2006 DRST（Dance Research Society, Taiwan） ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Dancing under the Rising Sun:
The Influences of Japanese Colonialism on Dance in the Asia-Pacific Region

8 - 10 December 2006, Taipei National University of the Arts

Call for Papers
 

What did the Japanese colonialism bring to the colonized countries in the Asia-Pacific region before the end of the Second World War? Political hegemony or modernization? Uprooted traditions or transplanted new cultures? How has this legacy of colonialism molded the dance scene in contemporary situations in various Asian countries? 
As a result of the search for national identity in the postcolonial era, Taiwan’s reflections on the Japanese colonial influences have continuously motivated the academic to examine the ideological and practical impacts that have intertwined with or even dominated peoples’ daily lives in many aspects and on different levels. In the area of dance in particular, Japan once served as the channel for the “new dance” formulated in Europe and America; moreover, the Japanese regime nurtured the first generation of contemporary choreographers and dance educators in Taiwan. In recent years, studies focused on this period have begun to accumulate and gained attention among the academics and dance practitioners alike.  
Though many Asia-Pacific countries shared the common past of Japanese occupation before 1945, their colonial experiences were hardly a unified one. Different cultural schemes and historical courses contributed to the complexity of regional developments. This conference is the first attempt to gather, compare, exchange, and reflect on the experiences of different countries and geographic areas. Diverse and even contrasting interpretations of the influences of Japanese colonialism are expected, and will surely broaden our understanding of how human beings connect themselves to history, culture and society through dance. Dance practitioners, scholars and historians, as well as researchers in culture studies and other related social sciences, are welcome to participate in and contribute to this dialogue. The conference’s themes include:

 This CFP is from the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List:
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--Yukihiko YOSHIDA 

CALL FOR PAPERS

Dance Matters

The School of Media, Communication and Culture at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India is pleased to announce a two-day symposium titled Dance Matters on August 10-11 2006.  This symposium proposes to bring to the forefront innovative approaches that have placed dance at the center of scholarly research on body, ritual, culture, identity, history, gender, and power.  Selected papers from the symposium will be published in a book.

Dance is a vital aspect of expressive culture.  It embodies the cultural experience and expression of a particular collective identity.  Notions of culture, identity, and history are continually re-invented through dance.  Indian dance forms have emerged as an important critical lens to analyze narratives of nationalism, transnationalism, women｡ｦs bodies, and postcolonial politics.  Scholarly research on Indian dance forms has spanned disciplines such as Anthropology, Culture studies, Performance studies, Art history, Postcolonial and Feminist studies.  The recent formulation of Dance studies as an academic discipline is a result of the increased circulation of various dance forms in the international scholarly and art-culture circuits.  This conference will bring scholars and practitioners together on the same platform to evaluate the status of Indian dance forms (ranging from classical, to folk, to Bollywood) in shaping current discourses on culture, tradition, history, identity, human rights and more.  The topics to be covered include

Ч Tradition and Globalization
Ч Religion and Culture
Ч Identity and Hybridity
Ч Gender and Sexuality
Ч Media and Popular Culture
Ч Ethnography and Audience
Ч Dance and Social justice
Ч Ritual and Aesthetics

Please send a brief abstract (350 words) including a title, name, address, email, phone number and institutional affiliation by March 30, 2006. Submit abstracts and direct queries to:

Dr. Nilanjana Gupta, Director
School of Media Communication and Culture Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India
Email: nilaguptaju@yahoo.com

Dr. Pallabi Chakravorty
Department of Music and Dance
Swarthmore College, Pa 19096, U.S.A
Email: pchakra1@swarthmore.edu

Jadavpur University will provide local hospitality for the speakers at the University guesthouse.
Sponsored by UGC University with Potential for Excellence Programme: Studies in Cultural Processes.

Ballet dancers and New Russian Image in 21st century

 Yukihiko YOSHIDA

A new image of Ballet has proposed by Russian Dance. Farukh Rizimatov showed their great performance in his stage last fall. He comes to　Tokyo often recently.
 The most interesting piece is the collaboration with Rosario Romero .　That was  dramatic. Framenco is a form of folk dance in Europe. In that work,  Rizimatov acted with framenco dancers. The taste of ballet dancers harmonized with their worldly mood.
 As his repertoire, the most impressive work was “Adagio Albinoni.” The  miserable men appeared while powdered Ruzimatov dances his solo. The  body and tension which comes from inner energy was powerful. In this work, his body was  close to Butoh. The important Butoh artist, Akira Kasai choreographed him.
 I strongly understand why Kasai did that.
 In usual ballet repertoire, such as “Le Spectre De La Rose” by Fokine  “Carmen” and  “Don Quiote”, young Russian dancers show their flesh  acting and dynamic movement. Their stage was the product of NYC or Soviet  Union at the age of Cold War, 20th century. However, it seems that the new image has been  building up. It is said that the origin of ballet is  Middle East. Their movement represents Russia, which is the important node of cultural economy in Middle East. This phenomena shows that the new  Russian image after Cold War: 20th centuryhas been rising. The stage reminds me of  spreading new world cultural economy and order in the  beginning of 21tst century.

Photo (C) Seto Hidemi