The annual symposia are at the core of the Society's activities.

Interdisciplinary in nature, the symposia facilitate exchange as they bring together people from different areas of dance research (dance studies, dance practice, dance therapy, dance educationpedagogy) who present their latest research findings. The symposia offer different presentation formats and constantly develop new ones in which participants are invited to join the discussions.

Additional social events complete the symposias' programs and create space for encounters. Since the symposia are often conceptualized and organized in collaboration with other associations and institutions, they initiate and support the creation of productive local networks focusing on dance.

 

(Virtual) Ecologies in the Field of Dance

Annual symposium of the Society for Dance Research (gtf) 2023

October 27–29, 2023, Cologne 

in cooperation with the Centre for Contemporary Dance (CCD), Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and German Dance Archive Cologne (DTK), with the participation of the Department of Sociology of movement and sport, Philipps-Universität Marburg and École de Recherche Graphique, Brussels (L’erg)

Ecologies on the Move! With its twofold focus on virtualities and ecologies, this year’s annual conference of the Society for Dance Research (gtf) investigates the influence and impact of hybrid media-centered constellations that emerge around dance and dancing. AI in the performative arts, digital education cultures, or an understanding of dance as a data (structure) in archiving propel questions such as:

What practices, discourses, and aesthetics have emerged socially, technically, artistically with and since digitization - and in the aftermath of the pandemic - and how can we research and move with them? What collaborative forms of working together are being opened up by digital media? And how can dance(s) be thought of as an ecological structure, especially under these circumstances?

The conference addresses these questions on- and offline in lectures, workshops and motion labs. Scrolling, speculating, discussing and always in motion, we want to take a look at historical antecedents in the negotiation between dance and technology as well as reflect on changing settings, ways of working and collective knowledge production. We want to ask how - based on an understanding of dance as embedded in socio-ecological structures - media dispositifs of staging, (colonial) power structures and hierarchies can be critically reflected in the virtual realm.

Theoretical contributions of renowned international speakers will examine topics such as choreographies and dramaturgies of the digital, practices of archiving, narratives (from) the crisis, technologies of mediation, or the productivity of the figure of thought of 'ecologies' for (dance) theory and practice. The physical-experimental formats will wander 'hands on' through virtual landscapes or bring bodies and avatars into conversation with each other.

The symposium thus can be seen as a meeting place for interdisciplinary scientific and artistic expertise and, with the participation of numerous cooperation partners and "NFDI4Culture", explicitly invites the sharing of knowledge and networks. Further embedded in the conference is the general meeting and the board elections of the gtf.

Concept/Planning/Execution: Prof. Dr. Yvonne Hardt, Anna Chwialkowska, Marisa Berg