Attend a conference?...November 7th - 9th

We are really excited to be able to offer a few funded places for MAPP/BAPP students to be able to attend the Re:generations conference hosted by One Dance UK in partnership with Mdx in November. The funding covers three days of entry to the conference plus your accommodation. The conference is held at The Lowry, Salford, in the UK. 

Re:generations is a biennial academic and artistic conference which aims to share current practice and research in the field of dance of the African Diaspora (DAD); explore and stimulate further research, documentation and new approaches to education and training in the field; and encourage new perspectives on the future of African Peoples Dance (APD). The conference invites scholars, artists and dance practitioners from the Caribbean, Africa, the United States, Canada and the UK to share their research with other artists, practitioners, dance teachers, students and the general public.

The Re:generations Conference* is the UK’s ONLY international platform dedicated to connecting academic and artistic voices within African influenced dance styles; such as Hip Hop, Jazz, Afro Caribbean, traditional and contemporary African and Caribbean, Afro-Latin, and African American Dance.

This will be a great opportunity to be a part of a vibrant conference, network with other artist-scholar practitioners, and get inspired in your own professional development. The funding requires you to blog each day about the sessions, papers, workshops and performances you attend to share with the rest of the MAPP BAPP community.

To express your interest please comment here. We will then email you directly. We will announce which students have places on October 10th 2019. 

*Re:generations – dance and the digital space

7-9 November 2019
The Lowry, Salford

An international forum exploring how technology drives innovation in dance of the African Diaspora.

Hosted in partnership by One Dance UK, IRIE! dance theatre, Middlesex University, Dance Immersion and The Lowry, the theme for Re:generations 2019 is dance and the digital space. We will explore the ways digital technologies can be used for artistic innovation and creative practise, unite global communities through online platforms whilst increasing the visibility of diverse work to mainstream audiences.

Across the three days there will be panel discussions, lecture demonstrations, masterclasses, workshops, academic paper presentations, performances, networking events and more!

The conference will provide CPD for dance teachers, healthcare practitioners and other dance professionals, in addition to bespoke programming for producers, new media practitioners and executive artistic leaders. A key event will be the launch of the report for One Dance UK’s ‘Dance of the African Diaspora Mapping Research’; presenting the current state and needs of the DAD workforce with a scope for future growth and development.

CADD conference

This weekend I have been at the Collegium for African Diaspora Dance (CADD) Conference https://www.cadd-online.org . This is the third Conference they are held every two years. This year is called Dance Black Joy: Global Affirmations and Defiance. Last year I presented a dance here. This year I have presented on research I am currently doing Movements, Narratives and Meanings and also on the book I wrote/edited that is just been published last week on-line and will be available in two week as a paperback.

The conference is always a reaffirming inspiring event. There are so many amazing people sharing amazing ideas here. It is held at Duke University in North Carolina.

The events I have attended have all been saying the same thing to me.

The importance of community, family, arts activism – what are you saying with that movement, with that way of teaching, being? and respect for those who teach us, those who have trailblazed the way we are taking – cleared space for us to be on the journey we are on.

Yesterday I started the day with a ballet class with Dr. Joselli Deans she was at Dance Theatre of Harlem when I was there. In class were also Theara Ward  (former soloist at DTH) and Dr. Kimberley Jorden. It was so nice to all be in class together again. As the conference is about Joy it was a joyful moment for me.  

At the start of the conference we Celebrated the legacy of Dr. Charles “Baba Chuck” Davis 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/arts/dance/chuck-davis-dead.html

Baba Chuck had opened the first two Conferences and so we honoured his work and life to open this one. Have a look at the link. His work involved community dance. He is a part of our dance history. There was a panel of people discussing his legacy.  They were asked to summarise something to teach in his name. They said

As a teacher see the potential of the student/dancer /xxx in front of you even when they don’t see their own potential.

Dance is healing – he said the study of medicine is about the cure, dance is the prevention.

Become the rhythm be courageous and unafraid.

Today Dr. Brenda Dixon-Gottschild is giving a key note

I will share about other events I went to in another post.

FYI

It would be great to see people there!