Dance Fields

In April 2017, a landmark conference marked a 'moment in time' for DanceStudies, that acknowledged and celebrated its maturity as an academic discipline.The conference, Dance Fields: Staking a Claim for Dance Studies in the 21st Century,was co-convened by three leading centres for Dance Studies in the UK (Universitiesof Coventry, De Montfort and Roehampton). This book has emerged from theconference and whilst the chapters could never be fully representative of all thatwas shared, they capture something of the range and spirit of the presentations.The authors, based in the UK and internationally, write from their experiencesas dance scholars, teachers and practitioners. Themes are very varied, includingthe documentation of overlooked or emerging histories; new critical insights,initiatives and perspectives (including inventive dissemination platforms); andfresh interdisciplinary exchanges. Together, the collection reflects developmentswithin Dance Studies; developments that have responded to the impact of increasedaccess to video, the internet and digital technologies, which have transformed theway that dance is documented, transmitted, studied and shared. At the same time,this expansion of media has stimulated a renewed focus on the knowledge thatdancers carry and how research in Dance Studies can access and document thatknowledge, as well as how dance products (performances, choreographies, films,and so on) have generated new insights about dance.As the book reveals, thesedevelopments are core to how Dance Studies has grown, influencing other modesof thought, and other disciplinary fields, whilst establishing Dance Studies as avital discipline in its own terms.