Also seeking submissions that consider dance, media and disembodiment....

Call for Papers: SLSA 2018 (Toronto) PANEL: The Disembodied Woman in Digital Art and Culture

“Invisible” is a word that haunts histories of the technologized body. From the popularity of the late-19th century magic trick, the “Vanishing Lady,” to the advent of photography, in which “the body itself appeared to be abolished, [and] rendered immaterial” (Gunning), and the invention of the television (another kind of ‘body’), which Jean Baudrillard writes, “is now intangible, diffuse and diffracted in the real." The threat (and thrill) of this concept is magnified in the digital age, where the body is both immaterial and networked, and where the inscrutability of computational architecture hides itself behind pretty software interfaces that masquerade as perfectly clear and easy to understand.

That the vanishing lady is a lady is no accident. In the new media era there is a simultaneous turn towards invisibility (omnipresent surveillance; dispersed identities) and a return to the material world of things (as evidenced by the recent academic trend towards speculative materialism and object oriented ontology). In this oscillation between absence and presence, it is important to ask: which objects get to be seen and which are made to disappear? The female body seems to be one object that is always in the process of dematerialization (Apple’s digital assistant Siri and CGI Instagram model Lil Miquela, for example).

In keeping with the SLSA conference theme (“Out of Mind”), I hope to construct a panel that both challenges Cartesian dualism (in which the rational is privileged over the corporeal) and demonstrates its problematic perseverance as a structuring principle in art and design. I invite submissions that take up the following questions: Where does the organic human body exist (or persist), especially in relation to “bodies” such as avatars, digital renderings and filmic or animated traces? What are the procedures that construct and govern mechanical and digital bodies, and do these procedures differ substantially from those that govern organic bodies? How do lived conditions of difference such as race and gender factor into digital representations of the body?

I am particularly interested in submissions that explore representations of the female body in relation to:

-       (Dis)embodiment

-       VR / AR (and other immersive media)

-       Digital and algorithmic choreography/dance

-       Visual and screen media

-       Posthumanism

-       Kinaesthetics and sensation

-       Interactivity

-       Affect and emotions

-       Interfaces and software

-       Mind-Body Dualism

-       Sound studies



Abstracts of 250 words should be sent to hilary.bergen@gmail.com along with a short bio by April 1st.



NOTE: This is a call for papers for a panel to be submitted for consideration for the SLSA conference in Toronto, Canada, November 15-18, 2018. The conference theme is “Out of Mind.”  The SLSA general call for papers, as well as more information about the conference, can be found here: https://litsciarts.org/slsa18/

Recordings are available via dance-tech on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/showcase/8476725

Organized by the Fritz Thyssen project “Collective Realization – The Workshop as an Artistic-Political Format” (Institute for Theatre Studies, Ruhr University, Bochum) in collaboration with the ICI Berlin and the PSR project “Our Dance” (Heizhaus/Uferstudios GmbH) in Berlin. Funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and the Berliner Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa.

Concept and Organization: Kai van Eikels and Stefan Hölscher.

Speakers: Zahra Ali Baba, Julia Bee, Sabeth Buchmann, Alice Chauchat, Bojana Cvejić, Diedrich Diederichsen, Gerko Egert, Konstantina Georgelou, Aernout Mik, Wadzanai Motsi-Khatai, Mila Pavićević, Hanna Poddig, Yvonne Rainer, Juli Reinartz, Xavier Le Roy, Heike Roms, Anne Schuh, and Sebastian Voigt.

Workshops and artistic presentations by: Jeanne-Jens Eschert, Bella Hager, Anne Mahlow, Lea Martini, Nana Melling, Aernout Mik, Marta Popivoda, and Doris Uhlich.

Assistant: Miedya Mahmod.
Graphic Design: Zahra Rashid.

Facebook: fb.me/e/ctZHBnxrp

Recordings are available via dance-tech on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/showcase/8476725

There is an interesting conference going on in Stockholm at the moment 14.-16.10. The schedule can be found here: http://mdtsthlm.se/artists/conference-postdance/ So far, confirmed speakers are: Adrian Heathfield, Mette Ingvartsen, Mårten Spångberg, Bojana Kunst, André Lepecki, Paz Rojo, Samlingen (collective of choreographers: Amanda Apetrea, Nadja Hjorton, Stina Nyberg, Halla Ólafsdóttir and Zoë Poluch), Jefta van Dinther, Florentina Holzinger, Jens Östberg, Ivana Müller, Mette Edvardsen, Francois Chaignaud, Manuel Pelmus, Cecilia Bengolea, Andros Zins-Browne, Jonathan Burrows, Hooman Sharifi, Poste Restante, Charlotte Vandevyver, Ofelia Jarl Ortega, Siegmar Zacharias, Benjamin Vandewalle, Antonia Baehr, Myriam van Imschoot and Erna Òmarsdóttir. They are live streaming the event here since this morning: http://bambuser.com/channel/Riksteatern

http://mdtsthlm.se/artists/conference-postdance/

INTEGRART SYMPOSIUM 2015
DANCE AND “NORMALITY”

Tuesday, 2 June 2015
MEG Musée d’ethnographie de Genève
Boulevard Carl-Vogt 65-67, Geneva

More information:

http://www.integrart.ch/en/symposium

You can watch the broadcast here:

“Paradoxically it is only when we recognise that we are not completely controlled by norms, that we become free to radically deconstruct and change them.“
Judith Butler

Ever since the beginning of the 20th century Dance History can be told as a continuous questioning of aesthetic and social normativity. However, contemporary dance is still defined by conventions and standards that mirror prevailing social norms. This becomes clear when people with a disability enter the stage – and especially when they do not.

At the fifth IntegrART symposium, artists and experts will focus on creating and recreating “normality” in dance and society. By looking through the lens of the history of culture and dance to analyse this phenomenon, the symposium aims to find aesthetic and ethical alternatives to the tyranny of the “neutral”.

The symposium will explore the following questions (among others):

• What lies behind the concept of “normality”? How did it develop and how does it manifest itself in the age of “diversity”?
  
• What part did norms, particularly norms regarding the body and people’s perceived abilities, play in the 20th century of dance? Which rules determine what is dance and who is a “real” dancer today?
  
• What strategies can be used to question, undermine and potentially overcome the “dictate of normality” as an exclusion mechanism?
  
• What are the different artistic practices of dancers with a disability and how do they relate to current standards and conventions in professional dance?
  
• What perspectives does this offer for dancers with a disability in particular and dance in general?

Artistic practices are the starting point for our reflections at the fifth IntegrART symposium. The programme includes presentations and discussions, artists’ videos, short dance pieces, performances, demonstrations and workshops.

Concept: Marcel Bugiel
Collaboration on the concept: Saša Asentic

An international symposium by Migros Cultural Percentage. The 2015 event is organised in partnership with the City of Geneva as part of Out of the Box – Biennale des Arts inclusifs. Supported by the Federal Bureau for the Equality of People with Disabilities FBED, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, Corymbo Foundation and Migros Geneva.

Original can be found here http://idocde.net/pages/122

Call For Proposals

5th IDOCDE Symposium on Contemporary Dance Education

July 28 - 30, 2017 at ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival

why compromise. mind the dance.

promoting actions and creative visions in a precarious world

Informed by the developments in the world of socio-politics – and the cultural attention that goes along with it – we at the IDOCDE headquarters decided it was time to frame our annual Call for Proposals as a Call for Action. This decision is to address the theme of the 5th IDOCDE Symposium.

The theme of the 5th IDOCDE Symposium – why compromise. mind the dance – is different from the previous themes in that it does not only ask you – the dance educator, artist, student, cultural worker, and the participant in the making of The World – to look inwards and reflect on your developing practice, share your reflections and by doing so enrich the experience of others. The aim of this year’s Symposium is also to ask you to add an outward-looking reflection whilst asking the question: what is my practice actually doing to the world – given my experience of managing personal pedagogic and artistic practices? How are my pedagogic and artistic decisions shaping the world of others – my students? My peers? And what, in particular, is the effect of the decisions I am not making?

(The time for mulling around is up.) 

Assuming that compromise is somewhat a part of everyone's daily life, we ask: What do you actually do when you compromise? What are the reasons for which you compromise? And how long do you think it will be possible for you to continue that practice?

We are not interested in asking you to imagine a world without compromise. This is not a utopian exercise. What we are inviting you to is, thinking thoroughly about compromise. And consider what kind of world your practice is creating. What kind of institutions, what kind of organisations, what kind of ecosystems, what kind of politics, what kind of families. 

Instead of stepping into the trap of ‘judge-mentality’, we would like to ask you to join us, think together with us; to pose sincere, straightforward, and challenging questions. In short, we would like to ask you to approach this Symposium with the clarity of body-mind you may have never dared to engage with before in a public space, and by doing things you may have never dared to do before in a public space. In other words, we would like to ask you to approach this challenge – ‘as a human being’, an experienced participant in an alliance of individuals, artists and educators. 

We hope this call is inspiring and exciting; resonating with your priorities, with your practices, with your interests, and with your passions for dancing – if so send your proposal today! And help us bring about a Symposium that will not only enrich, but that will also move – move participants to action. Help inspire, inform, and support our community by exposing your experiences: Your physical practices, your pedagogic practices, your theoretical practices, your artistic practices. Your public thoughts, your intimate thoughts, your affirmative thoughts, your challenging and critical thoughts.

Help encourage the community by joining this alliance. Participate at the 5th IDOCDE Symposium on contemporary dance education and so – help make a difference!

Proposal for “why compromise. mind the dance.” and their formats* may include the following, but are not limited to these:

Emerging practices in the oscillation between art-making and education

Examples you find within you or around you, or in other landscapes beyond dance as a response-ability to the world around you

Movement(s)

Philosophy in and of dance

Political actions

Historical context(s)

Proposals that address the how we are being with each other right now right here

Scores

Workshops

Classes

Lectures

Installations

Performative actions

Hang outs

Site-responsive

Mediated spaces (virtually and non-virtually)

*We invite you to challenge (or not) the ‘usual’, the ‘conventional’, the ‘traditional’ formats of public presentations and sharings, teachings by staging your sessions in a way that aligns the staging to your thinking and ‘the doing of your thinking’. In other words, we invite you to think ‘outside the box’. This might be the opportunity for some to question or problematize the assumed role language has in enabling communication. What of your thinking would best be communicated in words, and what of your thinking would best be communicated in experience, performance, movement, action, etc?

IDOCDE invites contemporary dance practitioners, dance and movement educators, researchers, theoreticians and other practitioners contributing to this field

to submit proposals for the 5th IDOCDE Symposium!

All practical or theoretical proposals centered on aspects of teaching, researching or practicing dance, in relation to the proposed theme, are being considered.

Formats might range from teaching a class and sharing reflections, hosting a lecture demonstration, talk or discussion, to more uncommon or experimental formats, or anything in between.

Propositions of a length up to 2 hours (ideally 90 minutes, longer or durational propositions will be considered whenever possible), individual and team proposals from teachers all over the world and the IDOCDE community are warmly welcome. 

Please fill in the PROPOSAL FORM by creating a new idoc under your profile and add it into the Symposium Folder before February 15th, 2017.

• If you feel inspired but you’re unsure of how to frame your thoughts within the parameters given by this form – please contact pavle.heidler@idocde.net
• Complete the proposal form on idocde.net and send a copy to lieve.de.pourcq@idocde.net
• For technical issues/ idocde website, please contact defne.erdur@idocde.net
• Deadline for proposals: February 15^th, 2017

Your Symposium and REFLEX project team:

Defne Erdur, Eszter Gál, Pavle Heidler, Kerstin Kussmaul, Lieve de Pourcq, Martin Streit 

The IDOCDE symposium is part of the EU program REFLEX EUROPE.

REFLEX researches and uses documentation as a tool for reflection in order to improve the teaching and to increase the impact on the learners in contemporary dance.   

For further details head over to http://idocde.net/pages/122

INVITATION
online event at http://water-wheel.net/taps/view/792

March 21–22

– Launch of e-book 'Water Views: Caring and Daring' with editorial team and guest authors
– Meditation for water with renowned guest singer from Chennai, India
– Balance-Unbalance Conference launch with its founder Ricardo Dal Farra, film screening & performances

SESSION 1 – your time: http://bit.ly/e-book_launch1

SESSION 2 – your time: http://bit.ly/launch2_with-meditation-preceeding

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

E-book is available for free download in its entirety and by individual chapters. http://bit.ly/e-book_3WDS14
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Table of Contents
1. Opening - performances: Ulay, Jason Lim and online-performers
2. Voice of the Future - youth projects: performances, conservation
campaigns...
3. Activism, Art & Science - projects catalysing change at many levels
4. Art & Science - interdisciplinary dialogue and interaction
5. Hydrology – Past & Future - from India, Greece, Tunisia, California and
Australia
6. Conservation & Transmission - water rights, festivals, cultural
heritage and museums
7. Care & Dare - water values re-envisaged by community groups
8. Performance - live art, outdoor actions & online-performances designed
Waterwheel’s creative collaboration interface ‘the Tap’
9. Hydrosonics - a sound art festival hosted at NYU by Ear to the Earth

4th modul-dance conference What do you want to share with others?Tanzhaus NRW Düsseldorf4-6 September 2013

Three years after the EU project modul-dance has started the directors of almost all dance houses from Europe and more than 50 artists and dance companies meet at Tanzhaus NRW in Düsseldorf. The modul-dance conference concentrates at perspectives of networking and internationally based collaborations. Planned as an “open space”, the conference features a program of lectures, thematic discussion panels, lecture demonstrations, presentations, showings and an ongoing forum. The program is completed by evening performances of modul-dance artists, curated by Tanzhaus nrw.

Click on here to discover the complete programme.

Looking for TWO DANCERS  - to accompany my performative lecture presentation

on April 20, 2013, between 3:30 and 5pm on the panel of ‘Tempo and Tactics’ to be presented at the Conference of the Congress on Research in Dance "Tactical Bodies: The Choreography of Non-Dancing Subjects".

Conference Location: UCLA, Glorya Kaufman Hall - April 19–21, 2013

In my lecture I will reference the choreography of L. Chétouane’s ‘Sacré Sacre du Printemps’, its intentions and relation to contemporary theories of philosophy and physics. In cooperation with my theory based performance, that regards speech and dance in this case as complementary, I am looking for two trainees who perform simultaneously movements that follow the parameters that are drawn from Chétouane’s “space measuring” choreography.

Please note this is not a recreation of the former work but a transformation and improvisation of its movement type onto the actual situation of presentation.

The method, visual material and possible rehearsal can be discussed via email/skype or in person a few days ahead of the event.

This commission involves:
- Performance: about 20 to 30 min on April 20^th, scheduled to be between 3:30 - 5pm.
- Advanced meeting plus rehearsal some days ahead (according to dancer’s schedule)

- Honorarium.

Those interested, can be provided with some online video material to get an idea. Though I will arrive in L.A. a few days early to the conference, I would plan to be in contact before, for discussion, setting up working meeting and possible rehearsal.

 If you are interested please contact me as early as possible at: mojaeckel@gmail.com

Both WDA members and non-members are invited to submit proposals for presenting dance works in performance, presenting scholarly research, holding a panel discussion, conducting a class, or leading choreographic labs.

With Evolve + Involve: Dance as a Moving Question… as the focal point of the event, WDA-A encourages broad investigations into the following questions: How is dance evolving in the 21st century? How are we as artists, educators, and researchers engaged with these emerging developments? With whom and how will we be involved as new practices emerge? How might these new engagements and involvements open further questions for dance’s future? With these questions in mind, we urge participants to propose new possibilities for the many different modes of presenting, experiencing, producing, and teaching dance. Proposals need not be limited to or by the Conference and Festival’s theme, which should be considered as a catalyst for discussion rather than a restraint.

World Dance Alliance – Americas (WDA-A) is delighted to announce our 2013 Conference and Festival will be held July 29 – August 4, 2013 at the Scotiabank Dance Centre in beautiful Vancouver, BC, Canada. This event is hosted by WDA-A in conjunction with the 2013 Dance Critics Association Conference with support from Texas Woman’s University Department of Dance, University of Wisconsin-Madison Dance Department, and the Dance Centre.

For more information or to submit a proposal, visit: www.wda-americas.net/conference

Between the Seas Festival

New York City, August 29^th- September 4^th  2011

Join us in celebrating contemporary Mediterranean culture!

MISSION:

Between the Seas Festival is organized for the very first time in New York City from August 29^th to September 4^th 2011 at the Wild Project theater space in the heart of the East Village. The festival seeks to engage performing artists and researchers from the Mediterranean and Mediterranean diaspora with the following goals:

-       Share with New York City audiences the vibrancy and diversity of contemporary cultural production from the Mediterranean, aspects of which often remain inaccessible and under-represented in North America

-       Encourage exchange and future artistic collaborations between NYC-based and Mediterranean-based artists

-       Contribute to the examination of Mediterranean identity/ies by encouraging discussion and exploration of the region’s commonalities and differences as manifested in arts, history, culture, geography and politics

-       Generate interest and debate over Mediterranean identity and culture, envisioning the region’s potential as a model of cross-cultural exchange beyond polarizing and homogenizing discourses.

The festival is produced by Les Manouches Theater Company with the collaboration of distinguished scholars, theater practitioners and festival managers from the US and Europe.  

We now invite submissions for artistic performances [music, dance, theater] and scholarly papers from emerging and established artists, researchers and academic practitioners. The deadline for submissions is March 30th 2011. Please see  www.betweentheseas.org for information and submission guidelines in each category.For information email lesmanouchestheatre@gmail.com

Dance USA “Crossing Borders” Conference was held in Washington,DC at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Arlington,Virginia (suburb of Washington, DC) June 16-19, 2010. The following comments are written by Maida Withers and submitted to Dance Tech-net blog, June 18, 2010

Day One (Wednesday): The opening night.

Maida Withers Dance Construction Company performed a site specific work, Collision Course, for the opening gala for the Dance USAConference, Crossing Borders, at the House of Sweden on the PotomacRiver, Washington, DC. The dancers, Anthony Gongora, Giselle Ruzany,and Nate Bond wore pillows secured on various parts of their body withpackaging tape. Many free pillows werescattered on the lawn. Dancers proceededup the grassy knoll to press themselves along the full-wall glass windows ofthe beautiful House of Sweden. Conference participants were inside the building watching as the dancerspressed their bodies like graffiti along the glass wall. Dancers proceeded to dance freely once theymoved off the glass wall and tumbled down the grassy knoll. The dance concluded with dancers diving ontopillows as they were thrown into the air and crashing to the ground. Collision Course is a site dance that takeson different aspects based on intention and location. Jane Franklin and Daniel Burkholders groupsalso performed.

The food was excellent and the company for the gala very nice and diverse with people from all parts of the USAand abroad. Severalartists/managers were there from Ireland.

Day Two (Thursday):

Attendees broke up into discussion groups/forums in the morning. I attended the session withArtistic Directors with budgets under $300K. It was a very diverse group from directors who had no staff positions toorganizations with budgets over one million dollars. Each member stated what concern they had atthis time. The group leader directed us,then, in our discussion to issues suggested: staffing, boards, touring, and many other management issues related tosurvival. It was a productive meetingwith a somewhat limited agenda that seemed to center on management valuesprimarily. The larger budgets seemed tobe related to schools connected to the Companies or education programs. Compared to the 1960s there seems to be agreat deal of money available to the dance companies (beyond tickets at thegate) such as $30,000 or more from cities or county arts agencies, etc. Several commented on the challenge tomaintain artistic focus on the dance works in this survival process ofdiversification. Dancers always have a good time when they get together....certainly that was true in this case.

It was my pleasure to attend two session on International aspects of dance today.

During the first session, Frank Hodsoll, chaired a committee with cultural representatives from Japan,UK, Mexico,and the USA. Each panelist presented the governmental/nongovernmental approach to international exchange. As a USAcitizen/artist who is mostly interested in international culture exchange, I am hopeful that there will be some development in culturaldiplomacy supported by the US Government/Embassies soon. With the demise of the USIA the USAcontinues to struggle with a systematic way of engaging American artistsabroad. More direct discussion ofparticular programs (Cultural Envoy, etc). will take place on Friday at theconference.

The second international session raised the question of the view of American (United States, actually) dance from abroad. There was a panel led the Chair of the National Endowment for the ArtsInternational Programs with panelists from Mexico,Germany, and Spain. The topic is a worthy one but also achallenge. Mexicospoke about the extensive influence of Limon, Sokolow and others in Mexico. Mexicohas a formalized international program with four regions where a company isable to apply to tour there. Spainand Germanyindicated the recent lack of interest in dance in the USAand the inability to bring companies/dancers from the USA(costs/aesthetics). The United States isa long way away when European countries are so close. However, in Europe it seemed there is also about a lack of interestin what American (United States) dance is doing, it appeared to me. In addition, if the U.S. Embassies do notsupport American artists, there is not much chance of selection in Europe. One audience member indicated “the elephantin the room” was the rude treatment that many American artists receive whenthey are in Europe. Some agreed that this was present for them as well. I thought the conversation in total was toooriented toward Europe/U.S. exchange and not global enough. Also, I feel the idea of an individualcreating new/original work in a democratic process that is free of governmentalcontrol has been embraced globally. Perhaps this means there is not a “dominant” nation in modern orpost-modern dance at this time. Whyshould there be? I recognize this is asomewhat “democratic” perspective, but if there is a U.S. value,individual freedom of expression in dance with no government intervention wouldbe expected. There were many differentvoices heard in the brief one and one-half hour discussion. What was lacking was a two-way perspective ofhow dancers and governments are viewing each other. There was an edge of volatility in the topic I felt.

I am unable to attend the next two day sessions, but there are more discussions/presentations planned with international focus.

The Dance USA Conference was successful in my opinion for day one and day two. There was a great deal of opportunity for people to express opinion and to learn and broaden perspectives. Congratulations to Dance USAstaff and local artists who donated time and energy to receive guest to ourcity. I look forward to reading others blogs covering the final two days.

Maida Withers

Maida Withers Dance Construction Company

Professor, The George Washington University