Congress on Research in Dance News

Page to Stage: Learning Dance Repertory from Notation Scores

CORD Office — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:52:50 GMT

Page to Stage:

Learning Dance Repertory from Notation Scores

Dance Notation Bureau Summer Course

Learn dance repertory and staging through score reading. Have fun while learning dance works from the Dance Notation Bureau Library that you can use with your students. Dancers and teachers are welcome! Dance training is necessary, but knowledge in Labanotation is not required. Repertory drawn from notation scores of modern dance, ballet and folk dance. Early Registration discount by June 1, 2012

7/30-8/10, 2012, Monday - Friday, 9-11:45am

30 East 31st Street, 5th FL, New York, NY 10016

Visit www.dancenotation.org and click on DNB News for more information.

Dance Heritage Coalition archives receive funding through the “Hidden Collections” program

CORD Office — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:42:24 GMT

Dance Heritage Coalition archives receive funding through the “Hidden Collections” program

Funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) to make rare materials accessible to teachers and researchers The Dance Heritage Coalition (DHC) announces an exciting collaborative project to create access to 22 dance legacy collections held by seven archives. The Foundations of Dance Research project includes materials from 1880 to 2011 relating to dance performance, theory, and education at Arizona State University, Dance Notation Bureau, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Library of Congress, Museum of Performance & Design, The Ohio State University, and UCLA Library. These collections share a common connection to sources of fundamental change and creativity in dance style, technique, or theory, and have contributed to the development of dance in America during the 20th century.

Among the collections are several from individuals who have made a valuable impact on the field of dance.

• modern dance pioneers Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn

• Shawn’s associates Jess Meeker and Barton Mumaw

• second-generation modern dancer and choreographer Kenneth Rinker

• postmodern choreographer and dancer Robert Ellis Dunn

• film choreographer Marge Champion

• mime specialists Sandra Hughes and Robert Post

• ballet dancer and company director Michael Smuin

• scholar and ethnologist Allegra Fuller Snyder

• critic and writer Janice Ross

• Dalcroze eurhrymics teacher John Colman

• Dalcroze biographer and musicologist Irwin Spector

• dance notation creator Rudolf Laban

Read the full press release

Call for Nominations: Selma Jeanne Cohen Prize in Dance Aesthetics

CORD Office — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:39:13 GMT

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

SELMA JEANNE COHEN PRIZE IN DANCE AESTHETICS

In memory of Selma Jeanne Cohen, the American Society for Aesthetics established in 2008 a $1000 biennial prize in dance aesthetics, dance theory, or the history of dance. The next prize will be for a critical article or book of distinction published in English in the biennium from July 2010 to June 2012.

The prize winner will be selected by a committee of three members appointed by the President of the ASA and will be notified by September 2012. The award will be announced publicly during the national meeting of the ASA on October 24-27, 2012, in St. Louis, MO. The winner will be encouraged but not required to attend the meeting. The prize may not be awarded if, in the opinion of the judges, no nomination of sufficient merit and appropriateness is received.

The ASA selection committee welcomes published work of distinction that contributes to dance aesthetics, dance theory, or the history of dance. Publication is understood to mean publication in venues with peer review recognized by the scholarly community and that are permanently available to the interested scholarly community of students and researchers. Nominations will be judged based on significance of the topic or issue, quality of the research, quality of the writing, originality, and contribution to the dance literature.

Submissions should be directed to Dabney Townsend, ASA Secretary/Treasurer, at P. O. Box 915, Pooler, GA 31322 or Dabney.Townsend@armstrong.edu The nominated article or book must be submitted in full. Electronic submissions of articles are preferable, if available, in PDF format replicating the original publication. The deadline for receipt of nominations is August 1, 2012.

Naked Truth: Strip Clubs, Democracy, and a Christian Right

CORD Office — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:20:59 GMT

The University of Texas Press website is offering a pre-publication discount for Judith Lynne Hanna’s forthcoming book: https://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/hannak.html

6 x 9 in.

290 pp., 27 photos, 1 illus., 1 table

ISBN: 978-0-292-72911-7

$55.00, hardcover

33% website discount: $36.85

Not yet published; available for pre-order

ISBN: 978-0-292-73576-7

$24.95, paperback

33% website discount: $16.72

Not yet published; available for pre-order

May 2012

Naked Truth: Strip Clubs, Democracy, and a Christian Right

By Judith Lynne Hanna

Across America, strip clubs have come under attack by a politically aggressive segment of the Christian Right. Using plausible-sounding but factually untrue arguments about the harmful effects of strip clubs on their communities, the Christian Right has stoked public outrage and incited local and state governments to impose onerous restrictions on the clubs with the intent of dismantling the exotic dance industry. But an even larger agenda is at work, according to Judith Lynne Hanna. In Naked Truth, she builds a convincing case that the attack on exotic dance is part of the activist Christian Right’s “grand design” to supplant constitutional democracy in America with a Bible-based theocracy.

Hanna takes readers onstage, backstage, and into the community and courts to reveal the conflicts, charges, and realities that are playing out at the intersection of erotic fantasy, religion, politics, and law. She explains why exotic dance is a legitimate form of artistic communication and debunks the many myths and untruths that the Christian Right uses to fight strip clubs. Hanna also demonstrates that while the fight happens at the local level, it is part of a national campaign to regulate sexuality and punish those who do not adhere to Scripture-based moral values. Ultimately, she argues, the naked truth is that the separation of church and state is under siege and our civil libertiesundefinedfree speech, women’s rights, and free enterpriseundefinedare at stake.

A leading dance scholar and critic who has served as an expert court witness in more than one hundred exotic dance cases nationwide, Hanna is Affiliate Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Maryland. She has written hundreds of articles and numerous books, including To Dance Is Human: A Theory of Nonverbal Communication; The Performer-Audience Connection; Dance, Sex, and Gender; Dancing for Health: Conquering and Preventing Stress; and Partnering Dance and Education.

www.judithhanna.com

92Y Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) Weekend Workshop: Anatomy in Movement for Dance, Sports, Yoga & Fitness

CORD Office — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:47:40 GMT

92Y Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) Weekend Workshop:

Anatomy in Movement for Dance, Sports, Yoga & Fitness

Theodore Dimon, Jr., MA, EdD

Sat-Sun, Apr 28-29, 1:30-6:30 pm, 2 sessions

92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center

$185 until Apr 21, $200 after

This functional anatomy course demystifies the marvelous design of the human form and the ways the body is naturally intended to move. Understand how the body’s component parts work both separately and as a whole. Experience hands-on demonstration of how muscle systems work, and look at the pitfalls that may be encountered when these systems are not functioning in harmony.

SUNY Empire State College credit available with additional fee. Call 212.415.5551, for more information.

The Latest Issue of the DRJ is now available on online!

CORD Office — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:30:58 GMT

Dance Research Journal

Volume 44, Issue 1

CORD is pleased to announce that the latest issue of the Dance Research Journal is now available online through Cambridge Journals Online. To make locating this issue of the journal easier, please log into the website using your email address and password. After logging in, please navigate to this page. If you encounter any difficulties, please contact us. If your membership category is "Electronic and Hard-copy Access", you will receive your personal print copy of this journal in your mailbox in the next 30 days!

Call for Nominations: CORD Board of Directors 2012

CORD Office — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 20:40:19 GMT

Call for Nominations: CORD Board of Directors 2012

Dear CORD Colleagues:

It is that time of year again when the CORD Board looks to the membership to nominate potential candidates to fill openings on the CORD Board of Directors.

Board members are responsible for attending twice-yearly board meetings to assist with the administrative and strategic planning needs of CORD. Individual board members each serve for a term of three years. Candidates must be CORD members to be eligible to run (interested non-members could join and then be put on the ballot).

Membership on the board is an excellent way to interact with your colleagues, to help guide the locations and themes of upcoming conferences, and to fulfill service requirements for tenure and promotion. Board members are responsible for funding their own travel expenses.

This year we are seeking:

· President-Elect (to serve a one year term and then move into the Presidency for two years and serve as a Past President for a fourth year)

· Treasurer-Elect (to serve a one year term and then move into the Treasurer position for two years and serve as a Past Treasurer for a fourth year)

· five at-large members (to each serve three year terms)

If you would like to nominate a colleague, please contact that person first to determine if s/he is a member (or would be willing to join) and would be willing to serve if elected, then simply send the name and all appropriate contact information to the email address below. You may nominate more than one candidate. We encourage self-nominations, as well. Once nominees have been identified, the CORD Election Committee will seek further information from the nominees and select a slate of candidates. We will then send out ballots to the membership to elect those who will actually serve (nomination does not ensure service, Board members must be voted in by the CORD membership as a whole).

Please take a moment to consider this important request, and send any nominations by APRIL 16, 2012. Please specify the office to which you are nominating your candidate(s).

In addition to Board of Director positions, CORD also has several committees that work with the Board that are seeking members. These committees include the following:

· Awards
· Conference
· Elections
· Membership
· Technology

If you or one of your colleagues is interesting in serving the field of dance, but cannot make the commitment to two annual meetings at this time, please consider expressing your interesting joining a committee.

Thank you for helping this organization to continue to serve the field of dance.

Send nominations to:

Anne Flynn, CORD Elections Chair

flynn@ucalgary.ca

The Nadia and Nicholas Nahumck Fellowship

CORD Office — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:17:26 GMT

The Nadia and Nicholas Nahumck Fellowship

Purpose: To help support research on a dance-related subject and its subsequent publication.

Eligibility: Established scholars, recent Ph.D.s or Ph.D. candidates who have completed all degree program requirements except dissertation research. Preference will be given to applicants planning to enhance their research findings with movement notations such as Labanotation and/or with digital media such as photographs, video, or web-based formats.

Prize: $4,000 research fellowship and $1,000 award for publication

Regularity: Awarded biennially, or as frequently as allowed by investment returns. Will be offered in 2012.

Administration: The fellowship and award are administered by a Chair and two additional committee members, appointed by the SEM President. The Chair will be responsible for monitoring the number of applicants and will encourage further applications when the number is insufficient according to the committee's judgment. Committee members are not eligible to apply for the fellowship and award during their tenure on the committee. The fellowship and award may be withheld by decision of the committee.

Application Process: A completed application consists of:

Research proposal, typed, not to exceed four single-spaced pages (including references).
Proposed budget
Current curriculum vitae
Names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of two references
Letter from the Graduate Program Advisor verifying completion of all program degree requirements except dissertation, if applicant is has not completed the doctorate.

Application Deadline: April 1, 2012.

Send Application To: Send email with attachments to semprog@indiana.edu. Address email to Chair, Nadia and Nicholas Nahumck Fellowship Committee, Society for Ethnomusicology.

Recipients:

2010: Mustafa Avci. "Köçeks: Male Belly Dancers in Turkey."
2008: Sydney Hutchinson. "Meaningful movements: Gender, politics, and collective memory in Dominican carnival."
2006: Louise Meintjes. "Dust of the Zulu: Performing Manhood in the Post-Apartheid Struggle."
2001: Joanna L. Bosse. Limited by Prosperity: The Appeal and Problem of the "Exotic" in Ballroom Dance and Music.

Outrage! Discourses, Practices, and Politics of Protest and Social Transformation

CORD Office — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:24:30 GMT

Outrage!

Discourses, Practices, and Politics of Protest and Social Transformation

APRIL 18, 19, 20, 2013

ELLIOTT UNIVERSITY CENTER

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, GREENSBORO

SEWSA 2013 provides a forum to analyze, discuss, and represent diverse histories, theories, and actions that have, and have the potential to, inspire social change. The conference invites conversation surrounding Outrage!

Discourses, Practices, and Politics of Protest and Social Transformation that have been and will be transformative in the interdisciplinary study of women, gender, sexuality, and in framing and exploring social experience. The conference will foster a vigorous, open, and inclusive dialogue about the need for, and possibility of, different avenues to change and transformation. Rage, outrage, protest, organizing, diplomacy, and compromise will be considered as they are manifested in the discourses, practices, and products of art, scholarship, and social and public service remanifested in the discourses, practices, and products of art, scholarship, and social and public service.

Download the full Call for Proposals

Remembering Della Davidson

CORD Office — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:19:28 GMT

"Remembering Beloved Della Davidson"

Della Davidson was a vital creative force for the Department of Theatre and Dance for over ten years and was a central figure in the Bay Area dance world since the early 1980s. She has been described as one of the West Coast’s most fluent writers for the body, a dance maker of works that ruminate with poignancy and beauty on topics ranging from a woman’s anger to disease, death and the fragility of human existence. Her work echoed with references to the United States tradition in modern dance, and yet her dancers perform with a passionate abandonment of commitment and rage. Over her successful career, she created more than 40 works and received many awards including the Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography and the 1990 North American Award for Choreography.

Lynette Hunter, professorin the Department of Theatre and Dance, expressed her deep sorrow for Davidson’s passing. “Della Davidson leaves an extraordinary presence of light, inspiration and creative integrity.” Hunter said. “Without her, the programs in Theatre and Dance and in Performance Studies would simply not carry the imaginative energy that they do, and with her memory they will continue to do so. She touched us, helped us make dreams and ideas into movement, and that legacy will stay with us forever, gifting the future.”

Born in Texas and raised in Michigan, she moved to New York City to start her career in dance in 1972. Ballet-trained since elementary school, she discovered that being over six foot on pointe made classical partnering impossible, but at Michigan State she discovered modern dance, and at the University of Utah she apprenticed as a choreographer. After earning an M.A. in 1983 at the University of Arizona, Tucson, she began co-directing the San Francisco Moving Company with Ellen Bromberg. Dance scholar Janice Ross identified the style of Della Davidson’s work as an invitation to interplay between narrative content and physical form, between physicality and theatre. Davidson once told Ross that she felt “at home” ina mixture of theatre and education with choreography that emphasizes that “we all have our own artistry.”

Davidson arrived at UC Davis to become a professor of dance in 2001 just as the Department of Theatre and Dance became a merged department. At UC Davis she wore many hats, not the least of which was to help articulate what an interdisciplinary M.F.A. in theatre and dance might become. She was the artistic director of the department’s Sideshow Physical Theatre, which she also established. Each piece of choreography usually took years to complete, as she worked interactively with the dancers and other collaborators to develop the work. A survivor of Hodgkin’s disease that she conquered at the age of 28, her gift was to make work darkly-toned yet human, with beautiful movement that faced tragedy with hope. Driven by an urge to get away from the “roles” she and other women had been brought up to inhabit, she often created dance that evoked the raw energy of forceful women, their strength, physicality and sensuality. Heavily ironic, pieces such as 10 P.M. Dream or Fierce/Pink/House displayed gender stereotypes only to expose them as insidious traps, and she was firmly committed to feminism as a challenge to oppression and small-mindedness.

John Iacovelli, a professor in the theatre and dance department, offered fond memories of Davidson. “What I remember most of Della was her warm smile and her passion for her students,” he said. “She was an expert mentor and has inspired and guided a whole new generation of choreographers and dancers, many of whom now have their own companies. To watch one of her dance pieces was like watching a dream, full of emotion and power.”

A recipient of the UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellowship here at UC Davis, much of her new work was involved in multidisciplinary choreography. Workingagain with Ellen Bromberg, the choreographer/dance filmmaker, she co-created The Weight of Memory and, with the Keck CAVES institute in the Department of Geology, Collapse (suddenly falling down). Della Davidson was working with Bromberg on a new piece for this spring, “and the snow fell softly on all the living and the dead,” which will premiere in May 2012.

Bromberg was deeply saddened by the news of Davidson’s passing. “Della was a profound and compassionate artist and person who brought out that depth in the lives she touched,” she said. “She lived in a world of possibilities, listening to her muses who always hovered close by. She believed in beauty, in the excavation of personal truths, and in the possibility of transformation. We shared so much as dear friends and collaborators throughout our lives and I miss her deeply. Her passing is a great loss for us all.”

Jessie Ann Owens, dean of the Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies, said of Davidson, “Della was a big and generous presence on our campusundefinedsomeone who touched all of us lucky enough to work with her and learn from her. I will miss her wise counsel and her absolute dedication to her art. She was truly an inspiration.”

Davidson’s bywords were “creativity” and “collaboration,” and one of her greatest gifts was to recognize potential in others and bring out their strengths, whether they were her students, her dancers, her collaborators, her colleagues or her friends.

A Sacramento resident, Davidson passed away on March 13 at the age of 60, after a long battle with cancer. She is survived by her husband, Mark Rieff. A service will be held in her memory on Tuesday, March 20, at Oakmont Memorial Park, 2099 Reliez Valley Road, Lafayette.

Call for Research Articles: Dance Chronicle

CORD Office — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:27:14 GMT

A CALL FOR RESEARCH ARTICLES

To be published in

DANCE CHRONICLE: STUDIES IN DANCE AND THE RELATED ARTS

** Dance Critics and Criticism **

Dance, performed, calls for response. While each observer can react to a work, form judgments, and make choices about it, the professional critic has emerged as an articulate voice of experience, taste, advocacy, censure, and partisanship. Trends in dance such as “fusion” forms and global dissemination of dances and styles create challenges as well as opportunities for critical response.

We invite research submissions to a special issue of Dance Chronicle devoted to the theme, “Dance Critics and Criticism,” to be edited by Lynn Matluck Brooks and Joellen A. Meglin. Papers might address such subjects as those listed below and other topics proposed by authors:

How has the work of any particular critic shaped the discourse and dance presentation of his or her time?
Have certain artists or works provoked significant or unusual critical response?
Does dance criticism itself provoke response? If so, from whom? What form does that response take?
What motivations and interests have directed dance criticism in different times and places? What might particular histories of dance criticism reveal about dance as art and as cultural phenomenon?
What makes dance criticism meaningful? Have particular aesthetic theories or schools of thought been associated with certain critics or approaches to dance criticism?
Are distinct critical perspectives applicable to particular kinds of dance, or are there “constants,” even a “unified field” of critical theory, for all? Are there (should there be?) as many theories of criticism as there are forms of dance?
How have dance critics grappled with responding to artworks originating in cultures other than their own?
How are social media and the Internet effecting changes in dance criticism? What are the implications of these changes?

Authors may wish to consider Taylor & Francis’s capacity of publishing material electronically concurrently with the printed version, so that readers can follow digital recordings of music and dance (examples) referred to in the article text. All manuscripts will receive double blind peer review. Submissions will be accepted at any time before August 15, 2012. Send manuscripts or inquiries to Lynn Matluck Brooks at lynn.brooks@fandm.edu or Joellen Meglin at jmeglin@temple.edu.

Style and formatting guidelines are available as “Instructions for Authors” at: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/journal.asp?issn=0147-2526&linktype=44

26th International Competition for Choreographers Hanover 2012

CORD Office — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:14:58 GMT

26^th International Competition for Choreographers Hanover 2012

Since 26 years the Ballet Society Hanover organize the International Competition for Choreographers Hanover. Within the last years the competition estimated as an important event in the national and international dance scene. We are proud receiving the following statement: "This is the most interesting, well organised, progressive choreographic competition in central europe with an international reputation. It is a privilege to have been part of this renowned competition, a platform of artistic exchanges. The support of the Ballett Gesellschaft Hannover for the world of dance is paramount!" Richard Wherlock, Director Ballet Basel.

These are the competition guidelines: The competition is open for choreographers as well as for dancers with professional education. There is no limit regarding the stylistic direction. Performances will not only be rated for the imaginative use of space and time, but also for the way the ideas are realized and transferred to the dancers. The competition is limited to choreographers aging 35 years or younger. The length of performances should have a range between 5 and 15 minutes. A solo-ballet may not be interpreted by the choreographer him/herself. The choice of subject and music is optional. The choreographic work must be submitted on a DVD.

A prejury will select a maximum of 20 the submitted works, which will enter the contest. The artistic director of the jury is Ed Wubbe, director of the Scapino Ballett.

Prize: The money that can be won for the first 3 endowed prizes amounts 13.500 EUR. The audience prize amounts 1.000 EUR. Furthermore there is a critics prize of 1.500 EUR and the Scapino Production Prize.

new production prize:

Since 2005 Ed Wubbe, director of the Scapino Ballet Rotterdam awarded the Scapino production prize. This year we can presentate a second production prize. 2011 John Neumeier founded the Bundesjugenballett. In 2012 this young company awarded the Bundesjugendballett production prize.

We would be very grateful for a editorial mention in your medium. For any questions please do not hesitate to contact us, telephone ++49. (0)5109 .5646-14. Please find the actual terms of conditions, application forms and photos of the last competitions on the internet at http://www.ballettgesellschaft.de.

Call for Submissions: Special Issue of the Dance Research Journal

CORD Office — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:15:44 GMT

Call for Submissions:

Special Issue of Dance Research Journal on Dance and Disability

(Final deadline for submissions: January 1, 2013)

The intersection of dance and disability is a rich site at which to explore the overlapping constructions of physical ability, aesthetic sensibility, individual subjectivity, and cultural visibility in movement performances. Dance Research Journal is calling for submissions to a special issue focused around this topic in order to engage with the many interesting and critically important issues that arise when one begins to think about dance from the perspective of disability and, conversely, disability from the perspective of dance. Questions we might consider are: What is different about mixed-ability dance companies? How do integrated dance companies shift our expectations of virtuosity and visibility in dance? Is it possible to perform disability without being “really” disabled? What is the relationship between disability on stage and what Arlene Croce infamously termed “victim art”? How can we think about the prevalence of moments of awkwardness, stumbling, spastic movements, and prosthetic devices in contemporary dance? How do different cultures relate to aging dancers or disabled dancers? How do dance films represent disability differently? What is the relationship between representations of disabled bodies and queer bodies in contemporary dance? What would it mean to open the discussion of disability in dance to include non-visual disabilities such as body-image disorders?

Final deadline for submissions: January 1, 2013

Approximate length: 4,500 words (not including notes & bibliography)

Inquiries to Guest Editors Ann Cooper Albright (ann.cooper.albright@oberlin.edu) or Gabriele Brandstetter (theater-tanz@fu-berlin.de)

Hotel Reservations for 2012 Annual Conference Now Available

CORD Office — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:33:03 GMT

Make Your Reservation for the 2012 Annual Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico Now!

CORD has negotiated a special room rate of $115.00 per night single/double occupancy. Since this is an Embassy Suites, a hot, cooked to order breakfast and nightly manager's reception is included in your room rate.

Reserve online or call 505-245-7100

CORD 2011 Award Recipients

CORD Office — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:47:13 GMT

The CORD Award for Outstanding Publication was presented to

Susan A. Reed for

Dance and the Nation: Performance, Ritual, and Politics in Sri Lanka

The CORD Award for Outstanding Research was presented to

Mark Franko

The Dixie Durr Award for Outstanding Service to Dance Research was presented to

Barbara Sellers-Young