Category Archives: Documentation

Revised call for papers – Dance, Diaspora and the Archive

Conference Call, Culture and Politics, Dance History, Documentation

Society for Dance Research

in Association with State of Trust and Rimap (University of Bedfordshire)

Call for Papers

Dance, Diaspora and the role of the Archive

Saturday September 17, 2016

Venue: University of Bedfordshire

Deadline for receipt of proposals May 30th 2016.

As the work of the Black Dance Archives Project is revealing, an understanding and awareness of a particular dance style, artist or institution depends in part on how it is situated historically, how it is documented and remembered. As the field of dance research has expanded, the significance of archives and archival practices extend beyond concerns of recovering memory, providing avenues through which to investigate questions of authenticity, tradition and ownership, among other issues. Archives are constantly in flux, open to interpretation, and can increase the visibility of the invisible. Significantly under-represented in the past, more material records of dancers and dancing from various diasporas are currently being collected and catalogued. The concept of archive also extends beyond the official documents, to encompass the memories that reveal perspectives of performers, creators, funders, administrators and viewers, captured through interviews, personal photos, journals, rehearsal notes and correspondence.

Papers are sought that explore the concept of the dance archive with particular reference to dancers and dancing of diaspora communities. Presenters are encouraged to engage with the Black Dance Archives Project, but papers that explore wider issues around archives are also welcome. Themes may thus include:

  • The significance of particular archive materials relating to one artist/company
  • The work of a particular artist/company whose work is documented  as part of the Black Dance Archives collections or other diasporic dance archives
  • Issues revealed by archive materials relevant to the career trajectories and management of emergent Black British or other diasporic artists
  • The relationship between memory and the archive
  • Archival issues and complexities that are specifically relevant to dance and /or diaspora.
  • The influence of the work of dance artists from the diaspora on current choreographic and performance practices

Abstracts/Proposals of no more than 300 words with an indicative bibliography and any technical requirementsshould be sent to . Any enquiries may be directed to  or.

Abstracts/proposals will be blind reviewed by a panel. Individual papers should be 20 minutes in length but we also encourage submissions of roundtable discussions, lecture-demonstrations, movement workshops, performative engagements and collaborative presentations, or posters.

Deadline: 30th May 2016 

Information about State of Trust Black Dance Archives Project

With funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, State of Trust* is working with partners across the UK to collate, preserve, document and make accessible 25 collections from eminent individuals and organisations from the British Black dance sector who have made a significant impact on dance in Britain. The initial stage of the project has collected materials from the following companies and individuals: ACE Dance & Music, Avant Garde, Boy Blue, Breakin’ Convention, Bullies Ballerinas, Jeannette Brooks, Carl Campbell, Shaun Cope, Jonzi D, June Gamble, Robert Hylton, , Kompany Malakhi, Greta Mendez (inc Maas Movers), Nubian Steps, Henri Oguike, Phoenix Dance Company, RJC Dance Company, State of Emergency, Step Afrika!, Norman ‘Rubba’ Stephenson, Tavaziva Dance, Sheron Wray, and Union Dance.

To prepare abstracts researchers are invited to contact and visit the archives:

Birmingham Museums and Libraries: 

Materials regarding ACE Music and Dance and Shaun Cope

Black Cultural Archives, Brixton, London: 

Email 

 

Materials regarding June Gamble, Robert Hylton, Kompany Malakhi, Nubian Steps, State of Emergency, Norman ‘Rubba’ Stephenson (oral history), Tavaziva Dance.

Plus materials from the following are being processed. Please ask if they are of specific interest: Avant Garde, Boy Blue Entertainment, Carl Campbell Dance Company 7, Step Afrika!

NRCD Guildford Surrey: 

Email: 

Materials regarding Bullies Ballerinas, Greta Mendez (inc. Maas Movers), Sheron Wray, Union Dance  – these are still being processed so only some may be accessible.  Please note that NRCD also have core collection materials related to many artists, companies and developments including Adzido and Black Dance Development Trust plus other special collections relevant to the area such as Angika Dance Company, Kokuma Dance Theatre and Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company.

University of Leeds Library: 

Materials regarding Phoenix and RJC Dance Companies

* State of Trust is the registered charity sister company of State of Emergency Productions

Digital Echoes 2016 – Registration open

Conferences, Dance and Technology, Documentation
Digital Echoes Symposium 2016

(Re)Collecting the Past: (Re)Making the Future

 4th March 2016

Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE)

ICE Building, Coventry University

 *Registration now open*

For the 6th edition of the Digital Echoes Symposium, we focus on participation as one of the most prominent legacies of the digital, in particular how it invokes processes of collectivity, democratisation and decentring. We consider participation as a process, a framework for access and production, but also increasingly becoming a philosophy and a culture. In response to this theme, we invite researchers and practitioners in dance, the arts and the humanities, to reflect on practices of collecting, archiving and safekeeping, how these traces are being used to configure new ways of imagining futures, and how such practices highlight the legacy of the digital on humanistic and artistic disciplines.

As the title suggests, we will reflect upon and critically examine digital archival practices, with a focus on dance and neighbouring art forms. We look at the future through a frame of making, or crafting, which evokes discourses on materiality and immateriality, tangible and intangible, conversion and representation. Through representation in digital formats ephemeral performative acts gain tangible qualities. Yet tangibility does not mean fixation; as digital representations are manipulated, stored, accessed, retrieved and re-used they are simultaneously objectified and re-formed, as they are increasingly used and re-used in different formats and in new contexts.  We invite contributions that consider the impacts of public/user participation on archival practice and research, and their legacy for the future.  

We are delighted to announce the keynote presentation, ‘Just Fun Enough to go Completely Mad About: on games, procedures and amusement’ from Professor Matthew Fuller (Goldsmiths University).

Themes for the day include:

●      The politics of participation in performing arts archival and documentation practices: How does public or citizen involvement in archival practices affect established hierarchies and canons? How does it affect taken for granted ideas about whose ideas and practice are given visibility and represented, and how?

●      Collectivity and co-creative practices: What are the potentials and problematics of collectives? How does co-creation function in artistic and archival practices? How do collaborative relationships between archivists, technologists, artists and researchers cultivate generative interdisciplinary exchanges? What are the meeting points or sticking points? How might we create innovate archival projects that cross disciplinary frameworks?

●      The reuse and reconfiguration of artistic and cultural content: The reuse of cultural content, and the ways that users might enrich existing sources through creative activities.

●      Between amateurism and citizen science: What are the sources of legitimacy for user involvement? What distinguishes citizen science from amateurism? What are the boundaries of involvement, so that the foundations for research credibility and validity are not affected? What are the forms, best practices, promises and limits of crowdsourcing?

●      Epistemologies, languages, vocabularies: Which forms of knowledge are cultivated and disseminated through participatory archival projects? How might linguistic frameworks usher in fresh forms of thinking and reveal underlying frameworks?

●      Impacts on practice. How does the reuse of cultural content feed back into artistic and scholarly practices? How does the fictional user inform on the development of archival practices?

●      Processes and tools: What processes, flows, methodologies are there that support rewarding ways of involving the user and the public in storing, classifying, and configuring access pathways to archival material? What digital tools, platforms and infrastructures?

 

Registration for the event is £20 (£15 for concessions) which includes lunch and refreshments. Please register before Friday 26th February by following the link below:

Registration will open at 9.15am and the talks will run from 9.45am – 5.15pm. The schedule will be released on the C-DaRE website by Friday 12th February.  Please see: 

The event will be held at Institute for Creative Enterprise (ICE), Parkside, Coventry, West Midlands CV1 2NE. Information about the venue can be found here: 

If you have any accessibility requirements or any questions about the event please email Hetty Blades: 

Organising committee: David Bennett, Hetty Blades, Rosamaria Cisneros, Lily Hayward-Smith, Rebecca Stancliffe and Sarah Whatley.

Call for Proposals Digital Echoes Symposium 2016 (Re)Collecting the Past: (Re)Making the Future

Conference Call, Conferences, Dance and Technology, Documentation

4th March 2016

Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE), Coventry University

For the 6th edition of the Digital Echoes Symposium, we focus on participation as one of the most prominent legacies of the digital, in particular how it invokes processes of collectivity, democratisation and decentring. We consider participation as a process, a framework for access and production, but also increasingly becoming a philosophy and a culture. In response to this theme, we invite researchers and practitioners in dance, the arts and the humanities, to reflect on practices of collecting, archiving and safekeeping, how these traces are being used to configure new ways of imagining futures, and how such practices highlight the legacy of the digital on humanistic and artistic disciplines.

As the title suggests, we invite a reflective and critical examination of digital archival practices, with a focus on dance and neighbouring art forms. We look at the future through a frame of making, or crafting, which evokes discourses on materiality and immateriality, tangible and intangible, conversion and representation. Through representation in digital formats ephemeral performative acts gain tangible qualities. Yet tangibility does not mean fixation; as digital representations are manipulated, stored, accessed, retrieved and re-used they are simultaneously objectified and re-formed, as they are increasingly used and re-used in different formats and in new contexts.  We invite contributions that consider the impacts of public/user participation on archival practice and research, and their legacy for the future.  

Call for proposals

We invite applications for papers, panels, posters, roundtables and performative presentations (with limited technical requirements) that engage analytically, critically, creatively or reflexively with the themes below. We also welcome proposals for demonstrations of tools, platforms and apps that exemplify best practices and innovative approaches for interacting with cultural heritage as user, audience, author, artist and researcher.

Themes

●      The politics of participation in performing arts archival and documentation practices: How does public or citizen involvement in archival practices affect established hierarchies and canons? How does it affect taken for granted ideas about whose ideas and practice are given visibility and represented, and how?

●      Collectivity and co-creative practices: What are the potentials and problematics of collectives? How does co-creation function in artistic and archival practices? How do collaborative relationships between archivists, technologists, artists and researchers cultivate generative interdisciplinary exchanges? What are the meeting points or sticking points? How might we create innovate archival projects that cross disciplinary frameworks?

●      The reuse and reconfiguration of artistic and cultural content: The reuse of cultural content, and the ways that users might enrich existing sources through creative activities.

●      Between amateurism and citizen science: What are the sources of legitimacy for user involvement? What distinguishes citizen science from amateurism? What are the boundaries of involvement, so that the foundations for research credibility and validity are not affected? What are the forms, best practices, promises and limits of crowdsourcing?

●      Epistemologies, languages, vocabularies: Which forms of knowledge are cultivated and disseminated through participatory archival projects? How might linguistic frameworks usher in fresh forms of thinking and reveal underlying frameworks?

●      Impacts on practice. How does the reuse of cultural content feed back into artistic and scholarly practices? How does the fictional user inform on the development of archival practices?

●      Processes and tools: What processes, flows, methodologies are there that support rewarding ways of involving the user and the public in storing, classifying, and configuring access pathways to archival material? What digital tools, platforms and infrastructures?

Format for submissions

Paper presentations are limited to 20 minutes. Proposals for roundtables, demonstrations and other non-standard presentations will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

In your proposal please include the following:

Names of presenters and organisational/institutional affiliation(s)

Technical, space and duration requirements

Biography (max 100 words)

Title and type of submission (panel, poster, performance, etc.)

500 word abstract/description

Bibliography (optional)

The deadline for submission of proposals is 15th of January 2016.

Proposals and enquiries should be sent to Hetty Blades: 

Registration for the event will cost £20/£15 for concessions

Organising committee: David Bennett, Hetty Blades, Rosamaria Cisneros, Rebecca Stancliffe and Sarah Whatley.