The motto of topic 1 could be “Moving Memories, Dancing Migration”. Memory is not solely a cognitive or textual phenomenon; it is deeply embodied, enacted, and relational. As D. Taylor (2003) argues, the act of remembering must be understood through the dynamic interplay between the "archive"—stable, material records of history—and the "repertoire"—embodied memory enacted through performance, gesture, and movement. Dance complicates these distinctions, as it does not merely recall the past but actively reshapes it through embodied enactment, adaptation, and intersubjective engagement.
Similarly, P. Connerton (1989) contends that “bodily practices” shape how societies transmit knowledge across generations, particularly in ritualized or performative settings. In migratory contexts, where written records of the past may be fragmented or lost, dance becomes a corporeal archive, preserving cultural memory in movement, rhythm, and affect. In that line of thought, D. Molloy (2024) argues that dance can serve as a "sonic and corporeal archive", where rhythm and movement bear the imprints of colonial histories, forced migrations, and cultural hybridities. Memory and commemoration of the past include aspects we want to maintain or to bring back, but also some that we want to eliminate and reject, consciously or not. Hence it is of importance to explore what is omitted in the individual/collective memory through dance, as much as what is retained and exhibited, for which (unspoken) reasons, and in which ways.
Migration, whether voluntary or forced, reconfigures, and sometimes disrupts memory landscapes, leading to transformations and circulations in cultural expression, belonging, and historical consciousness. Dance plays a pivotal role in these processes, functioning as both a site of continuity and reinvention. As J. Giese (2024) explores in Moving Bodies, Moving Pasts, diasporic communities use dance to sustain cultural memory while negotiating new socio-political landscapes. However, dances also change within themselves based on the distortion/recreation of the cultural memory and depending on the social changes such as migration, transnational and transgenerational heritage transmission. The act of dancing might carry "permeable histories," wherein bodily movements encode past experiences, political ruptures, and intergenerational traumas as well as future oriented expectations. Hence dance is not merely a retrospective act of remembering, but a "kinaesthetic re-imagining" of the past, allowing migrant bodies to resist erasure and reclaim agency in transnational spaces (Lepecki 2010). Movement links performers to their heritage while also enabling economic and social advancement abroad; through dance, artists build networks, reshape identities, and sustain connections to home (Kivenko 2016).
Studying embodied memory also permits to challenge the hegemony of textual and verbal communication prevailing in various epistemologies by demonstrating that knowledge can be transmitted through sensory, affective, and corporeal engagement. As S. Foster (1995) has observed, choreography is “a way of writing history with the body,” one that disrupts linear and official narratives of the past. This is particularly significant in the study of “post-memory”, a concept developed by M. Hirsch (1997) to describe how subsequent generations inherit histories of trauma not through direct experience but through cultural and artistic practices. Dance serves as a key medium through which historical loss, displacement, trauma, but also success or discoveries in new territories, are not only recalled but actively reimagined and negotiated.
Furthermore, dance in migratory contexts can be deeply political, serving as both an affective practice of belonging and a medium for resistance. Examining choreographic performances by migrant artists, M. Barouta (2024) suggests that they serve as "collective acts of activism," transforming autobiographical experiences of displacement into public, performative interventions. At the same time, questions on the values of identity, memory and past have been raised in alignment to contemporary interplay of migration and (national, ethnic) identity with globalization and transnational processes. Hence, recalling the past through dance can serve not only to keep a distinctive identity but also to pursue inclusion, to claim and/or provide integration and build local ties and sense of belonging into his/her “host” society (Gibert 2024). Even more so, performing dance might be a way to challenge backward-looking political moves often connected to migration.
This symposium invites scholars to explore the ways in which dance, as an embodied practice, negotiates histories of migration, circulation, displacement, hopes and belonging. How do migrant communities use dance to reclaim histories that might have been fractured or erased, valorised or honoured? In what ways do migratory experiences reconfigure choreographic traditions, sometimes leading to the emergence of hybrid dance forms? How can performing dance re-write the past, emphasise the present and foresee the future? What does it mean to inherit a history through bodily practices rather than written records? How do movements, gestures, and ethnochoreographic forms transmit affective and historical knowledge across generations? How can interdisciplinary methodologies better capture the affective, kinetic, rhythmical, and sensorial dimensions of migrant memory? How dances as cultural heritage elements change by being exposed to cultural memory dynamics, transgenerationality of the memory and the act of migration?
Communications are expected to be based on ethnographic fieldwork and data, yet to go beyond descriptions in order to stimulate collective discussions among the participants of this symposium.
We welcome papers that address, but are not limited to, the following themes:
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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?
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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?
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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?
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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?
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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?
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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?
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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?
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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?
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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?
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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.
