Gatherings for Common Practices: New Alternate Format for 2019 DSA Conference at Northwestern University
September 12, 2018
The idea of Gatherings stems from our investment in the creation of knowledge as a collective effort. In the spirit of coalitional knowledge production and exchange, we wonder how we might use the space of Dance Studies Association’s 2019 conference, Dancing in Common, to engage in a “practice of commons.” Gatherings for Common Practices is therefore a special presentation format that will take a dialogical approach to share thinking and tools for creative scholarship and pedagogy among attendees. We invite scholars, artists, and artist-scholars to put together discussion sessions that model alternatives to the paper or performance presentation conference structure. We envision a large group of facilitators for each Gathering (ie: 5-6), and that these facilitators will engage in dialogue with those who attend, but how these Gatherings should go more specifically is up to you; we invite you to think of alternative formats that would best address particular topics, dance forms, theories, or epistemologies through rigorous conversation. Group discussions might be based around topics such as “Pedagogies for Un/Common Bodies,” “Syllabi for a 21st Century Dance Commons,” or “Strategies for Survival in Institutional Commons.” Another possibility could be “Research Actions” (a new DSA format that will continue at subsequent conferences) which are shorter provocations that are limited to 5 minutes per panel presenter. This would then provide more time for key respondents, audience questions, or even a performative response. Other possibilities include a study group or research exchange based around a scholar, a book, a choreographer, a performance genre, or a theoretical idea. We encourage creativity, intellectual rigor, and collaborative performative engagements.
Gatherings proposals will follow the same format as ready-made panel proposals. Please submit proposals for Gatherings under Alternate Formats here. For more information about the 2019 conference, including the Call for Proposals, click here.