Spring 2009 Letter to the Membership

May 5, 2009

Dear CORD Members,

The CORD Executive Board met in Atlanta this last weekend.  I am pleased to share with you that CORD is a financially solvent, vibrant organization whose 428 plus members, although primarily based in North America, represent twenty-six countries from around the world. This increase in membership is an indication of the success that the changes CORD has made in its administration the last five years which include the move of DRJ to University of Illinois Press, the engaging of Prime Management Services and the revision of the website. 

I and the other members of the CORD Board deeply appreciate your support for CORD as it has gone through this transformation.

Some areas to highlight are:

Finances:

Thanks to the generosity of Selma Jeanne Cohen and Dixie Durr, CORD now has a significant endowment account of 80,000 dollars.

CORD will continue to look for opportunities to enhance our revenue streams through advertisements by publishers in conference proceedings and programs as well as job postings on CORD website.

Conferences:

The special conference “Global Perspectives on Dance Research and Pedagogy” has generated a great deal of interest by members on both sides of the Atlantic.  Beyond presentations in panels, the conference will include a keynote by Christopher Bannerman and a panel that will feature Thomas DeFrantz, Ken Bartlett and Janice Ross.

Plans for the joint conference with American Society of Theatre Research is proceeding with the theme of “Embodying Power: Work Over Time.” It will take place at the Renaissance Hotel in Seattle, November 18-21, 2010.  Nadine George Graves and Anthea Kraut are the co-chairs for this conference.  More information will be sent to you about it over the summer.

In 2011, there is the potential of a joint conference with Society of Ethnomusicology or and individual conference at Wesleyan or York University.

In 2012, there will be a joint conference with Society of Dance History Scholars at Ohio State University.

Dance Research Journal:

The issue on interdisciplinarity ed by Mark Franko will be at the press in May and will be ready for distribution by June.  This will be followed by a general issue the winter of 2009 and a theme issue on dance and phenomenology is also planned.

SDHS Questionnaire and Questions

The Executive Board thanks Candace Feck and Juliet McMains for creating the questionnaire and the 36 people who responded to the questions. The Executive Board carefully reviewed the responses.  In the consideration of this topic they were particularly influenced by the comments of those who suggested that:

“Intellectually energetic academic fields have more than one organization and a contraction of the organizations within an area is an indication to many that the field itself is contracting in influence.”

“As opposed to other fields such as music, theatre and visual arts where there are many different professional organizations, there are too few opportunities for dance academics to present their scholarship or to gain leadership opportunities.  The consequence of which is there are very few academics with dance backgrounds in leadership positions in the academy.  The existence of two organizations CORD and SDHS expands opportunities and therefore promotes scholarship and leadership within the field of dance studies.”

For these reasons, the Executive Board would suggest seeking further ways to collaborate with SDHS as it did with the Paris Conference and will do so again with the Ohio State University Conference in 2012.  It does not recommend joining with SDHS at this time.

Graduate Students:

The Exec Board considered the recommendations made to enhance graduate involvement in CORD particularly their participation at conferences.  The Exec Board recommends that there be a graduate student panel at future conferences to be adjudicated by the conference committee and that at each conference CORD provide volunteer work to increase the participation of graduate students.

Initiatives:

Ray Miller has agreed to develop and edit a volume on dance that will consider the history of CORD through the individual research projects of its visionary founders and those who have provided leadership in the forty plus years of CORD’s history.

The Fair Use Statement which CORD was involved in helping to create will be ‘rolled out’ by the Dance Heritage Coalition on May 8th.  Judith Lynne Hanna will represent CORD at this event.

Please let me know if you have any questions regarding any of the above.

Warmest regards,

Barbara

Barbara Sellers-Young, Phd
Professor and Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts
York University, Toronto
President, Congress on Research in Dance