[GSAUCR] Dance Under Construction - April 16 & 17, 2010 at UC Riverside - Call for papers, performances, and dance videos

[asmit017 at student.ucr.edu]

Dance Under Construction XII: Economies in Motion will be hosted at UC Riverside, Friday & Saturday, April 16 & 17, 2010.

In this email:
•    Keynote speaker announcement
•    Conference description
•    Call for papers and performances (January 15 deadline)
•    Call for dance videos (March 1 deadline)

Keynote Speaker Announcement

We are pleased that Dr. Ara Wilson, Associate Professor of Women’s Studies and Cultural Anthropology and Director of the Study of Sexualities at Duke University and author of The Intimate Economies of Bangkok: Tomboys, Tycoons, and Avon Ladies in The Global City (2004), will be joining us as the keynote speaker for the conference.
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Conference Description

Dance Under Construction (DUC) is an interdisciplinary forum for presenting graduate student work theorizing dance, performance, and the body. It originated as an initiative of the graduate students of UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures and has been hosted by various UC campuses. DUC has grown to an annual student-run event for dance and performance scholars, as well as those in related disciplines. Designed for the development of intellectual inquiry in a supportive and rigorous environment, the conference offers students a chance to explore through experimental modes of research and performance. This interdisciplinary event provides a rare and important discursive space for the stimulation and presentation of cutting-edge research in topics related to the body as a site of cultural identification.
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Call for Papers and Performances

“Economy” most often conjures thoughts of finances and money, or the production, distribution, and consumption of goods. Yet the economy and economies proffer rich terrains of exploration for choreographers, performers, and dance scholars. Inspired by the global financial crisis, U.S. recession, and unprecedented budget cuts across the UC system, this year Dance Under Construction will explore and interrogate “Economies in Motion.”

In response to the times, the conference theme intends to investigate and unravel economies in dance, the body, performance, and other embodied sites of critical analysis. The economy as defined by its financial or monetary meaning greatly impacts dance and the study of dance in a university setting, but there are so many other economies at play, in motion. Economy also refers to the organization of something, a system of exchange and interaction. Choreographers account for these economies (for example, of space, sexuality, gender, politics, power…the list goes on and on) when creating work and these encounters and systems of organization are ripe for the picking by dance scholars.

“Economies in Motion” will be addressed during panels presenting choreography and paper. Topics can include, but are not limited to:

•       choreographing the recession
•       embodying economies
•       economies of politics, gender, race, class, power, etc.
•       intimate economies/economies of intimacy, love, sex, sexuality
•       global bodies and transnational bodies
•       inverting, protesting, and challenging systems of exchange
•       performing institutional culture(s)
•       transgressing systems of power
•       tactics for creative fundraising
•       laboring bodies/bodies as labor
•       dance and/or bodies as a commodity
•       negotiating citizenships and blurring boundaries
•       the poetics of economy in movement practice

We invite broad and innovative interpretations of the conference theme through papers, projects, and performances. Work that utilizes and/or analyzes various mediums such as dance, film, text, cultural production, and other performance genres are encouraged. Proposals for panels, working groups, professional development workshops, and roundtable discussions are also welcome.

Applicants should submit an abstract (250-300 words) of your paper, performance, or project and working bibliography, if applicable. Please include your full name, contact information, institutional affiliation, brief biography (2-3 sentences), and indicate all technological and space requirements. Specify in your application whether a performance space or classroom setting would best suit your work, and please plan not to exceed a time limit of 20 minutes. DUC aspires to foster a community and network of support for dancers and scholars, so please be prepared to talk about your work and to engage with the work of others.

Please direct your proposals or inquiries to dance_under_construction at yahoo.com by January 15, 2010.
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Call for Dance Videos

Dance Under Construction XII: Economies in Motion is pleased to accept video dance submissions for its 2010 conference. Accepted short dance videos and films will be featured during the conference in April as an installation. The shorts may be dance documentary, video dance, or experimental dance technology.

Video submissions should be sent as a DVD along with at least one still image of the work. Please include your full name, affiliation, mailing address, e-mail address, phone number, title of film, running time, year of production, a brief description of the film, and list of credits as part of your submission. Also indicate if conference organizers may use up to 30 seconds of footage from your title to promote the event. Please do not submit more than one entry; video dance films should be no longer than 15 minutes.

Dance video submissions should be sent to:

Dance Under Construction XII
Attention: Minerva Tapia
Department of Dance
University of California, Riverside – ARTS 121
900 University Avenue
Riverside, CA 92521

All video submissions must be received before March 1, 2010. If you would like your DVD returned, please include a self-addressed envelope with postage along with your submission. If you do not want your video returned, it will be donated to the UCR dance video library.

For more information, please contact dance_under_construction at yahoo.com.
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