Dance Fields: Staking a Claim for Dance Studies in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Ann R. David, Michael Huxley & Sarah Whatley – Maggie Watson reviews

Dance Fields is an important collection of papers, arising from a 2017 conference convened by the Centre for Dance Research (Coventry University), the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Dance  (De Montfort University) and the Centre for Dance Research (University of Roehampton).  The conference celebrated the coming of age of Dance Studies within the ‘academy’ and is evidence of the breadth, depth, and originality of research on dance in UK universities.  Stephanie Jordan’s Opening Panel Paper notes the vast range of dance scholarship, embracing areas as diverse as history, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, dance science, and of course the dance itself; its choreography and practice.  This collection, through its scope and varied styles of presentation, with examples of interaction between ‘traditional’ and practitioner modes of scholarship, demonstrates the intellectual extent and value of Dance Studies as a discipline in its own right.

 

Marina Collard at Coventry University’s Forward in Motion 6th & 7th December

If you missed the chance to see her at the recent Flourish Dance Scratch Night at Pegasus, Oxford based dance artist Marina Collard will be showing her recent work Small Boat at Forward in Motion 2012, Coventry University’s annual festival of contemporary dance and performance this week on Thursday 6th and Friday 7th December.