International symposium 2027
Dance and power; the power(s) of dance
Call for papers
In 2001, the seminar entitled “Dance and politics,” organized by the CN D and Mas de la danse, attested to the need to tackle the political dimension that is present in dance. Twenty-five years later, the symposium “Dance and power; the power(s) of dance” wishes to revisit this issue and shed new light on it through the perspective of the question of power.
This international symposium will interrogate the many different ways in which dance can be connected to power in its various forms. We consider professional and non-professional dance practices through all their different facets – creation, performance, transmission or research. This symposium will explore these relationships from the double perspective condensed in its title: by analyzing the ways in which dance is shaped and infused by power, as well as the kinds of power dance can also mobilize, invest or invent.
By doing so, we interrogate the diversity of aesthetics that the term “dance” brings together, as well as the various artistic, social and political contexts in which these aesthetics unfold.
Papers can be articulated along multiple perspectives, such as:
- Line of inquiry n°1 - Dance and action: sensory power
- Line of inquiry n°2 - Dance and counter power: memory, history and narratives
- Line of inquiry n°3 - Dance and empowerment: norms, repression and resistance
The detailed symposium program will be announced in the spring of 2027.
Communication and participation guidelines
Our CFP is addressed to artists, dance practitioners, researchers, PhD candidates and PhD graduates, as well as dance instructors and dance professionals, whatever their field.
The symposium will be held in French but simultaneous translation can be provided for contributors in English or Spanish, please contact us for further information at: colloque2027@cnd.fr.
Please send abstracts (in English or in French) via the online form before March 6, 2027.
Notifications of acceptance will be sent on April 6, 2027.
19 > 11.20.2027
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
Scientific coordinating committee
Laurent Barré
Head of the Research and Choreographic repertoires in the CN D
Luar Maria Escobar
Scholar, professor and dance artist. Associate researcher with the « Danse, Geste et Corporéité » research unit in Université Paris 8