Dance Context Journal announces an open call

Style

Ballet, Contemporary Dance, Mime, New Circus, Physical Theatre

Contact person

Petra Dotlačilová
petra.dotlacilova@remove-this.dancecontext.com

Description

Dance Context Journal is a periodical published by Dance Context, z.ú., a follow-up to the previous publication called Special Issue. It focuses on analytically current topics and developments in dance, non-verbal theatre and new circus. The publication is published once a year bilingually, in Czech and English. The Dance Context Journal also publishes peer-reviewed scholarly studies in the field of dance and movement theatre.

In human culture, artistic expressions are often considered the main means of expressing unique ideas and abilities. Among them, dance as an art form carries unique visions and skills, but also struggles with issues related to social and aesthetic norms. 

Even before the emergence of professional education, dance was used as a physical activity that shaped bodies into a period-correct and beautiful form. This tendency has been exacerbated by professional dance, which is most strongly represented in Western culture by classical ballet technique. Aesthetic norms are not only about body types, sizes, and dimensions, but also gender, age, race, origin, etc. Today, the contemporary dance environment in particular is considered a safe space in which individuality and unique identity can be freely expressed. Freedom itself and its value, which can quickly and easily disappear in political and ideological chaos, also becomes a theme.

The new issue of Dance Context Journal aims to explore how identity has been and is currently expressed in dance. It does so with an awareness of changing norms, forms, transformations, and other influences.  

Topical issues that may be raised in the articles include (but are not limited to):

• dance as an expression of identity and as a means to search for it
• changes in social roles of women and men and their influence on the field of dance and its power structure
• new perspectives on the body, its norms and ideals and their influence on dance aesthetics and dance content
• approaches to gender identity and heteronormativity
• reflecting decolonialism and related themes in the Western dance repertoire (traditional and contemporary)
• globalization and migration in confrontation with unique national aesthetic canons

We would like to suggest that the abstracts of proposed articles and studies try to look at the selected issues from the "inside" and avoid the labels "us" and "others", which may imply an evaluative position and a certain mainstream norm. At the same time, looking "from the inside" will make it possible to reveal the principles of identity expression and its forms. The exploration of the chosen topic can take the form of a performance analysis, a theoretical study (historical, contemporary, qualitative, quantitative), a reflection on artistic research and production, or an interview.  

The first thematic section consists of popular science articles and essays. The resulting articles should range in length from 5,400 to 18,000 characters.

The second thematic section is devoted to peer-reviewed studies. Selected articles must meet the standards of a professional scientific periodical in terms of theory, methodology and work with cited sources. The length should be between 18,000 and 36,000 characters.

Abstracts of their articles of 150-300 words and a short biography (100 words) should be submitted by 8 December 2024.

Selected personalities will be contacted by 30 December 2024. The deadline for the submission of popular science articles is 31 January 2025 and for scientific studies 15 February 2025.

More info and application form: dancecontext.com