Dance Research Matters releases events for February and March 2025

Digital Black Dance Ecologies Network

31 January – 1 February 2025: ‘Digital Horizons: Black Dance Artists' Residency’. Venue: Birmingham Open Media. More details: https://www.digitalblkdance.org/get-involved/#calendar-b4dcb6c1-a23e-489a-8128-91bdd81773c8-event-m488kscm

Digital Black Dance Ecologies is offering a funded professional development for 10 UK-based Black dance artists who want to explore the possibilities of engaging digital and immersive technologies in their practice. This 3-day programme will provide opportunities to explore Motion Capture, VR, XR and Sound Technologies. Additionally, there will be opportunities to network with peers and hear from established practitioners in this area.

4 February 2025, 5.30-7pm: ‘Building Networks and Portability: Navigating Career Moves within and Beyond the UK’ with Professor Melissa Blanco Borelli. Online. Book: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/4-building-networks-and-portability-tickets-1139700778709

This event is part of the Network’s Early Career Mentorship Programme for Black academics in dance, performance, and tech. This session by Professor Melissa Blanco Borelli will explore how to navigate academic careers within and beyond the UK, with a particular focus on developing professional networks and fostering connections. Topics will include:

· Networking Strategies: Identifying and engaging with key individuals and organizations in the field of dance/performance, both in the UK and internationally.

· Building a Strong Online Presence: Leveraging online platforms and social media to showcase your research and expertise.

· Navigating Job Applications: Crafting compelling applications for academic positions in the UK and internationally.

· Understanding International Opportunities: Exploring research and teaching opportunities in other countries for those considering career moves abroad.

28 February DEADLINE

PhD studentship: Digital Black Practice at the Intersection of Racial Inequity and Ecological Justice

Deadline for expressions of interest: 28 February 2025 Further details: https://www.cssd.ac.uk/research/pteq

The Centre for Performance, Technology, and Equity (PTEQ) at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in collaboration with the Digital Black Dance Ecologies Network are accepting applications for a fully-funded PhD studentship.

Building from the AHRC-funded research network Digital Black Dance Ecologies, this fully-funded PhD project offers the opportunity to conduct original research at the intersections of digital Black performance practices, racial inequity, and ecological injustice. Proposals should articulate the potential for transformative insights into how digital technologies can challenge societal inequities and inspire meaningful engagement with urgent global issues, by exploring questions such as:

How can specific technologies and techniques be employed to create immersive performance experiences with particular focus on issues of racial and ecological injustice? How might live data be utilised in performance to portray the ongoing impacts of climate-affected environments on Black communities for diverse audiences? In what ways can the development and design of immersive technologies for artistic purposes contest their colonial and extractive histories? We particularly welcome applications from artist-researchers who are already working in one or more of these areas, including through VR/AR/XR, real-time data in performance, and/or installation, and have a sense of the artistic, activist, and/or theoretical landscapes in which that practice takes place. This research may draw on critical frameworks including Digital Black Studies, African and Caribbean Diasporic Dance and/or Performance Studies, Environmental Humanities, and Decolonial Technological Praxis.

March 2025: ‘Feast & Fellowship: Black Dance, Performance, and Tech ECR Gathering’ with Dr Tia-Monique Uzor. Location: TBC. Booking details to follow. This event is part of the Network’s Early Career Mentorship Programme for Black academics in dance, performance, and tech. Visit https://www.digitalblkdance.org/events/ for more details and booking.

Future Ecologies: Producing Dance Network (FE:PDN)

18th February 2025 – an Open Forum at Newcastle Dance City: Reimagining Producing Dance from 11.00am. Follow https://www.fepdn.net/posts/ for details.

19th March 2025 – the FE:PDN Final Event: Report and Responses The Place, London Follow https://www.fepdn.net/posts/ for details. 

Dancing Otherwise Network: Exploring Pluriversal Practices

12 February 2025, 12-7.30pm: ‘Moving Otherwise: Making Change’ at Kingston University. Free and open to the public. Book: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/moving-otherwise-making-change-tickets-1089889953189?aff=oddtdtcreator 

This is the Dancing Otherwise network’s final event. It will be an in-person gathering that asks: What next? What are the future directions for UK dance research? How might we contribute to the development of a radical model of dance ecology to ensure that equity and critical diversity are encapsulated in the field as it moves forwards? Workshops and discussions will be followed by an improvised performance from choreographer and improviser Seke Chimutengwende. Full programme details to follow.

Critical Dance Pedagogy

27 February 2025, 4.30-6pm: an online introduction to Critical Dance Pedagogy (invite online)

This session will be run by the Critical Dance Pedagogy Network for initial teaching training students (PGCE/SKITT/Schools Direct) who are specialising in Dance.

South Asian Dance Equity (SADE): The Arts that British South Asian Dance Ignores Network

26 March 2025, 3-5pm: ‘South Asian Dance and Adivasi/Folk Identities’ (webinar). This online gathering and final SADE webinar will host a panel of artists and academics speaking on dance, indigenous knowledges and activism, and Adivasi/folk forms of worldmaking. Booking details to follow.

27 March 2025: South Asian Dance Equity (SADE) Stakeholder Meeting (invitation only): Hosted by Nupur Arts, Leicester. This in-person gathering will bring together regional stakeholders to discuss indigeneity in British South Asian dance research and practice.

31 March-1 April 2025: South Asian Dance Equity (SADE): The Arts that British South Asian Dance Ignores Network final 2-day symposium followed by an evening of practice sharing. Venue: The Place, London. Booking details to follow. Follow https://www.instagram.com/southasiandanceequity for details of all events.