr. Jiannis Pachos is a Reader of Theoretical Physics at the University of Leeds, UK. He did
his PhD on high-energy physics and subsequently worked on quantum information and computation. His
research interests includes topological systems, investigating how they protect quantum information from
errors. He is currently involved in physics outreach activities, giving talks at schools and pedagogical
lectures on his topic of research.
Aesthetic Choreographic Dialogues between Effects of Production of Sense and of Production of
Presence on Contemporary Dance Scene.
Maria de Lurdes Barros da Paixão
Abstract: Walls is a choreographic research proposal, developed since 2012, which activates
memory and magnified consciousness levels in the objective and subjective relations of
experimentation of the body in space and the space in the body. It is analyzed the way the body behaves
in the vertical plane, through the experimentation on walls with climbing holds. In addition, the study
investigates the dialogue of the body with verticality, even if it is not in the vertical plane. In other
words, the bodies go down the walls and climb the floor. The wall is projected through images that
causes the dialogic relationship between the movements made in real time and their relation with the
wall virtually projected. In this perspective, the project also argues about the oscillation between the
effect of production of sense and of presence that happen in the contemporary aesthetics of dance. The
study had an experimentation in 2014, with the production of the choreography also entitled Walls.
Bio: Associate Professor, Department of Arts , UFRN. Vice - Coordinator of GT Research in
Dance in Brazil the ABRACE- Biennium 2015-2017. Effective Member of the Brazilian Association of
Research and Graduate Studies in Performing Arts. Researcher of the Research Group : Languages
Scene: Image Culture and representation-Lincc-UFRN. Choreographer and dancer.
What do you want to see now?
Betina Panagiotara
Abstract: This collaborative research explores the position of contemporary dance and dance
artists during the precarious sociopolitical context in Greece, from the points of view of both the
theorist and the artist. There is a growing interest from the artistic community outside of Greece in
observing how artists inside Greece deal with the ‘crisis’ and whether recent artistic practices here,
present a paradigm of future developments in other European countries. For addressing these issues,
this research will use a theoretical approach, drawing theories from neoliberalism and the arts, and a
field research study engaging with a group of artists and performing art’s theorists from Greece and
other European countries.
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Bio: Betina Panagiotara is a PhD researcher at the University of Roehampton (UK), exploring
artistic practices and working modes during times of social crisis, focusing on choreographers residing
and operating in Greece. Her research is realized with a scholarship from the ‘Alexander S. Onassis
Public Benefit Foundation’. She holds a BA in Communication, Media & Culture (Panteion University,
GR) and a MA in Dance Histories, Cultures & Practices (University of Surrey, UK).
Break-in Point: Somatic Narratives, the convergence of arts and science in the transformation of
temporal communities
Panagiotis Pantidos
Abstract: Through the application the performance concepts somatic ethic and affect, this paper
will present critical reflection on the 2012 performance Break-in Point, analyzing it as an imaginative
somatic site/zone for engaging spiritual and epistemological transformation of performers and audiences.
Three periods in the life of the project will be highlighted: 1) script building and rehearsal, 2) live
encounters between and among performers and audiences, and 3) beyond the theatre, digital engagements
in the classroom and pedagogy. These periods represent process, product, and dissemination,
respectively; denoting periods in the construction of temporal communities created by the somatic
convergence of arts and science.
Bio: Dr. Panagiotis Pantidos is a lecturer in science education at the Faculty of Education at the
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. His doctoral dissertation dealt with ‘The construction of a
“dictionary” for the semiotic analysis of physics teaching: a context of studying teaching practices by
means of theatre semiotics’. His research interests include applied semiotics in physics teaching and
learning, student’s mental representations and semiotic systems, modalities used in representing scientific
knowledge, narration and construction of meaning.
(Re)Searching in the (You)tube. Digital archives and dance practices.
CHRISTOS PAPAKOSTAS
Abstract: The mass expansion of the Internet, since the early 1990s, has brought new circumstances at
the economic, social and cultural level, as well as new forms of behaviour and expression. In recent years,
basic practice of instructors, dancers and dance enthusiasts is searching and downloading videos on the
traditional Greek dancing. In many cases, the videos are considered 'research' products capable of
supporting the teaching of dance in traditional dance groups. Inevitably emerges a new mode of youtube
as a new digital dance archive. This perspective, raises questions about the issues of standards, evaluation
and quality of the "material". But, the most important question is: what is the concept and the content of
the terms 'research' and 'teaching'.
Bio: Dr. Christos Papakostas is as a Lecturer at the University of Athens on the subject of Greek
Traditional Dance. He is a scholar, master dance teacher and percussionist. For the past 20 years, he has
served as a folklorist, choreographer, dance instructor, and percussion instructor for multiple performing
groups. He has published and presented numerous studies on Greek dance, music, folklore and
anthropology; has taught at multiple universities in Epirus, Thessaly and Crete.
Dancing Upon the Earth: Indigenous Australian & Indian Classical Dance Perspectives In Dialogue
Sidha Pandian
Abstract: This presentation is based on a series of innovative dialogues between Indigenous
Australian and Indian classical dance concepts that have been encountered via artistic exchange and
collaboration as a part of my PhD thesis. Drawing on some of these performative experiences, I will
discuss how my own traditional understanding of Indian Classical dance practices began to shift when
learning more about the various roles of dance amongst Indigenous Australian ceremonial domains. The
presentation will expand on how such performative encounters can be perceived as tools of Indigenous
empowerment as they reinforce Indigenous worldviews in this globalised society.
Bio: Sidha is currently pursuing her PhD at the Australian National University’s National Centre
for Indigenous Studies, exploring possibilities of exchange and collaboration between Indigenous
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Australian and Indian classical dance forms. Sidha is also a part of the Temple of Fine Arts, Perth – a notfor-profit organisation where she continues to learn and share Indigenous worldviews and cultural
practices via the performing arts.
Instituting Spaces of Decision-Making, Affect and Creative Possibility: Towards a Production of
the Social and an Ethics of Encounter in the Age of Austerity.
Katerina Paramana
Abstract: The current crisis is not only economic, but political, social and ethical and a result
of the ideology and governmental programme of neoliberalism. Drawing on Gilbert Simondon, Jeremy
Gilbert, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, I investigate the sociality afforded by Jérôme Bel’s first
production of The Show Must Go On through the economy of relations the work produces within itself
and with the economies of dance and neoliberal capitalism. I argue that the work’s specific sociality
and suggested ethics of encounter propose a practice of thinking, relation and action that any
democratic institution should be informed by, enable and repeat.
Bio: Katerina Paramana is a London-based artist and scholar from Athens, Greece and lectures
at Birkbeck, University of London. Her Onassis Foundation-funded PhD (University of Roehampton,
London) examined the materiality and dramaturgy of contemporary performance work in relation to its
production of the social, the economies in which it is embedded and its potential to effect change in the
contemporary moment.
Critical rhetoric on crisis: cinematic dance as a local commentary in the Korydallos area in
Greece.
Mimina Pateraki
Abstract: This paper deals with the ways people in Korydallos (Attiki/ Greece), understand
through dance in Greek cinema previous historical times and at the same time think their contemporary
time. Cinematic dance being culturally proximate becomes an embodied index of historicity. Cinematic
parodic dance invokes “normality” of economic crisis and austerity. Critical comments and embodied
performances shape people’ rhetoric showing the cracks where are coming up informal but popular
discourses which weave femininities and masculinities providing different roles that sculpt dance.
Bio: Mimina Pateraki submitted her PhD thesis in Anthropology of Dance at the University of
Athens. Her doctoral thesis focused on anthropological analysis of cinematic dance and has published a
number of papers on Zorba’s cinematic dance invention. Recently, she worked on a transnational
European project (URBACT) “Gastronomic Cities” concerning gastronomy as local development tool
and at the moment she is working for a local municipal network against school bullying.
From direct action to being there: choreographing communities in dance and occupy protests
Ruth Pethybridge
Abstract: This presentation suggests relationships between the political tools of the Occupy
movement and UK site-specific ‘Community Dance’. Rather than specific physical actions that
constitute dance or direct action, occupation can be seen as a method for both practices that locates
politics in an embodied ontology of being with others.
Seeing these choreographic practices as part of the ‘episteme’ of the 2000’s, the notion of ‘Community
Dance’ can be re-claimed from its apolitical historiography and repositioned as a non-teleological
practice which never the less has the potential to mobilise and respond to crisis in a choreographed way
through simply ‘being there’.
Bio: Ruth Pethybridge is a Dance Artist and Lecturer in dance at Falmouth University UK. She
has worked extensively in community dance and is interested in creating choreographic events that blur
the distinction between performance and social gathering. Currently pursuing a practice based PhD,
much of her research focuses on notions of community and the politics of participation.
Dancing Antigone between Resistance and (Re-)Existence
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Annalisa Piccirillo
Abstract: This paper aims to consult the corporeal memory of Antigone.
Attesting to the power of her myth and character, the fascination Western humanity has with Antigone
has inspired hundreds of re-creations and interpretations since Sophocles first staged her in fifthcentury Greece. As a spectral presence-absence, her iconic gesture of disobedience ‘re-existed’
throughout the times: her figure, her body, her movements have been re-called, re-embodied and redanced in order to evoke the political and corporeal ‘resistance’ to the multiple ways in which the
patriarchal ‘law’ globally manifests itself.
Bio: Annalisa Piccirillo completed her PhD in “Cultural and Postcolonial Studies of the
Anglophone World” in 2012, with a dissertation entitled Disseminated Choreographies: Female BodyArchives. Today she is research fellow at the Dep. of Human and Social Sciences of the University of
Naples “L’Orientale”, where she is responsible for the project “New practices of memories:
Mediterranean Matri-archives”.
Ukrainian Hopak: From Dance of Entertainment to Martial Art
Yuliya Pivtorak
Abstract: Hopak dance is one of the most visually recognizable symbols of Ukraine – either as
Soviet republic or an independent country. Men in bright colored sharovary pants performing virtuosic
jumps in squatting position or effortless high leaps to stylized folk tunes is one of the most popular
moving images that represent Ukrainian culture. Starting in 1985 new kind of hopak has been formed and
implemented in Ukraine – military hopak. Its tradition is claimed to descend from the martial art of
Zaporizhian Kossaks, lost over the Soviet times and later re-discovered and renewed as specifically
Ukrainian martial art. It gained lots of publicity, fans and practitioners in the 2000-ies, and it seemed that
military hopak strived to replace the old, representational stage dance version of its practice, which
emphasized playfulness and light hearted character of Ukrainian folk. Hopak as a martial art refers to
heroic past of Ukraine, its identity and uniqueness.
Bio: MA in History and Theory of Culture of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Fulbright Alumna, MA in
Humanities and Social thought, NYU. Freelance dance scholar
Are You Looking at Me? Gaze, Oriental Spectacle, and Devi the Divine Dancer
Dr. Prarthana Purkayastha
Abstract: The Indian classical dance forms were reconstructed and produced through twentieth
century nationalist discourses but they are continually marketed (both in India and globally) as religious,
spiritual or ritual dance forms that supposedly transcend matter or flesh. Questioning and critiquing this
incessant emphasis on divinity and transcendence, this paper focuses on the material body of the Indian
classical dancer as a highly fetishised space that is bounded by the scopic regime of Indian nationalist and
Euro-American orientalist thought.
Bio: Dr Prarthana Purkayastha is Lecturer in Theatre and Performance at Plymouth University,
United Kingdom. She is the author of 'Indian Modern Dance, Feminism and Transnationalism' (2014)
published in the Palgrave Macmillan New World Choreography Series, and has also published in Dance
Research Journal, South Asia Research, and Studies in South Asian Film and Media. Her research
interests are in contemporary performance practice, feminism, interculturalism and postcolonialism.
Dancing National Ideologies: The Athens Festival in the Cold War
Stacey Prickett
Abstract: The international Athens Festival was prominent in shaping a cosmopolitan identity
and openness within Greek society. During its first decade (1955-1966), the Festival also functioned as a
significant form of cultural diplomacy. Audiences were exposed to elite dance companies from nations
such as the USA which functioned ideologically and diplomatically. Our presentation interrogates the
construction of a dance field in Greece and the shaping of aesthetic values, contextualised within sociocultural tensions. Research exposes imperatives of a rising superpower consolidating its position,
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revealing multiple types of influence on Greece and other nations in a battle of political wills with the
USSR.
Bio: Dr Stacey Prickett is based in Dance at the University of Roehampton. Research into dance
and politics encompasses historical and contemporary case studies, including dance activism, South Asian
dance and critical pedagogic practices. Publications include Embodied Politics: Dance, Protest and
Identities (2013); contributions to Dance & Politics (2010) and Dance in the City (1997). Stacey chairs
the Board of Directors, Sonia Sabri Company and is a board member of Society for Dance Research and
CORD.
Boycotting Bodies: The Politics of Practice and Performance
Meghan Quinlan
Abstract: Gaga, the movement language developed by Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin, is
often claimed to be apolitical by marketing materials and participants alike. The Batsheva Dance
Company is also led by Naharin and highly influenced by Gaga. Unlike Gaga, however, Batsheva is
highly politicized because of frequent protests by pro-Palestinian activists. In this presentation, I explore
the many complicated layers of Gaga practice to show the multiple ways in which dancing bodies can be
politicized. The case of the cultural boycott movement is used to complicate the relationships between
practice and performance and how they are understood as political.
Bio: Meghan Quinlan is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Riverside. Her
dissertation research uses the case study of Gaga, the movement language developed by Israeli
choreographer Ohad Naharin, to analyze the politics of contemporary dance training practices.
What is in a Bun? Roots and Routes: The Journey of Mohiniyattam from Kerala to Mumbai to
Delhi
Anisha Rajesh
Abstract: Stuart Hall in his essay “The Work of Representation” asserts that representation exists
through language, and reading codes, both of which are specified by individual cultures from which those
codes and languages are created. Due to a degree of cultural relativism, Hall points out that there is a need
for translation from one culture to another and the production of meaning is dependent on this translation.
Building on the theory of representation as outlined by Hall, I explore the journey of Mohiniyattam, an
indigenous dance form from the rural landscape of Palakkad in Kerala, South India to the metropolitan
Indian cities of Mumbai and Delhi.
Bio: Anisha Rajesh is an Indian classical dancer, instructor, choreographer and researcher. She is
the artistic director of Houston based Upasana Kalakendra and also the founder of Upasana Foundation
for Research and Cultural Exchange, Inc., a Texas non–profit organization whose mission is to promote
and encourage research in traditional art forms. Anisha is trained in Indian classical dance forms,
Bharathanatyam, Mohiniyattam, Kathakali, Ottanthullal, and in South Indian classical (Carnatic) music.
Dancing in the Danube Gorge: dance, geopolitics, and interethnic perspectives
Selena Rakočević
Abstract: This paper will look at dance practices of Romanian and Serbian villagers along the
Danube Gorge which historically functioned as a “natural” boundary between Europe and the Ottoman
Empire. Based on my field reseach carried since 2011 this paper examines contemporary dance practice
of this region. My methodological orientation will be based on ethnochoreological investigation of
diverse repertoires, but also diverse dance structures as "predictable" dance texts signified during previous
times as Romanian or Serbian, which are interpolated by the villagers.
Bio: Selena Rakočević is an assosiated professor at the Department for Ethnomusicology, Faculty
of Music, Belgrade and at the Academy of Arts, Novi Sad. Her professional interests are musical and
dance traditions of Banat in the light of the multicultural and multi-ethic context; ethnochoreology;
music/dance relationships; contemporary music and dance.
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Travelling through Time and Space when the Refugee Monks Dance
Shanny Rann
Abstract: It is not very often that Buddhist monks are spotted dancing in public. This paper is as
much about the rarity of such a performance as it is about the sanctity of a dance that has been in
existence for over a thousand years. During the Cultural Revolution in the sixties, 'cham was banned
alongside all religious activities in China. Gradually, it was brought back to life with the outpour of
Tibetan refugees to neighbouring countries of India and Nepal. By taking ‘cham in exile as the vantage
point of a deeper inquiry into the Tibetan situation, I hope to investigate the relationship between the body
and state through performance in a religious context.
Bio: Shanny Rann is an Erasmus Mundus scholar in Dance Knowledge, Practice and Heritage at
the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. A pilgrimage to the Himalayas inspired her foray
into the study of sacred dances in the region. She is currently studying the performance of 'Cham by His
Holiness the Seventeenth Gyalwang Karmapa in India. She holds a liberal arts degree from Simon Fraser
University and M.A. in Dance from York University.
Does Iranian Dance Need Saving? The Politics of Preservation in the 1st International Iranian
Dance Conference 2012
Heather Rastovac Akbarzadeh
Abstract: Drawing from Abu-Lughod’s “Do Muslim Women Need Saving?”, I examine how
narratives of loss circulating among diasporic Iranian dance communities and audiences interface with
contemporary Euro-American geopolitical discourses surrounding the Middle East. My case study, the
1st Iranian Dance Conference, described as the first concerted effort toward organizing the
“preservation of Iranian dances,” reflects discourses of endangerment surrounding these forms.
Because of the ban on public dance lessons and performance in Iran, effective since the 1979 Islamic
Revolution, I argue these “challenging and urgent” efforts at preservation adopt affective, spatiotemporal resonances that, at times, align with problematic Euro-American “saving” imperatives.
Bio: Heather Rastovac Akbarzadeh: Ph.D. candidate, Performance Studies, Designated
Emphasis in Gender, Women & Sexuality, UC Berkeley. Heather’s research extends upon fifteen years
as a dancer, choreographer, and artistic director among diasporic Iranian communities in the U.S.
Examining diasporic Iranian performance works in relation to Euro-American geo/biopolitics, her
dissertation investigates racialized economies of Iranian performance in global art markets.
Considering dance practices as unique cases in interdisciplinary research studies
Susanne Ravn
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present central interdisciplinary considerations of relevance
to strengthen dance research in relation to – and in cooperation with - other academic disciplines. I firstly
describe how dance practices can be handled as “extreme cases” and cases with “maximal variations”
(Flyvbjerg, ‘Case Study’, 2011) in the domain of qualitative research. Such designs are of specific
relevance for research projects exploring body, movement and sensing in general. Thereafter I present the
results of some of my recent studies based in a critical constructive interdisciplinary combination of
observations of dance practices and phenomenology.
Bio: Susanne Ravn is associate professor at the University of Southern Denmark. In her research
she critically explores the embodied insights of different dance practices and the methodological
challenges related to employing phenomenological thinking into ethnography. Recent publications are fx:
Ravn and Rouhiainen (eds.)(2012) Dance Spaces: practices of movement, Ravn was the president of
NOFOD in 2011-2013 and has been elected for the SDHS board in 2014.
Dialogues between dance and theater in the creation process of the Brazilian group Usina do
Trabalho Ator
Ana Cecília de Carvalho Reckziegel
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Abstract: This work discusses the way the group Usina do Trabalho do Ator – which engages in
research about actor training based on experimentation with elements from different styles of dance and
theatre techniques – used and combined elements from two African-Brazilian manifestations – Jongo and
Maçambique –, characterised by dance, singing, and percussion instruments, in the creation of its latest
spectacle.
Bio: Ana Cecília Reckziegel began her dance training in 1975. In 1985, she entered the
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). She graduated in Performing Arts, is a Master in
Science of Human Movement, and Doctor of Education. Since 1996, she is a member of the Research
Group Usina do Trabalho do Ator both as an actress and researcher, and has acted in several spectacles.
She teaches acting at UFRGS since 1996.
Commanding the gaze – Resistance, Femininity and Power in the flamenco of Rocío Molina
Avila Reese
Abstract: Flamenco tradition contains the physical memory of resistance, and a scattered
historicity of multiples – multiple identities, geographies, traumas, origins, and mythologies. The
female Flamenco dancer, the bailaora, embodies and performs this diasporic memory of trauma and
exile, but also performs the subjugated conditionality of her gender ‘identity,’ as ‘object.’ This paper
explores the feminist potential of embodiment as a performative dis-assembly of the architecture of the
dance, and how resistance, femininity and power may be reconfigured through the work of the dancer.
It examines Rocio Molina’s “Fuente de Carmen Amaya” film Danza Impulsiva and explores
Molina’scorporal representation of femininity as a rendering of multiples, tactile possessions and
identities.
Bio: Avila Reese is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University
of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Avila’s research interests investigate representations of
femininity and corporeality as transgressive, performative identity, and embodied archive. An actress,
director, and performance artist, Avila explores academic research in tandem with artistic practice.
Collaborative strategies in a world of minimal resources: co-creating the international dance
theatre project Donmuş Rüya (Frozen Dream)
Julia M. Ritter
Abstract: In June 2014, Turkish choreographer Ayrin Ersöz and American choreographer Julia
M. Ritter collaborated on the creation and presentation of Donmuş Rüya (Frozen Dream), an eveninglength immersive dance theatre production, performed as a parallel project of the 19th International
Istanbul Theatre Festival (IKSV). Donmuş Rüya featured Turkish and American dancers and musicians
framed within the spaces between, around and within the old turbines of the Ottoman Empire’s first
power plant, Silahtaraga. During a 60 minute lecture-demonstration for CORD/SDHS, Ersöz and Ritter
propose sharing three aspects of Donmuş Rüya.
Bio: Julia M. Ritter is the recipient of three Fulbright Scholar awards (2002, 2005, 2008) from the
U.S. Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs for her international choreographic projects. With support
from national and international foundations, her choreographic projects have been presented in the United
States, Brazil, Russia, Czech Republic, Mexico, Canada, Bulgaria, Turkey and Germany. In 2014, she
was awarded the Prix André G. Bourassa for Creative Research from Le Société Québécoise D’Etudes
Théâtrales (SQET) for her research on dance and immersive theatre. She is the recipient of a 2004
Choreographic Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
Choreographing Collaboration: Advocating for Artists and Scholars
Ramón H. Rivera-Servera
Abstract: This panel examines existing models for collaboration between dance artists and
dance scholars, advocating for bringing together dance researchers across the false divides of artist and
scholar, humanities and arts. While these kinds of collaborations have become increasingly prevalent in
European academic and arts systems, they remain somewhat rare in the US. This roundtable brings
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together four dance researchers all working together in the American Midwest in a number of
collaborations to consider what we bring to one another’s individual work, the role of physical
practices and writing practices in scholar/artist collaborations, and the institutional maneuvers required
to sustain collaboration.
Bio: Ramón H. Rivera-Servera chair and associate professor of Performance Studies at
Northwestern University. He is author of Performing Queer Latinidad: Dance, Sexuality, Politics
(University of Michigan Press, 2012),
Self-representations of Hip Hop Dance: Acts of Symbolic and Embodied Resistance
Eve Robertson
Abstract: This paper aims to explore the socio-cultural and historical implications of selfrepresentations of hip-hop dance cultures on YouTube as embodied and symbolic acts of resistance.
Dances such as Bopping, The Dougie, and Twerking have distinct 'dance, music, fashion' cultures whose
elements such as dance steps, gestures, fashion and lyrics reference each other and reinforce the whole.
As a result of this unique distinction they make enticing cultural artifacts reproduced in the participatory
and networked culture of YouTube (Wesch, 2008) and the global market as commodities.
Bio: Eve Robertson is a PhD student in the department of Dance Studies at York University in
Toronto, Canada. Her research focuses on intersections between popular dance, self-mediation, digital
ethnography, gender, and material culture.
Performing Excess: Street dance, spectacle and surplus-labour in television talent shows
Laura Robinson
Abstract: From gravity defying backflips to high octane ‘attention-deficit’ choreography, male
street dance crews on U.K television talent shows generate large audience figures through the visual
spectacle of dancing bodies in competition, encouraging economic transaction through the buying into the
multiple commodities on display. Through a dance on screen analysis, this paper builds upon Derek
Burril’s (2014) ‘aesthetics of excess’ as an approach for understanding the construction of visual and
fiscal spectacle; the carefully choreographed layering of virtuosic and carnivalesque images, amplified by
the highly stylized camera work and rapid editing, and situated within the overall media spectacle of
event TV.
Bio: Laura Robinson is an AHRC-funded PhD candidate at the University of Surrey whose
research focuses on the construction and performance of spectacle within male street dance crew
performances on U.K televised talent show competitions. Publications include chapters within Bodies of
Sound: Studies Across Popular Music and Dance (2013) and The Oxford Handbook of Dance on the
Popular Screen (2014). Laura is a lecturer in dance at the University of East London.
AUSTERITY IN THE ARCHIVE
Henrique Rochelle
Abstract: Dance companies often articulate paradigms of creation and conservation, thus
exerting a prominent position of determining access to and an assumed relevance of some choreographers
over others. In this paper aesthetic and artistic choices made by companies such as São Paulo Companhia
de Dança, the Ballet de L’Opéra de Paris, and others are considered as they decide to keep some works
alive and let others go. How do economic policies, funding structures and audience reception affect these
choices? This modern process of conserving repertoire is considered along with contemporary strategies
of preserving dance, such as the Choreographic Trusts, to reflect upon how companies, creators, dancers
and their heirs take responsibility for the living archives of dance.
Bio: Henrique Rochelle is a Doctoral Scholar and ocasional guest lecturer at UNICAMP (Brazil),
mainly interested in dance communication, dance as a language and dance history. His Doctorate is
funded by FAPESP both in Brazil and for a Research Period at Université Paris 8 (France). He
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contributed to a dance encyclopaedia, worked with dance companies as a theoretician and researcher, and
is the author of "Da Quarta Parede” a blog on dance theory, criticism and historiography.
Sufism through the body: Sufi tradition and the ‘mystical body’ in Sufi embodied practices
Jamila Rodrigues
Abstract: This paper discusses and analyses constructions of gendered selfhood through Sufi
ritual embodiment amongst the female members of the Sufi Naqshbandi in Cape Town, South Africa.
Sufism, mystical practices and Sufi ideas about the body and body movement, are contextualized in
relation to the Sufi female body in the Sufi tradition of hadra. This ritual gathering is an act of worship in
Sufi tradition where devotees take part by reciting a particular Sufi type of prayer called dhikr. Data
collected during my fieldwork in Cape Town (2013/2014) exposes Sufi women’s notions about the body,
and how these are being fed not only from a Sufi background, but also through an embedded cultural
context.
Bio: Jamila Rodrigues is a dancer and yoga practitioner currently on a PhD program in Dance and
Anthropology at the Dance Department of the University of Roehampton, London. This article is drawn
from her PhD dissertation.
Dancing Texas: The Austin Two-Step and the Construction of the Folk
Kirsten Ronald
Abstract: In this paper, I show how two-steppers in Austin, Texas, use the dancing body to
configure “Texanness,” and its associated “folk” practices, as both a place-based community for
transplants and a profitable spectacle of a nostalgic past. I use ethnographic fieldwork and oral history
interviews to examine this new configuration at a single Austin venue, the White Horse. Through the
subtle policing of social difference on the dance floor, the development of a unique Austin dance style,
and the ongoing negotiations between money and pleasure, I show how two-steppers use dance to
reimagine the “folk” for the new economy.
Bio: Kirsten Ronald is a PhD candidate and Assistant Instructor in American Studies at The
University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include the dancing body and gentrification, myth
and the landscape, mobility, social dance, and geographies of creative class consumption. Her current
project uses the Texas two-step to examine the impact of the new economy on the urban landscape.
Permangola: considering the sustainable care of self, others, and surroundings as practiced at the
Kilombo Tenondé
Cristina F Rosa
Abstract: The Kilombo Tenondé is a cultural and ecological center located three hours south of
Salvador, in Brazil, which implements principles of permaculture. Binding this multi-faceted project is
Cobra Mansa, a renowned capoeira angola master-teacher. In this presentation I address the ways in
which Kilombo Tenondé interweaves Afro-Brazilian cultural heritage with principles of the permaculture
during their semi-annual events, or Permangola. How do these renewed ways of interacting with the
environment inform and are (trans)formed by capoeira angola’s non-hegemonic way of being-in-theworld?
Bio: Cristina Rosa is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Reed College. Her scholarship
has been published in journals such as TDR and e-misférica and the new anthology Performing Brazil. In
her forthcoming book, Brazilian Bodies and their Choreographies of Identification (May 2015), Rosa
demonstrates how bodies and dance are indeed valuable realms of inquiry on how identity is constructed
at the intersection of categories such as gender, race/ethnicity, sexuality, and nationality.
Everybody Included: Inhabiting Transitory Scenarios as Somatic-Performative Grounding
Eduardo Augusto Rosa Santana
Abstract: As part of our Somatic-Performative Approach, we invite to somatic experience of the
dynamic audience who, in this lecture-demonstration, becomes a participant-witness exercising somatic
attunement and in-betweeness in different open space situations. Together, we aim at proposing an
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experience of transgression of spatial expectations and regulations, therefore questioning the relationship
between body, space and power. How to empower the body's experience alongside and through the
constant displacement of productive time and goal-oriented scenarios within increasingly decentralising
global instability? How to retrace personal groundings within communal unpredictable compositions?
These are the founding questions which we intend to explore during the activity.
Bio: Eduardo Augusto Rosa Santana [artistic name Eduardo Rosa] over last 10 years has
developed practices in following movement informed areas: artistic creation, performance, pedagogy of
body (Contemporary Dance and Hatha Yoga), critical writing, cultural management and academic
research. He is Ph.D. candidate at the Post-Graduate Program of Performing Arts - Federal University of
Bahia, Brazil (advisor Prof. Ciane Fernandes), in collaboration with Middlesex University, London
(advisor Prof. Vida Midgelow), sponsored by CAPES/Brazil.
Engaging Publics: Valuing Dance in/for Transnational Exchange, Institutions, and Communities
Rebecca Rossen
Abstract: This paper considers the relationship between aesthetics and efficacy in large-scale
performance projects by two Austin-based choreographers—Ballet Austin’s Stephen Mills and Forklift
Dancework’s Allison Orr. I will discuss how both artists engage publics in large questions and convey
social history through storytelling and spectacle. Ultimately I ask if these dances support the advocacy
that surrounds these events, and if aesthetic issues matter when considering the impact of dance beyond
the stage.
Bio: Rebecca Rossen was recently promoted to Associate Professor in the Performance as Public
Practice Program at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of Dancing Jewish: Jewish
Identity in American Modern and Postmodern Dance (Oxford, 2014), and she has also published in TDR:
The Drama Review, Theatre Journal, and Feminist Studies.
After looking north and west: Portuguese contemporary dance and the European crises
Luísa Roubaud
Abstract: In the four decades that followed the April 1974 revolution, contemporary Portuguese
theatre dance has witnessed an explosion. After 1974, the African decolonization, the subsequent flow of
immigrants, and the European Union accession (1986), have substantially altered Portugal’s politic and
demographic landscapes, the social practices and expressive cultures. I will analyze how this dance is
facing the current European crises, and discuss the impact of the flows and cultural reconfigurations of
the postcolonial Lusophone demography, of the new ways of incorporating, dealing with or being in
relation to the patrimonial expressive culture, in the recent paths of Portuguese theatre dance
Bio: Luísa Roubaud. Ph.D. in Dance, Master degree on Portuguese Culture and Literature and in
Psychology. Professor in dance studies at the Faculty of Human Movement/University of Lisbon.
Researcher at the Institute of Ethnomusicology/ Center of Music and Dance Studies. Her research and
teaching domains are the relations between psychology and performing arts, corporeality and cultural
studies, dance and post-colonial issues in the Lusophone context. She is a dance critic in the Portuguese
press
The Original Witchcraft Elements in Chinese Ethnic Minority Folk Dance
Chen Ruohan
Abstract: Advocating and conducting witchcraft activities directly reflect a society’s ideology,
beliefs, customs and life styles. Chinese ethnic minority folk dance has long history and witchcraft
elements are manifested in different ethnic minority groups. Here I would like to choose three most
representative dances: Qiang Mu of Tibetan, Chama of Mongolian and Shaman dance of Manchu, to
explain and demonstrate this kind of dance has great importance and value in their own nationality from
aspects of witchcraft beliefs, dance features and society customs.
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Bio: Chen Ruohan, B.A.: Dance Department, Beijing Normal University. M.A.: Dance School,
Minzu University of China. Research interests mainly cover dance anthropology, dance theatre study and
dance linguistics. Recent research studies center on dances in folk ritual of Chinese village.
A View of Ancient Greek Dance from 1895
Nancy Lee Ruyter
Abstract: In 1895, the book DANCING, a broad survey of world dance history, was published in
London. Mainly written by Mrs. Lilly Grove (later Dame Lily Grove Frazer) after five years of travel and
intensive research, it also includes four short chapters by other authors. It was issued in later editions
after 1895 and is still an important early source for information about dance history. Of DANCING's 454
pages, 26 are devoted to ancient Greece. I discuss this author's sources, statements, assumptions, and
conclusions in relation to those of more recent writings about dance in ancient Greece.
Bio: Nancy Lee Ruyter (Ph.D., History),was Professor of Dance at the University of California,
Irvine (1982 to 2014). There she taught dance history, modern dance, choreography, Spanish dance and
graduate seminars. Her research and publications include works on American Delsartism, Spanish and
Latin American dance and theater,and Balkan dance forms. She is currently working on a biography of La
Meri (Russell Meriwether Hughes, 1898-1988) with whom she studied in the 1950s.
Dancing Italian Culture: Venezia et al.
Clara Sacchetti
Abstract: How does Le Stelle, an ethnic dance group in the multicultural city of Thunder Bay,
ON, represent Italian culture? Our paper broaches this question by analyzing Le Stelle’s 2012 “Carnivale
of Venezia” dance. While the number is meant to evoke the Italian Renaissance, it creatively uses kinetic
movements from ballet, Irish step dancing, and the Italian tarantella. It is staged to a 1950s Mantovani
song mixed with music from Assassin’s Creed II; and, it utilizes Italian peasant costuming and Venetian
masks. Our paper examines Le Stelle’s use of these hybridities in staging Italian culture.
Bio: Clara Sacchetti is a sessional lecturer and adjunct professor in the Departments of
Philosophy and Anthropology at Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario. Her research explores the
discursive constitution of Italian-Canadian identity and its intersections with gender, class, and race in
Thunder Bay. She has published two books, several articles, and is currently working on a co-edited
collection about dance and critical multiculturalism in 21st century Canada.
“SevenEight: Impermanence: A Creative process based on empathy”
Claudia Muller Sachs
Abstract: This paper aims at describing the creative process of the dance piece “SevenEightImpermanence” (2014/15) based on Susan Foster’s concept of empathy. The challenge proposed was
finding ways of including the audience to decide what will be presented next. Together with the two
dancers, we created “cells” of movements with bits of texts, personal testimonies, situations and
soundtracks, a pallet from each the public should choose. The creative process was therefore absolutely
interwoven with its reception, since the performance strongly depends on it, on the empathy generated.
Bio: Claudia Sachs: Actress, director, and teacher. PhD in Theatre UDESC / 2013; Master in
Theatre - UDESC / 2004; Specialization in Contemporary Theatre Theory UFRGS / 2002; Student at the
Ecole International de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq (Paris, 1992-93). Participated in several specialization
courses mainly in the Movement Theater area. Also studied with Matteo Bonfitto-SP, Josette FeralSorbonne Nouvelle-Paris, Jean-François Dusigne-Paris 8, Maria Helena Lopes-Brazil, Yael KaravanLondon, Thomas Leabhart- USA, among others.
About the multifunctionality of the artist as a reflection of public policies in Brazil
Lenine Guevara Oliveira e Salvador
Abstract: The most recent increase of the public notices policy in Brazil is reflecting in expanded
exhibitions and festivals in all country art fields and many amateur groups of towns and local contexts,
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begin to survive with art or at least, nearest the art production. From my point of view this tension
between poetic experimentation and management production is a border that we have to occupy, and
already receives self theming, as the example of the dance work “The Projectionist” (2012) with Dudude
Hermann (dancer and choreographer, BR) and “Notice” (2011) with Fabio Osório (Dimenti productions,
BR).
Bio: Lenine Guevara is an artist and a researcher in Performing Arts. PhD student at the PostGraduate Program in Performing Arts at Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Concentration of Studies:
Somatics, Performance and New Media, and is licensed teacher in Performing Arts at the Federal
University of Ouro Preto - BR, (2010). Currently acts as performer and researcher at the A-FETO DanceTheater Collective of UFBA (2011-2015); coordinates and was the creator of the A-com/tece art urban
interventions (2011-2015); and integrates the Homens Libertem-se!!! project (2013-2015).
Abandoned Bodies/Abandoned World: A lecture demonstration
Ana Sanchez-Colberg
Abstract: Abandoned Bodies/Abandoned World is a lecture demonstration that addresses the
theme of exploring new ways of practice that have been crafted in the midst of shrinking resources by
bringing the concept of crisis proposed by Jean Luc Nancy in Changing of the World (1999) to bear upon
dance making and performance. Fragments of three works will be presented and then examined through
the lens of Nancy’s philosophy.
Bio: Ana Sanchez-Colberg (BA(Hons), MFA, PhD) is a choreographer, dancer, scholar. She is
the artistic director of Theatre enCorps with whom she has toured internationally since 1989. The
company's work has been the recipient of many awards including the Bonnie Bird Award for
Choreography, various NEA Fellowships as well as awards by Arts Council England. Together with Dr
Valerie Preston-Dunlop she co-authored Dance and the Performative (2002/2010), which has made an
important contribution to developing practice-based research in dance. She hasrecently finished a
monograph on dance and music in improvisation for the forthcoming The Dance Improvisation
Handbook to be published by Oxford University Press. She is the Head of Theatre Arts & Dance
Department at DEREE- The American College of Greece, where she is in the process of completing UK
accreditation of a new BA in Contemporary Dance Practice to be offered from Fall 2016.
Dance Activism & Media Market: 'Jampi Gugat'
Sekar Sari
Abstract: Jampi Gugat is a study case of dance activism particularly through flash mob. The
movement configuration and music accompaniment clearly reflect the idea and concept of local
wisdom as an alternative trend and solution in the global era. The campaign strategy regarding to the
media market in Indonesia is one of the key point for the success of Jampi Gugat. The involvement of
stakeholders; government, event organizer, artist, communities and their interaction to formulate and
deliver some values to the society is necessary to take into account for creating a sustainable cultural
movement.
Bio: Sekar Sari is a Master Candidate of Choreomundus-International Master on Dance
Knowledge, Practice, and Heritage-an Erasmus Mundus Program. She received a BA degree in
International Relations from Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. She likes to work in the area or art
and performances. Beside her activities on the stage and screen as the dancer, presenter, and actress,
she is also actively involved in various art and cultural events and communities particularly as the
public relations.
‘Being Rama’: Accessing Memory in a Changing World
Urmimala Sarkar
Abstract: Much like ‘being’ or ‘becoming’ while dancing a role, writing about it as an
experience and accessing the memory of it is also an ongoing process, as memory accesses and
reinterprets the experience in specific time and space, coloured and influenced by the circumstances that
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the memory is relived in. This paper on ' Being Rama' will thus be just another version of 'unfinishable'
writing 'in motion' (Ness, 1996) as I experience and access the past in the frames structured by the
present.
Bio: Is Associate Professor, of Theatre and Performance Studies at the School of Arts and
Aesthetics in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. She is a dancer and a choreographer, and
has performed extensively within and outside India. Her specialization is in Dance Studies and
Anthropology of Performance. Some of her important recent publications are Engendering Performance:
Indian Women Performers Searching for Identity (2010) – co-authored with B. Dutt, Traversing
Tradition: Celebrating Dance in India (2010) - co-edited with Stephanie Burridge. Her current research
focuses on Marginalization and living traditions, politics of performance, gender and dance, and
Performance as Research (PaR).
The price of everything and the value of nothing: Dance “Scholarly Activity” and Creative
Collaborations in the days of austerity in Greece
Katia Savrami
Abstract: Dance has never gained its rightful status in the Greek academia. Initially in this paper
is critically discussed the government’s planning and funding for dance in Greece. Moreover, the author
explains how the Greek dance community has, on its own initiative, developed the necessary
infrastructure in order to maintain and promote Dance both in education and in production. The Greek
dance community –for the most part, practitioners and a small number of theoreticians/academics– has
implicitly influenced the existing state structures, and applied what in the current art-educational context
is named “Scholarly Activity” and Creative Collaborations.
Bio: Dr Katia Savrami, Choreologist graduated from the Laban Centre, City University, London.
Currently she is Assistant Professor at the Department of Theatre Studies, University of Patras, Author of
a series of dance books and articles published in Greece and abroad is a member of the International
Editorial Board of the Research in Dance Education journal, publishing by Taylor and Francis Group, UK
and editor of Choros International Journal.
Transmitting and Distributing Bodily Knowledge in the Digital Age
Thecla Schiphorst
Abstract: We explore embodiment in the digital age—a time where dance is now often passed
down from body--to computer--to body. While some believe digitally-mediated transmission of bodily
knowledge to be “disembodied,” we propose that digital technology can extend our conceptions of
embodiment by creating more space for knowledge and growth within the field of dance. We seek to
understand the expanding notion of embodiment through a case study that examines the transmission of
bodily knowledge in the performance Longing and Forgetting. We compare differences in transmitting
bodily knowledge through multiple modes: phenomenological accounts, text, and video.
Bio: Thecla Schiphorst is Associate Director and Associate Professor in SIAT at SFU. Her
background in dance and computing form the basis for her research in embodied interaction, focusing on
movement knowledge representation, tangible and wearable technologies, media and digital art, and the
aesthetics of interaction. She has a Phd in Interactive Art & Computing from Plymouth University.
“Cut and Paste” Methodologies within Choreographies of Popular Dance
Janet Schroeder
Abstract: In our roundtable, we propose a “cut and paste” danced and spoken format to explore
popular dance as a practice broadly rooted in modes of quotation and innovation, and iteration and rearticulation. We will dance and speak our ideas in response to three areas of popular practice. I suggest
tap dancer Michelle Dorrance’s performance and choreography are a kind of intertextual, postmodern
bricolage. Dorrance enriches her work by referencing a longstanding tap dance tradition while
simultaneously responding to her contemporary surroundings. This “cut and paste” amalgamation is
apparent in Dorrance’s dancing and in her evening-length work, ETM: The Initial Approach.
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Bio: Janet Schroeder, MFA, is a percussive dance artist, scholar, and teacher, with particular
interests in tap dance, Appalachian clogging, and body percussion. She maintains her physical practice of
these forms throughout the U.S., creating and presenting choreography as well as taking and teaching
classes. Schroeder’s current research focuses on concert dance work that blends folk dance forms with
contemporary dance movement and aesthetics. Schroeder is PhD student in dance studies at The Ohio
State University.
Dance Competition Culture and Capitalism
Karen Schupp
Abstract: Dance competition culture operates on a “pay to dance” framework and belief system.
By some estimates, for competitors who are deeply involved in dance competitions, the costs can easily
top $1,000 per month. In many ways, more Americans are involved directly and indirectly in dance
competitions than ever before, yet there has been little to no discussion of dance competition culture in
relation to capitalism. Analyzing the economics of dance competition culture can provide valuable
information about who has access to dance and how that access reflects and shapes ideas about dance,
gender, race, and class in the larger US culture.
Bio: Karen Schupp, MFA is an assistant professor in the Herberger Institute School of Film,
Dance and Theatre at Arizona State University. Her creative work includes self-portraiture,
interdisciplinary dances, and conceptual works for nondancers and has been supported by the National
Endowment of the Arts, the State of Arizona, and the United States Artists Project. Her scholarly
research, which has been published in multiple journals, addresses innovative pedagogical practices and
curricula in postsecondary dance education.
Creating Guerilla Dramaturgy
Selby Wynn Schwartz
Abstract: Dance critic Judith Mackrell wrote recently that dramaturgy might “go a long way to
help realise [dance’s] potential.” What kinds of change can dance dramaturgs help foster? When you
hear the words guerilla dramaturgy, what do you imagine? This workshop will create a collaborative
space for exploring what dramaturgy can contribute to dance under contemporary conditions of uneven
access to material and cultural resources. We invite artists, scholars, curators--anyone curious about
developing dramaturgical practices of questioning, relational process, and well-timed intervention--to
join us in talking, writing, watching, and participating in movement structures that lead toward creative
change.
Bio: Selby Wynn Schwartz, a Visiting Assistant Professor at St. Mary’s College of California,
writes about dance, gender, and intermedial performance. In 2011, she received SDHS Lippincott
Award for the Best English-language Article in Dance Studies. She has been a Visiting Scholar in
Performance Studies at NYU and was the dramaturg for Monique Jenkinson’s "Instrument."
Dance and Drama in Aristotle’s DRAMATICS (aka POETICS): New Principles From an Ancient
Treatise
Gregory Scott
Abstract: In previous publications I demonstrated that dance and music are essential conditions
in the definition of tragedy for Aristotle. This opens the door for a re-examination of the place of
theatrical dance in the work usually considered to be the most influential treatise on drama in Western
culture. Here I begin exploring how the principles of dance criticism might therefore change and I also
discuss whether Aristotle modifies Plato's own critical principles pertaining to choral art (including
dance) from Laws II.
Bio: After teaching ballet, Greg finished his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto (Philosophy),
with a dissertation entitled Unearthing Aristotle's Dramatics. Along with teaching philosophy at
universities in Canada and the U.S., he was Director of Doctoral Studies in Dance Education, New York
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University from 1995-1998. He is in the final stages of completing a book Aristotle on Dramatic Musical
Theater: The Real Role of Literature, Catharsis, Music and Dance in the POETICS.
Everybody Included. Inhabiting Scenarios as Somatic-Performative Grounding
Leonardo Jose Sebiane Serrano
Abstract: This Practice as Research activity is proposed by seven Brazilian
choreographers/researchers. It starts with a lecture in-doors, with data show, introducing the activity. On
the second part, this lecture-demonstration proposal invites the people present on the
session to experience the practice carried out in the project discussed. The proponents of this lecturedemonstration intend to lead the people of the audience to a nearby space in the city of Athens where a
joint improvisation will be lead, based on the project which is being carried out and presented in the first
half of the presentation
Bio: Graduate in Performing Arts, Master in Human Movement Science & PhD in Performing
Arts. Actuality its a Profesor at Humanities, Arts & Science Institute (IHAC) & MFA in Arts at Federal
University of Bahia. Interesting at Practice Research, Performances Studies, Somatic & Decolonial
option.
The Timing of Dance and the Dance of Timing
Eleni Sgouramani
Abstract: Dance has intrigued cognitive scientists for quite some time but it’s only recently that
more systematic investigations have been undertaken. Dance and timing are tightly associated, however
our ability to estimate timing although quite accurate, it is often susceptible to several distortions. We
explore whether this is also true for dancers or given their extensive training interval timing is resistant to
such distortions. These investigations are accomplished through behavioral experimentation of potential
factors modulating our timing percept such as speed changes, implied vs. real motion, spatial
displacement, and direction of movement. Thus, it’s time to dance…
Bio: A PhD candidate at the Dept. of Philosophy and History of Science, University of Athens
(PHS-UoA) funded by Onassis Foundation. She holds a dancer-professor diploma in classical and
contemporary dance from the Greek Ministry of Culture and a post-graduate diploma from the ecoleatelier Rudra-Maurice Bejart, Lausanne, Switzerland. She investigates temporal processing in dance.
“Economizing and Occluding the Ballerina's Labour in the Pas de Deux”
Brandon Shaw
Abstract: Concentrating upon duets within the historically proximate works of MacMillan
(Winter Dreams, 1991), Ek, (Swan Lake, 1987) and Kylian (No More Dreams, 1988), I examine how
these choreographers interrogate, comply with, or challenge conventions of hiding female ballet
dancers’ labour in partnering. Through interviews as well as analysis of excerpts and stills, the
presentation addresses how the placement of bodies and use of facings serves to mask, marginalize, or
occlude female labour.
Bio: Brandon Shaw is Lecturer in Dance Studies at the University of Malta, where he teaches
in both the studio and classroom. He was recipient of the inaugural Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in
Dance Studies at Brown University (USA). Currently researching dance within Shakespeare’s Romeo
and Juliet and its choreographic adaptations, Brandon is particularly interested with how traditional
understandings of gender are contested within the play and how these challenges are represented
through dance.
The Nation Dances: Ethno-identity Dance on Stage.
Anthony Shay
Abstract: In this paper I explore the various roles that dance plays as a vehicle for national states
to create and promote nationalism. I use the term ethno-identity dance to indicate dances staged for
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presentational use. After noting that there exist multiple types of nationalism, I use the case of the
Moiseyev Dance Company to illustrate my points.
Bio: Anthony Shay is associate professor of Dance and Cultural Studies at Pomona College in the
Theatre and Dance Department. He is the author of six books, the most recent The Dangerous Lives of
Public Performers: Dancing, Sex, and Entertainment in the Middle East. He is currently coediting, with
Barbara Sellers-Young the Oxford Handbook of Dance and Ethnicity.
SHIFTING CLIMATES: APPLYING PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY TO DANCE
MAKING ENDEAVORS
Kelly Silliman
Abstract: The challenges of producing dance in times of increasingly limited resources have
prompted some dance makers to critique dominant paradigms of concert dance and to seek out innovative
ways of presenting work. By implementing principles from the field of environmental sustainability,
artists can produce dance works that represent viable alternatives to large scale, cost-intensive productions
intended for traditional theatrical venues. Drawing from artist interviews, the history of experimental site
performance, and scholarship on sustainability initiatives, I examine the realities of producing dance
today, and the transformative potential in simpler productions and local, community-based support for
creative process and performance.
Bio: Kelly Silliman is a dance artist and educator from Northampton, Massachusetts, USA. She
holds an MFA in Choreography and Performance from Smith College, and an appointment as a Five
College Associate, a program for independent scholars. Research interests include the intersection of
sustainability and the arts. Silliman is the founder/director of “the tinydance project,” a low-tech dance
initiative for which she tows a small stage by bicycle to performances.
RESEARCH DANCE: THE SEARCH FOR A REFLECTIVE PRACTICE
Suzane Weber da Silva
Abstract: This paper presents a sample of the research being developed in the field of dance in
the Post-graduation Program in Performing Arts of UFRGS, Brazil. The program aims at training
qualified personnel for the exercise of teaching, researching and developing artistic knowledge
production. The researches presented in this communication serve to show that these studies relate to
the dance knowledge both in terms of artistic practice and to theoretical studies in dance. This
communication desires to delineate the dynamic situation of a certain profile of dance students that
search a way to develop a reflective practice in dance.
Bio: Suzane Weber da Silva (Suzi Weber - artistic name) – earned her PhD from Études et
pratiques des arts, at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Canada. She has a Master’s in
Human Movement Sciences and Bachelor degreedegree in Performing Arts at Federal University of
Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil, and has been a professor at UFRGS since 1996,
teaching in the Performing Arts Programme (Graduate and undergraduate level).
Traces of a Tango, the club invites me to dance: study of materiality in movement
Paola Vasconcelos Silveira
Abstract: “Traces of a Tango, the club invites me to dance” aimed to reflect on the processes of
developing the artistic experiment conducted from the encounter between my body with the club.
Therefore, the study finds resonance on the theoretical possibility of thinking in non-human bodies as
vibrant matters with capability to generate relationships and movements. In that way, this meeting would
lead to a loss of the self, being constructed through the danced movement. Finally, this study tenses the
production of knowledge in the academic field, by assuming that the body produces a kind of knowledge,
an embodied knowledge, which must be recognized and legitimized.
Bio: I´m a dancer, choreographer and dance teacher. I live in Porto Alegre (RS) in Brazil. I´m
graduated in degree in Dance on Universidade Federal do estado Rio Grande do Sul(UFRGS), and
finished in March this year my Master in Performing Arts in the same university. My studies are in the
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field of ballroom dance, specially the Tango. I had dance in professional companies of ballroom dance
and contemporary dance, in the moment I´m collaborate with Necitra group who works with circus and
transverses.
Between boundaries of tradition and global flows. Reimagining communities in Kathak dance.
Katarzyna Skiba
Abstract: The aim of the presentation is to examine ongoing transformation in Kathak art and
practice, in respond to demands of global markets, sensibilities of new audiences, and the artists’
personal need for self-expression. The paper will explore why classical Indian dancers exceed the
barriers of Kathak ‘tradition’, and how they redefine the idea of authenticity. Do the innovative
choreographies indicate an increasing shift toward individualization, transnationalism, cultural
pluralism or rather attempt to renegotiate the notions of Indianness? To what extend the hybridity is
considered as an emerging aesthetic value, reflecting complex, multi-layered identity of the
performers?
Bio: Ph.D student at the Jagiellonian University (Krakow). She holds an M.A. in Indology. Her
doctoral thesis concerns with the modern history of Kathak dance. As a fellow of the École française
d'Extrême-Orient in Pondicherry, she conducted fieldwork focused on ‘Sanskritization’ of Kathak art.
Currently, she heads research project “Transformation of Kathak tradition in terms of social and
cultural changes”, funded by the National Science Centre (Poland). She has undergone Kathak and
Flamenco training.
Dance franchise protection under austerity and precarity
Jonathan Skinner
Abstract: How will franchising - a symptom of Modernity - develop and be policed in this new
century of ours characterized by the rise in anti-globalism and intangible heritage? This paper draws upon
long term fieldwork, legal cases and anthropological/performance theory to examine two contentious
dance organisations: Arthur Murray dance studios, a trademarked international franchise of dance studios
based in the US where dancers pay for private lessons which also gives them access to group classes and
party nights; and Ceroc, a British dance franchise operating according to the purchase of exclusive
operation rights in UK post code regions.
Bio: Jonathan Skinner is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology in the Department of Life Sciences,
University of Roehampton. He has undertaken fieldwork in the Eastern Caribbean on the island of
Montserrat (Carnival, tourism and trauma, colonial relations and disaster recovery) and in the US/UK
(social dancing, arts health, contested heritage). He co-edits the book series 'Movement and Performance
Studies' for Berghahn Publishers.
Becoming Greek, while staying Irish: Culture vs. common experiences as tools for self
identification within a new reality
Philip Gregory Sougles
Abstract: Focusing on the Irish community of Athens, this presentation examines the cultural
presence of a rather small but significantly homogenous group of immigrants. Settled in a country that
undergoes the same financial difficulties that their own country faced a few years back, the Irish
immigrants of Athens share an insight on how economic austerity can expand in culture, tradition and
education. Through dance, music and tradition, we learn how venerable modern cultural constructions
are, especially when they are linked to a cultural product. The decline of the “Celtic Tiger” is compared
to the collapse of the “Olympian Greece” of 2004.
Bio: Philip Gregory Sougles was born in Athens in 1981. He holds a B.Sc. from the University
of Piraeus majoring in finance and banking management and a M.Sc. from the Athens University,
focusing on “Musical culture and communication”. His fields of interest include Greek Folk Music and
Greek Art Music. More specifically he has conducted researches on the music of Epirus, on the life and
work of the late Greek pianist Gina Bachauer and on the woodwind tradition of the Balkans.
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Authenticating the World Dance Experience: a Case for Dance Tourism
Christel Stevens
Abstract: Study and performance of World Dance forms is extremely popular in the 21st
century. Audiences have gained a taste for a wide array of dance styles. Dancers in America are studying
and performing of diverse kinds of dance, but are confronted with questions of authenticity. Can an
outsider become an expert in ethnic technique? Is cultural familiarity essential? Must one visit the
country of origin to be considered an expert? This paper will propose a source of dependable income for
ethnic dance professionals around the world, whose sources of support from local government have been
reduced due to austerity measures.
Bio: Christel Stevens is a scholar, performer, and teacher of dances from India. She holds a
Master's Degree in Dance from The American University at Washington, DC, specializing in Bharata
Natyam and Manipuri dances of India. In 1996, Christel returned to India to conduct the study, "Images
of Women in Indian Dance, Sacred and Profane." Christel is employed as Performing Arts Specialist for
Prince George’s County, Maryland, and produces Choreographers Showcase and World Dance Showcase
annually.
Dancing Italian Culture: Venezia et al.
Batia Stolar
Abstract: How does Le Stelle, an ethnic dance group in the multicultural city of Thunder Bay,
ON, represent Italian culture? Our paper broaches this question by analyzing Le Stelle’s 2012 “Carnivale
of Venezia” dance. While the number is meant to evoke the Italian Renaissance, it creatively uses kinetic
movements from ballet, Irish step dancing, and the Italian tarantella. It is staged to a 1950s Mantovani
song mixed with music from Assassin’s Creed II; and, it utilizes Italian peasant costuming and Venetian
masks. Our paper examines Le Stelle’s use of these hybridities in staging Italian culture.
Bio: Batia Stolar is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and Assistant Dean in
the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Lakehead University. Her research explores the
representation and construction of immigrant identity and sensibility in Canadian and American literature,
visual culture, and dance. She is currently co-editing a co-edited collection about dance and
multiculturalism in Canada with Clara Sacchetti and Allana Lindgren.
Transmission and cognitive learning strategies - Measuring children’s clapping game and studying
interaction of the two small experts
Marit Stranden
Abstract: Researchers within the field of ethnochoreology, musicology, children's education and
pedagogy, have investigated and referred to children’s use of clapping games in many countries. The
games seem to be in constant flux of creative processes innovating on textual, musical and kinetic
elements. The pilot project was two adults performing a clapping game in the motion capture laboratory.
One adult was teaching the game to the other and we saw the improvement of the movements of the
beginner as the game was learnt. How are the movements’ children use transferred to another child and
how are the games improvised?
Bio: The authors are co-workers at the Norwegian Council for traditional music and dance,
Trondheim. Marit Stranden, ceo, has a PhD in neuroscience and have lectured traditional dance in the
bachelor program.
Body, art and research in Klauss Vianna: between dance and theatre
Joana Ribeiro da Silva Tavares
Abstract: This panel presents a reflection on the work of Klauss Vianna (1928-1992), trying to
situate him in contemporary society through glances at fields such as history, poetics of art and somatic
education. Drawing on these axes, we enunciate and discuss his position in the Brazilian culture,
locating him in the modernity and post-modernity of art. Based on his activities in the fields of training
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and creation during his career in Brazil, this reflection starts from his core interests: physical body
research - in dance and in theatre - expanding into the performing arts and the society of his time.
Bio: Joana Ribeiro da Silva Tavares PhD Professor and director of the Acting Department at
the University of Rio de Janeiro/UNIRIO. Researcher at the Post Graduate Program of Performing
Arts/UNIRIO.
Estonian Male and Female Dance Celebration – embodying the ideal national body
Madli Teller
Abstract: The tradition of choral and orchestral music festivals that started in the period of
Estonian National Awakening in the 1860s brought about a smaller counterpart with national dance in
1930s. The resulting Estonian Song and Dance Celebration with mass performances held every 5 years
is now in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list. It unites around 30 000 singers, 10 000
dancers and 150 000 audience members from all over the country and elsewhere and is deemed to be a
significant part of the national experience for many Estonians – both from the participants’ and the
organizers’ point of view.
Analyzing the aesthetic choices of directors and the textual and visual representations of their ideas in
media gives a dance researcher possibility to find connections to the notions of essentialism, opposition
and Othering strategies, construction of knowledge, standardization, and disciplining of the national
body.
Bio: Madli Teller graduated from Tallinn University, Estonia as a choreographer and a dance
teacher in 2006 and acquired a MA degree in Culture Anthropology and Folk Art in Estonian Academy
of Arts in 2013. She is currently studying in an international master's program Choreomundus (Dance
Knowledge, Practice and Heritage) that takes place in Norway, France, Hungary and UK from 2014 to
2016. From 2005 to 2014 she worked in the board of Tee Kuubis dance theater.
Funding "Whiteness:" Canada Council and Support for Les Ballets Jazz
Melissa Templeton
Abstract: During the financial crisis of the 1970s, Canada Council for the Arts decided that only
ballet and modern dance companies would receive federal grants. While the decade may have begun with
Prime Minister Trudeau’s declaration that Canadian society is multicultural, an examination of the
distribution of cultural funds would suggest otherwise. In this paper I look at Canada Council for the
Arts’ funding of the dance company Les Ballet Jazz de Montréal to analyze how prejudices favouring
Euro-American dance styles tacitly informed assumptions about the company’s value, especially of the
supposed superiority of ballet and modern dance over jazz.
Bio: Melissa Templeton is currently an adjunct Instructor of Dance at the University of Nebraska,
Lincoln. She received her PhD in Critical Dance Studies from UCR and her dissertation received support
from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Dr. Templeton’s current research
brings together theories of embodiment, colonization, and racial construction to analyze how “whiteness”
is constructed in Québec.
Austerity and the Aerial Winds of Change: Greek Motifs of Flight in the Original Production of La
Sylphide (1832)
PRIYA A. THOMAS
Abstract: Turning to textual accounts, visual documents and summaries relating to the original
production of the ballet La Sylphide staged at the Paris Opera in 1832, this paper considers links between
the nonhuman taxonomy of the flying Sylphide and the partially imagined typology of the Amazon, first
articulated by Homer’s pupil, Arktinos of Miletos in The Aithiopis (circa 700 BCE). In so doing, the
paper argues that those nonhuman bodies borne aloft in La Sylphide were fashioned in the shadow of
Greek democratic ideals that would serve to revitalize the French republic during a time of austerity and
political turbulence.
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Bio: Priya Thomas is a doctoral candidate researching the history of taxonomies of the nonhuman
in dance and interdisciplinary performance. A dancer, choreographer and musician, she studied Bharata
Natyam for 21 years with the primary pupil of T. Balasaraswati. She holds a BA in Religious Studies
from McGill University and an MA in Dance Studies from York University.
Of Sweating Bodies, Ballet’s Hard Work and Times of Trial: Refashioning Ballet Labor for the
Socioeconomics of the Cuban Revolution
Lester Tome
Abstract: In the 1960s, the National Ballet of Cuba embraced proletarian ideology while
reformulating ballet as labor. The troupe’s members joined the Union of Cuban Workers, performed in
farms and factories, and cultivated alliances with organizations of peasants and industrial laborers. In
response to Fidel Castro and “Che” Guevara’s call to increase the national workforce’s productivity, these
artists equated ballet’s discipline to workplace industriousness. Since dedication and personal sacrifice
became the virtues of the communist worker, dancers highlighted ballet’s strenuous labor as a strategy to
make an art of aristocratic genealogy politically relevant in the proletarian context of the Cuban
Revolution.
Bio: Lester Tomé, PhD, teaches in the Smith College Dance Department and the Five College
Dance Department, in Massachusetts. Since 2013, he has been in residency at Harvard University as the
Peggy Rockefeller Visiting Scholar and a fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is at
work on a book manuscript that examines the development of ballet in Cuba as a case study of ballet’s
globalization and the cultural production of the Cuban Revolution.
"Dame dos con dos": Action and exchange in New York's Cuban dance culture
Sarah Town
Abstract: Flowing continuously between New York City and Havana, music and dance are
communicative technologies whose traces belie official embargoes. This paper focuses on Cuban salsa –
timba and rueda de casino – as practiced in New York City, and the exchanges involved in their
production. It briefly traces casino's birth in Havana's prerevolutionary social clubs and the eruption of
timba in the late 1980s, before arriving in present-day New York. Taking the group move "dame dos con
dos" as a starting point, it explores exchanges between musicians and dancers, and among dancers
themselves, in their improvised coproduction of the dance event.
Bio: Sarah Town is a PhD candidate in musicology at Princeton University, with a Masters in
musicology from CCNY and a BA in history, Portuguese, and Latin American studies from UWMadison. Her research interests include Cuban jazz, popular dance music, folklore, and postrevolutionary film. Sarah has also performed and taught Brazilian capoeira and maracatu, Cuban salsa,
and Latin jazz. Her dissertation focuses on the aesthetic economy of Cuban dance culture in New York
City.
Enjoy in Adversity---The Relationship Between Body Transformation and Social Condition in
Popping Dance
Hsin-Chou Tsai
Abstract: This paper firstly attempts to explore how African Americans and Latino Americans
reflected their social situation through street dance. The analysis would be via the video records,
interviews, and interpretation to the dance, mainly takes “Popping” as example, focusing on the
relationship between body, medical and social classes, and illustrate the concept of “incomplete body”
and “control of the body”. It shows people in the social context have learned how to deal with “illness”
or “powerless”. Secondly, when these kinds of body transformed through globalization to Taiwan,
Popping dance were emphasized in the aspect of “power” and “control”, but strange to the illness. The
difference also reflects Taiwan’s social context.
Bio: Graduated from the Master of Soochow University, majoring in sociology, is also
interested in dance and aesthetic. Also involved in hip-hop dance in Taiwan has more than a decade.
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Establishing and Evolving a Dance Community in Samos, Greece
Christina A. Tsardoulias
Abstract: Celebrating its eleven year anniversary, Samos School of Dance is the island’s first
dance school to date. This presentation aims to describe the challenge in offering quality dance
education during the current economic recession while balancing aesthetics in concert dance at the
isolated location. The school continues to collaborate with local and visiting artists to broaden its
venues and audiences. Through volunteering and community service, Samos School of Dance hopes to
empower its students to become active artists. The community continues to strive for dance on its
shores and for dancers who may choose to search further beyond its waters.
Bio: Christina Tsardoulias received her MFA in Dance from UC Irvine and BA in Dance from
the University of Oregon. In 1997, the National Dance Association honored her with the Outstanding
Dance Major Award. She studied at San Francisco Ballet School for seven years and performed with
both SFB and ABT. She founded Samos School of Dance in 2003 and continues to be director. In 1999,
she presented her master’s thesis at the 32nd CORD Conference.
Dancing National Ideologies: The Athens Festival in the Cold War
Steriani Tsintziloni
Abstract: The international Athens Festival was prominent in shaping a cosmopolitan identity
and openness within Greek society. During its first decade (1955-1966), the Festival also functioned as a
significant form of cultural diplomacy. Audiences were exposed to elite dance companies from nations
such as the USA which functioned ideologically and diplomatically. Our presentation interrogates the
construction of a dance field in Greece and the shaping of aesthetic values, contextualised within sociocultural tensions. Research exposes imperatives of a rising superpower consolidating its position,
revealing multiple types of influence on Greece and other nations in a battle of political wills with the
USSR.
Bio: Dr. Steriani Tsintziloni (University of Roehampton) is a dance history scholar and
researcher. The “Alex. Onassis Public Benefit Organisation” supported her MA Dance Studies
(University of Surrey). She graduated from State School of Dance (Distinction) and Department of
Education, University of Crete. She is a Research Associate with the Kalamata International Dance
Festival, the “Isadora and Raymond Duncan” Dance Research Centre, and is an Editorial Board member
of the online Manifesto Lexicon, Performance Studies International.
Dance Aesthetics: Sex, Beauty and Simplicity in the Age of Austerity
Iris H. Tuan
Abstract: Dance shows sexual imagery, beauty and simplicity via sexy female body from the
ancient Dionysian ritual dance in Greece to the contemporary time advocated in the age of austerity. Even
with the limited resources, dance in the style of Minimalism can still sell by showing sex and beauty.
Taking examples of Cabaret, Chicago (2002), Cloud Gate’s Pine Smoke (Cursive II) (2014), Tanztheater
Wuppertal Pina Bausch’s Palermo Palermo (2015), and Neo-Classic Dance Company’s The Drifting Fate
of Hakka (2015), dance displays the alternative performing style by focus on dance technique, the milieu
and the story.
Bio: Iris H. Tuan received her Ph.D. in Theater from UCLA. Tuan currently is Associate
Professor at National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. Tuan’s selected papers include several A&HCI
papers in Asian Theatre Journal (A& HCI), Theatre Topics, and other excellent journals with Impact
Factor 3.0. Tuan’s books and publications are published by University of Hawaii, Johns Hopkins
University, University of Illinois, etc. Tuan’s research interests are theater, dance, musicals, opera, and
film.
Dramaturgical transactions in the age of austerity: Luke Brown and 80collective
Lise Uytterhoeven
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Abstract: This paper discusses strategies used by emerging choreographer Luke Brown and
80collective, a group of seven dance artists, which he co-founded in January 2014. Working without
access to Arts Council England funding, 80collective demonstrates a remarkable degree of
resourcefulness, creativity and tenacity, staring the austerity climate in the face. Engaged in dramaturgical
practice with Brown, I will discuss how he articulates and reimagines transactions and performerspectator relations in the economies of spectacle.
Bio: Lise Uytterhoeven is Senior Lecturer and Head of Learning & Teaching at London Studio
Centre, where she teaches a broad range of dance and performance history, theory and analysis. She holds
a BA Dance in Education from Codarts and an MA Dance Studies from the University of Surrey. Lise
completed her PhD at Surrey in 2013, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Her PhD
research investigated new dramaturgies in the work of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and choreographic
negotiations of the nation, religion and language.
Relations Risk: The dance as tool for social transformation.
Sara Dias Valardão
Abstract: The purpose of this research was to develop a creative process come from the BPI
Method with adolescents in social vulnerability situations, young people between ten and fourteen years,
students from Center for the Study and Promotion of Marginalized Women entity – CEPROMM, located
in Itatinga Garden, confined prostitution area in the city of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. The period for
development and data collection of the research was one year and a half, that is, three semesters, in two
or three times activities per week.
Bio: Sara Dias is Master in Arts Scene at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) Brazil,
under the guidance of Professor Dr. Larissa Turtelli and Professor Dr. Graziela Rodrigues. Is graduated in
Physical Education from the UFMS (2007) and specialization in Dance and Body Awareness at Gama
Filho University (2010). Is Social Educator in Center for the Study and Promotion of Marginalized
Women entity - CEPROMM in the city of Campinas-SP/Brazil.
Choreographing Collaboration: Advocating for Artists and Scholars
Joel Valentín-Martínez
Abstract: This roundtable examines existing models for collaboration between dance artists
and dance scholars, advocating for bringing together dance researchers across the false divides of artist
and scholar, humanities and arts. While these kinds of collaborations have become increasingly
prevalent in European academic and arts systems, they remain somewhat rare in the US. This
roundtable brings together four dance researchers all working together in the American Midwest in a
number of collaborations to consider what we bring to one another’s individual work, the role of
physical practices and writing practices in scholar/artist collaborations, and the institutional maneuvers
required to sustain collaboration.
Bio: Joel Valentín-Martínez is Dance Program Director, at Northwestern University. From
1990-2003, he was a senior dancer with Garth Fagan Dance and toured with the troupe throughout the
United States, Canada, the Middle East, Europe, Australia, South America, and the Caribbean. His
choreography commissions include Misplaced Flowers (2010) and Tlatelolco Revisited (2008) with
Luna Negra Dance Theater, Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street (2009) at the Steppenwolf
Theatre, and John Jota Leaños’ Imperial Silence (2008-2012).
Unexpected bodies in unexpected spaces: An empirical study exploring integrated dance in Cape
Town and California
Coralie Pearl Valentyn
Abstract: While generally considered a site of free expression, access to many forms of dance
remains constrained by limiting ideas about what constitutes dance and what bodies are imagined as ideal
for this mode of cultural expression. Professional dance, consequently, has become a practice in which
not everyone can imagine participating, raising questions about which types of bodies are privileged and
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why. Drawing on ethnographic data from two integrated dance companies, this paper serves to explore
the choreographic possibilities that disability offers dance, advocating more inclusive and theoretically
compelling approaches for understanding movement and the body in dance.
Bio: Coralie Valentyn is a second year Anthropology Masters student at the University of the
Western Cape, South Africa, with a concentration in dance and disability. She is interested in
ethnographically exploring the possibilities that disability offers dance. More specifically, her work
advocates more inclusive and theoretically compelling approaches for understanding movement and the
body in dance.
Repetition and Rupture in Bill T. Jones’ Ghostcatching (1999)
Lauren Vallicella
Abstract: How, and in what spaces, can repetition cause rupture? According to performance
theorist Harvey Young, it is in the appropriation of repetition, the insertion of agency and choice into a
previously forced act of repetition, where the possibility for revolutionary rupture exists (Young 9). In
this paper I use Young’s theoretical framework on repetition (specifically in regard to the forced
repetition of slavery) and phenomenal blackness in order to unearth moments of rupture present in Bill
T. Jones’s choreographic work Ghostcatching (1999), which engages with the body on both a physical
and virtual level.
Bio: Lauren Vallicella is a dancer, writer and PhD student at the University of California, Santa
Barbara, where she explores theories of corporeality, performance, and the body as archive. Her areas
of study and interest within dance history broadly span from the mid 19th century (Romantic Ballet) to
contemporary choreographers such as Bill T. Jones. Most specifically, her research pertains to issues of
fragmentation, identity, memory, and trauma expressed through the medium of the dancing body.
Brussels & Contemporary Dance: artistic labor in a creative city
Annelies Van Assche
Abstract: I present the FWO-sponsored research project “Choreographies of Precariousness. A
Transdisciplinary Study of the Working and Living Conditions in the Contemporary Dance Scenes of
Brussels and Berlin” (UGent/KULeuven). Concentrating on the specificity of the contemporary dance
profession and elaborating the landscape in Brussels, I aim to demonstrate some tactics (de Certeau)
dance artists use to approach working conditions in Brussels through the notion of precarity. Precarity
can, next to the ontological insecurity (Butler), stem from socio-economic and socio-political aspects of
life (Lorey/Standing). Since working formats in contemporary dance include mobility, transnationalism
and collaboration, a fitting social security system is required.
Bio: Annelies Van Assche received her Master’s Degree in Performance Studies at the Ghent
University (Belgium) in 2010. She has interned as a production assistant for Belgian collective Abattoir
Fermé and German choreographic center K3 Tanzplan Hamburg. She has worked as a production and
tour manager at P.A.R.T.S., the contemporary dance school of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker in Brussels,
from 2011-2014. Then started her research on contemporary dancers’ socio-economical position and its
influence on creative processes.
Meaning in motion: William Forsythe’s mobile choreography Yes We Can’t
Freya Vass-Rhee
Abstract: Since the 2008 premiere of William Forsythe's Yes We Can't, the work has undergone
constant change on tour and at “home” in Dresden and Frankfurt. In 2010, Forsythe created a fully new
“Barcelona version” that was subsequently performed (and changed) in several further cities before
becoming the "Russian version" in Antwerp in 2013. In early 2015 it returned to Dresden for final
performances as the “Vienna version.” This paper tracks Yes We Can't across its heterotopic spaces and
times, interrogating Forsythe's alteration and relabeling of this work through a discussion of artistic
footing and the meta-communicative affordances of mutable performance.
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Bio: Freya Vass-Rhee is a Lecturer in Drama and Theatre at the University of Kent. Her primary
interests include cognitive dance studies, dance dramaturgy, performativity, and arts-sciences
interdisciplinarity. A former professional dancer, ballet master, and choreographer, she holds a PhD in
Dance History and Theory from the University of California, Riverside. From 2006-13 she collaborated
with William Forsythe as Dramaturg and Production Assistant. She is currently developing experimental
dance research designs with cognitive scientists.
Zorba’s dance in Lorca Massine’s dancing expression
Maria Venuso
Abstract: In Nikos Kazantzakis’ novel, Zorba the Greek, dance has a great importance. The
transposition of the novel into a ballet by Lorca Massine (1987), simplified the novel’s complexity
“rejuvenating” the ancient world described by Kazantzakis. The contrast Apollonian/Dionysian is
entrusted to the style of the protagonists. They propose the modern heritage of traditional Greece,
imposing a new dance tradition (syrtaki), based on ancient and popular reminiscences, a new myth. This
contribution wants to analyse how dance becomes expressed revealing of collective identity, in the
transposition from the novel into a ballet through the movie.
Bio: Maria Venuso obtained her PhD degree in Classic, Christian and Medieval-Humanistic,
Greek and Latin Philology at Naples University "Federico II". She specialized in Greek Palaeography at
Vatican school of Palaeography, Diplomacy and Archive Administration and, and has a Master's degree
in Theatrical Literature Writing and Critic. At the present moment she is engaged in working out
connections between Opera and Ballet in the XIXth century and Italian School of ballet of the first half of
XX century.
Global economy, local aesthetics? (Re)thinking approaches to movement composition and dance
performances in Brazil.
Alba Pedreira Vieira
Abstract: I discus dance in Brazil as political activism to understand the connections of
economy, politics, arts, dance and aesthetic issues that have influenced what has been produced and
performed. The recent decrease of governmental funding for the Arts has compelled Brazilian artists to
devise new approaches to dance composition and performances. These facts have driven the
choreography of Brazilian artists, who are creative in coping with limited budget; works discussed
illustrate my argument for the dancing body as a political statement and dance as a constituent of the
public sphere itself rather than just been influenced by the global capitalism.
Bio: ALBA VIEIRA holds a Ph.D. degree in Dance (Temple University, USA). Currently, she
is a full-time professor and artistic director at Federal University of Vicosa, Brazil. She has experience
in Arts, with an emphasis on Dance, developing research on the following topics: creative processes in
dance, improvisation and somatic education. She is the author of book chapters and papers published
nationally and internationally. In 2013 she became a member elected of the WDA-Americas Directory
Board.
Transmission and cognitive learning strategies - Measuring children’s clapping game and studying
interaction of the two small experts
Sjur Viken
Abstract: Researchers within the field of ethnochoreology, musicology, children's education and
pedagogy, have investigated and referred to children’s use of clapping games in many countries. The
games seem to be in constant flux of creative processes innovating on textual, musical and kinetic
elements. The pilot project was two adults performing a clapping game in the motion capture laboratory.
One adult was teaching the game to the other and we saw the improvement of the movements of the
beginner as the game was learnt. How are the movements’ children use transferred to another child and
how are the games improvised?
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Bio: Sjur Viken. Assistant Professor, Norwegian Council for traditional music and dance,
Trondheim. MA degree in Traditional Music and Microtonality, Høgskolen i Telemark 2007.
WARNING – Teaching Choreography in Greece could be contagious.
Mariza Vinieratou
Abstract: 1. Why choreography is not taught in Greece? Is this a core subject for the dance
studies abroad? – denial-isolation stage 2. Composition in Greece: arguing for its necessity and
probability – anger stage 3. If it’s taught what are the goods for the students of dance and tomorrow
choreographers? – bargaining stage 4. Finding the knowledge gained will lead to regret the fact that it was
not taught – depression stage 5. How useful will it be if to be part of the dance curriculum in the
professional dance schools? – acceptance stage
Bio: Mariza Vinieratou Choreographer graduated from Tisch School of the Arts – NYU, MFA .
Assumed an active role at the Bessie Schönberg Choreography Alumni Workshops. She is currently a
choreography tutor in Athens. Author for the Open University of Greece (1999) and for the Choros
International Dance Journal. Member of the Committee for Dance Allowance of the Greek Ministry of
Culture and co-founder of the XIPóLYTOS Dance Theatre.
Introspection of a Filipino waki and the Japanese Noh Theater practice in the Philippines
Bryan Levina-Viray
Abstract: An all-Filipino Shinsaku-Noh (new-work) has been performed in the Philippines.
Various teaching-learning situations have been applied during intensive rehearsal-training. This paper
introspects my embodied participation as a Filipino waki. How does the transfer of movement practice
from its own culture affects the learning process of Noh theatre in the Philippines? How do different
“dancerly attitudes” meet in one moving body? Introspection concerns unfamiliar chanting and
uncomfortable body positions. The cyclical process of going-out-from-and-coming-in-to presupposes
Merleau-Ponty's suggestion that “we only begin to understand our orientations when we experience
disorientation.”
Bio: Bryan Levina Viray is currently completing his Master’s degree in Dance Knowledge,
Practice, and Heritage as an Erasmus Mundus scholar. He teaches at the Dept. of Speech Communication
and Theatre Arts, University of the Philippines, Diliman. He finished both his Certificate and Bachelor of
Arts in Theatre Arts (cum laude) from the University of the Philippines, Diliman.
On the Embodiment of National Spirit in Chinese Ethnic Minority Dance - A Case Study of Ma
Yue’s Work
Jie Wang
Abstract: Ma Yue’s dance work derives from his life experience in an ethnic minority
community and his deep understanding of its culture and customs. The long-term choreographic trials
lead to his excellent thinking, which is improvised and frequently presented in his work. His work
represents aspects of experience, thinking, feeling, and practice, and eventually embodies the unique
national spirit. Ma Yue’s work manifests the characteristics of the inspiration and national spirit. These
features play an important role in his choreography as they are incorporated throughout his work
consistently.
Bio: Jie wang, PH.D, assistant professor in Dance Department, School of Art and
Communication, Beijing Normal University. Research field: Dance education, Chinese folk dance.
Representative bookmaking: 《The Comparative Research Concept In Comprehensive Universities
between China And America》,Representative Dance: 《Fei•YU》
Break-in Point: Somatic Narratives, the convergence of arts and science in the transformation of
temporal communities
Carol Marie Webster
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Abstract: Through the application the performance concepts somatic ethic and affect, this paper
will present critical reflection on the 2012 performance Break-in Point, analyzing it as an imaginative
somatic site/zone for engaging spiritual and epistemological transformation of performers and audiences.
Three periods in the life of the project will be highlighted: 1) script building and rehearsal, 2) live
encounters between and among performers and audiences, and 3) beyond the theatre, digital engagements
in the classroom and pedagogy. These periods represent process, product, and dissemination,
respectively; denoting periods in the construction of temporal communities created by the somatic
convergence of arts and science.
Bio: Dr. Carol Marie Webster is a Research Associate at the Avery Research Center in
Charleston, South Carolina. She is a professional dance artist and interdisciplinary performance
researcher with primary research interest in the performance and performative practices of the African
Diaspora/Black Atlantic. Her PhD thesis examined the performativity of Jamaican Catholic women’s
liturgical practices. She holds secondary research interest in encounters between scientific advancements
and ordinary human life.
Representatives of Democracy: Jose Limon, Katherine Dunham, and American Cold War
Identity/Ideology
Janet Werther
Abstract: This paper considers the different relationships of Dunham and Limon to US state
support and systems of power during the Cold War, with a particular focus on their simultaneous and very
differently positioned Latin American tours in 1954. Key questions concern the intersectionality of race,
gender, and sexuality as they relate to Cold War ideology and the artists' varying capacities to render
visible or invisible difference and/or deviance in their choreographies.
Bio: Janet Werther is currently pursuing a Ph.D in Theatre Studies at the CUNY Graduate
Center. She holds an MFA in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College and performs with the Ballez
Company in Brooklyn, NY. She teaches at Baruch College and the Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX). Her
article "Mary Wigman: Expressionist, feminist, theatre artist" was recently published in Studies in
Musical Theatre.
Cultural value and the transactable nature of dance
Sarah Whatley
Abstract: This presentation will discuss Europeana Space; a project concerned with creating new
opportunities for employment and economic growth within the creative and cultural industries based on
Europe’s digital cultural resources, much of which can be accessed via Europeana. Partners from across
Europe, including Greece, are exploring new ways to think about methods for ‘monetizing’ cultural
heritage. Our work in dance is exploring way to access and transmit dance in new ways for dance
practitioners, students, teachers and audiences. It will examine the extent to which doing imaginative
things with dance content might suggest alternative modes for ascribing value to dance.
Bio: Sarah Whatley is Professor of Dance and Director of the Centre for Dance Research (CDaRE) at Coventry University. Her research interests include dance and new technologies, dance
analysis, somatic dance practice and pedagogy, and inclusive dance practices. Her research is funded by
the AHRC, Leverhulme Trust and the European Commission. She is Editor of the Journal of Dance and
Somatic Practices and sits on the Editorial Boards of several other Journals.
Invented Tradition or Dynamic Inheritance?: Minority Artists, National Culture, and the Modern
History of Chinese Folk Dance
Emily Wilcox
Abstract: Between 1949 and 1966, ethnic minority artists of Mongol, Manchu, Tibetan, Korean,
Uyghur, and other backgrounds contributed to the making of China's new national dance form. Like their
Han peers, these artists followed a creative method known as "dynamic inheritance," a process in which
individual artists study and then reinterpret folk forms, using a combination of field research, analysis,
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and choreographic innovation. As an alternative to "invented tradition," the concept of dynamic
inheritance reflects a self-consciously inventive approach to national culture, understood as internally
diverse and constantly emerging, rather than homogenous and fixed in the past.
Bio: Emily Wilcox is assistant professor of modern Chinese studies in the Department of Asian
Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her research focuses on the body and
performance as sites of cultural politics in the People’s Republic of China. In 2014-15 she is the recipient
of a humanities fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies, for her book project
“National Movements: Socialist Postcoloniality and the Making of Chinese Dance.” Her articles appear in
TDR, Asian Theater Journal, Body and Society, and other venues.
Colonizing Dances: New World Bodies on the Early Modern English Stage
Seth Williams
Abstract: This paper looks at how the early modern English public stage used “brownface” and
invented dance forms as performance tools that articulated the tensions of colonization. Turning to 17thcentury plays, I argue that the stage depicted dance both as a metaphor for and as an actual instrument of
colonization, especially in scenes where Spanish and English dance forms vie for supremacy in New
World bodies. Further, I argue that by using dance to stage the circulation of sugar cane and gold, these
plays use the rhetoric of dance’s supposed effortlessness to occlude what are in fact subjugative labor
practices.
Bio: Seth Williams is a doctoral candidate in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia
University. His research centers on the relationship of dance and literary cultures in the 16th and 17th
centuries, in England and abroad. Prior to his graduate studies, Williams enjoyed a performance career
that included work with the Mark Morris Dance Group, the New York Baroque Dance Company, and the
Sean Curran Company.
Savoring the Fatal Flaw in the Work of Martha Graham
Marnie Thomas Wood
Abstract: Because Martha Graham was focused on portraying both the commendable as well as
the defective traits that spur human behavior, she pursued a fascinating connection with the ancient Greek
concept of the 'fatal flaw' that resonated with her contemporary perception of human behavior. She
recreated several Greek anti-heroines highlighting the driving forces that provoked their actions. Jocasta,
Medea, Phaedra were all flawed women that Graham chose to portray, with the culminating portrait of
Clytemnestra framing these characters in a 20th Century celebration of imperfection.
Bio: Marnie Thomas joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in 1958. In 1968 she relocated
to co-found the Dance Major at UC Berkeley with husband/partner David Wood. While at Berkeley Ms.
Thomas received three Isadora Duncan Awards for her contributions to the Bay Area professional dance
scene. In 2003 Ms. Thomas returned to direct the Martha Graham School for four years. Currently, she is
on the faculty of the Graham School, Ballet Hispanico, and Adelphi University.
Society, Ambition, Digital Social Networks—How Sunflower Movement Influence Taiwan’s Dance
and Creative Performance
Meng-Hsuan Wu
Abstract: On March 18th, 2014, Taiwan’s students occupied the Legislative Yuan to protest the
Service Trade Agreement with China.Tens of thousands people from all walks of life all joined the
protests in support and quickly became a citizens’ movement call Sunflower movement. It not only
strongly impacted politic dimension, but also deeply influenced Taiwan’s dance and creative
performance. This paper mainly points out three turns appear after Sunflower Movement: re-concerning
social issue, the ambition of big scale, the power of digital social networking, and how these three nonnegligible transformations is now forming a new creative generation in Taiwan.
Bio: Meng-Hsuan is a graduate student of Taipei National University of the Arts Graduate
Institute of Dance. She is also a dancer, choreographer and researcher.
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CONTEMPORARY DANCERS IN SÃO PAULO
Renata Xavier
Abstract: History, memory, testimony proposes to expand the parameters of collaborative
research in the field of dance. Part of dance history can be told by dancer’s testimonies. The research
conducted during post-doctoral studies (UNESP) had as a central theme – recording dancers’ narratives,
as a source of dance documentation and as a possibility to broaden São Paulo’s dance history. Memory
produced by the testimony of eight active contemporary dancers: Cristian Duarte, Helena Bastos, Isabel
Tica Lemos, João Andreazzi, Marta Soares, Raul Rachou, Sandro Borelli and Vera Sala. For more than
two decades (1990-2015) these dancers are active in São Paulo’s Brazilian’s scene.
Bio: Renata Xavier - dance researcher. Post-doctoral studies at the Arts Institute UNESP/SP. PhD
in Communication and Semiotics PUC/SP. Researcher in the Federal Dance Project: Mapping Brazilian
Dance (2015). Member of two Dance Studies Groups: CED at PUC/SP coordinated by Professor Helena
Katz and GPDEE at UNESP/SP coordinated by Professor Kathya Godoy. Researcher in Brazilian Dance
Encyclopedia at Itau Institute. Committee coordinated - Memory and dance languages at ANDA
(National Dance Researchers Association/ (2011-2012).
Isadora Duncan’s Early Career in the United States
Emi Yagishita
Abstract: Isadora Duncan has indicated in The Art of the Dance the importance of her
childhood experienceses in the establishment of her own new dance style. However, her early dance
careers, before leaving the United State in 1899, are somewhat mysterious. Therefore, this paper
examines what kind of dance she studied in her childhood and the process of how she created her own
dance. I also discuss her early dance career in the United States, especially in New York, by utilizing
the unpublished memoir of Isadora’s brother, Raymond Duncan, as well as historical newspapers.
Bio: Emi Yagishita is a research associate at Waseda University (Research Institute for Letters,
Arts and Sciences) and, earned her Ph. D. at Waseda University, a Research Fellow of the Japan Society
for the Promotion of Science(April 2013- March 2015). She is a dancer who performs many dance forms
and holds the Certification in Duncan Dance from the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation in New York
City.
Olivier Dubois’ Tragédie: Dancing as Walking as Labor in Contemporary France
Ying Zhu
Abstract: In his largely pedestrian, yet corporeally demanding dance Tragédie, French
choreographer Olivier Dubois stages eighteen nude, dancing bodies becoming evermore disheveled.
Accompanied by sonically-aggressive music and harsh lighting, the work reveals the physical
repercussions of dancing. Tragédie thus functions as an apt optic through which to interrogate tensions in
existent notions of dance as labor in France, a country facing mounting questions around its system of arts
funding, and its relationships to unions and unemployment benefits. We use the bodies in Tragédie
evidencing the physical effects of the labor as a frame to examine the implications of this situation.
Bio: Ying Zhu is an Assistant Professor of Dance in the School of Theatre and Dance at the
University of South Florida. She holds a Ph.D. in Critical Dance Studies from the University of
California, Riverside. Her scholarly interests converge at the intersection of bodies, space, architecture,
and memory. At present, she at work on a book manuscript using the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as case
study to consider the body, as a complicating factor, in processes of national, collective memorialization.
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