Themes
The ICTMD Study Group on Ethnochoreology’s biennial symposia are dedicated to two selected themes, which form the focus of presentations and discussion. The two themes for the 2026 Symposium are (1) Dance, Migration, and Memory (2) Dance, Humour and Play.
Theme 1: Dance, Migration, and Memory
We welcome papers that address, but are not limited to, the following themes:
-
Migration and the Reconfiguration of Memory Spaces: How do migrant and refugee communities use dance to recreate, contest, or reimagine cultural memory in new sociopolitical environments? How are dance traditions, as crucial forms of embodied knowledge, passed down through generations within migrant communities?
-
Dance in Flux: How dance practice and repertoires change via migrations, and/or are based on transgenerational heritage transmission? How do specific movements, gestures, choreographic structures, and musical elements evoke and perpetuate memories of the past, both personal and shared, based on the ‘constant’ change, yet rooted in present contexts and issues?
-
Dance, Place, and Belonging: How does dance connect migrants to their ancestral homelands and create a sense of place in new environments? How do dance practices negotiate the tension between rootedness and mobility? How do dance performances transform spaces into sites of cultural memory and belonging?
-
Intersections of Dance, Affect, and Identity: How do emotional, sensorial, and corporeal dimensions of dance shape processes of remembering, belonging, and identity formation in migratory, diasporic or transnational settings? How does dance contribute to the construction and negotiation of post-memory narratives, bridging generations, connecting diasporic communities, and fostering a sense of shared history across geographical boundaries?
-
Dance as a Site of Activism and Resistance: How do choreographic works and performative gestures address histories of violence, trauma, erasure, or oppression? How do embodied practices offer forms of resistance or reconciliation? How can dance challenge derogatory views on migrants?
-
Embodied Performance and the Politics of Representation: How do ethnochoreographic works negotiate issues of authenticity, heritage, and cultural appropriation in transnational contexts? What are the ethical implications of representing embodied memory in performative settings?
-
Dance as Embodied Archive: How does dance act as a form of “writing by the body” (Foster, 1995) in the absence of textual records? How do (folk) dancers/dances (are) navigate(d) (via) memories shaped by various forms and outcomes of migration?
-
Post-Memory and Intergenerational Transmission: How is embodied memory inherited and transformed by younger generations within diasporic or migrant communities? What role does dance play in transmitting memory beyond direct personal experience? How is dance used to transmit memories across generations, particularly in contexts where direct experience of historical events is absent but culturally inherited?
-
Dance and Digital Technologies: How are digital technologies being used to document, preserve, disseminate, and revitalize dance traditions associated with migration and cultural memory? What are the ethical considerations involved in archiving and representing these intangible cultural forms in digital spaces?
-
Interdisciplinary Approaches: What interdisciplinary methodologies can bridge the gaps between ethnochoreology, memory studies, migration studies, and trauma studies to explore the complexities of embodied memory? This includes, but is not limited to, ethnographic fieldwork, movement analysis, oral history interviews, archival research, performance analysis, digital ethnography, and participatory dance practice.
Theme 2: Dance, Humour and Play
Topics addressed may include, but are not limited to:
- Multi-scalar analysis of humour / play in dance. At which “level” can humour /play be used in dance: few bars in a dance piece, an entire dance piece, a dance event, a dance genre, etc.
-
What are the forms, processes, and regimes of humour and play in dance? Imitation, parody, comedy, satire, brief wink or allusion, quotation, double meaning, incongruity, ambiguity, exaggeration, competition, game, self- deprecation, grotesque, irony, hyperbolization, travesty, diminution, strangeness, distortion, absurdity, farce, clownery, and so on.
-
Which dimensions of dance are used to convey humour and/or with which one can play: movement itself, rhythm, body, interactions, affects, senses, gaze, structure, music, costumes, props, rendering and rendition of characters, etc.
-
Humour / play in dance as means of social action. Confrontation, defiance, exclusion, transgression, oppression, critique, transformation, inclusion, valorisation, recognition, unification. Humour / play in dance as a means of resistance, anti-systemic agency, giving voice to the marginalized.
-
How are humour / play connected to affects, feelings and the senses: of the dancers, of the musicians, of the audience? Of which kind? Pleasure, joy, frustration, anger, sadness, surprise, nostalgy, etc.
-
Degrees of spontaneity of humour / play. Completely unplanned, improvised or based on a planned script, totally expected, etc. and by whom? Other dancers, musicians, audience, outsiders of the dance tradition (tourists, etc.). Can humour in dance be unconscious? Unexpected by the dancer her.himself?
-
Social and cultural competences to create / understand humour and play in dance. With whom can one play or laugh in dance? With whom one cannot? Which are the categories of participants able / allowed / expected / forbidden to bring humour into dance (genre, age, status, occupation, role, level of expertise, etc.)? What does one need to possess to be able to bring humour into dance / to play with dance? Expertise in the dance genre, specific personality, practice of other dance genres, other performing art, etc.
-
Space and/or time and/or contexts for humour/play in dance: Where, When and How can one play with dance? With whom? Playing with dance / Playing during a dance piece, a dance event.
-
Dance, humour, play and knowledge / knowledge production. Shared references. Themes and references called upon: norms, power, politics, kinship, relationships, everyday life events, sport, etc., but also other dance genre. What is the trans-cultural potential of humour in dance (between different dance genres, countries, social or cultural groups, etc.)?
-
What are practitioners’ discourses on humour / play in dance (if any). To whom is humour / play in dance addressed? What interactions exist between producers and recipients in relation to shared object of ridiculing? How is humourous dance received? What are the reactions of the other participants, the audience, the organisers? Is the audience expecting humour / play to be part of this dance/event?
-
Limits, Risks, Failure, Success. Are there limits to humour / play? What is the nature of such limits? What happens if one exceeds these limits? Do humour / play attempts always reach their aim? Are there failures? According to whom? In which way? Can a failure be transformed into a success? How? How do humour in dance / playing with dance imply taking a risk (financial, political, artistic, etc.)? In which ways can experiments or explorations through humour / play in dance be conducted?
-
Humour / Play and the researcher. The researcher as a target for humour / play. The researcher as a partner for humour / play. Dance as a methodological tool for the researcher.
Please submit your proposal to ICTMD.Prog.Trikala.2026@etik.com
