New Mobilities "On the turn"? - A Conference Symposium hosted by The Place, with Dance Studies Association & Society for Dance Research

A quarter of a century after the ‘mobile turn’ in anthropology, cultural studies, geography and sociology, which signalled a shift in thinking within the social sciences that prioritizes the concept of mobility, viewing the world as fluid and always in motion – The Place, with Dance Studies Association and the Society for Dance Research, are hosting a conference symposium, the second of a series of three symposia that take place across the globe in Salvador/ Brazil, London/ UK and Ilorin/ Nigeria, to explore the limitations of mobility in the current historical moment.

The phrase ‘...on the turn’ speaks to mobility as a paradigm across the humanities being in a state of change, and to mobility and its promises turning sour, giving way to critiques and a leaning into mobility’s limitations. In London, this question manifests itself in response to the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns, the full implementation of Brexit, the increasing unease with the environmental impacts of travel and the changes in arts and education policies towards disability and social mobility issues. How might dance and performance studies speak to the various mobilizations of movement as it encounters pandemics, wars, migration, and border controls?

The Conference New Mobilities “On the turn”? will bring together voices from within and beyond the disciplinary boundaries of dance and performance, through conversations and interventions. The programme offers Keynotes from:

• · Mimi Sheller, PhD. (Inaugural Dean of The Global School at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Massachusetts): Kinetic Communities and the Spinning of Planetary Mobility Justice
• · Petra Kuppers, PhD (disability culture activist): Disability Culture Stumbling with History: Eco Soma Methods
• Lucia RuprechtPhD (Guest Professor of Critical Dance Studies at Free University Berlin): ‘“Still not Still”: Ligia Lewis’s Wayward Bodies’

alongside panel discussions, artists talks and workshops that are offered both virtually and in person.

As part of the programme there will also be screenings of

• Dance Conversations by Aoife McGrath: a cross-border film about dance artists' living and working conditions on the island of Ireland
• Award winning dance film Canning Town by Fabiola Santana and Will Dickie (jury awards at Screendance Scotland, Bucharest International Screen Dance Festival and best film at Inshadow Festival, Lisbon)
• · Lecture demonstration Mourning Movements: Gestures, Rituals and Choreographic Practices of Navigating Care by Jose Miguel Esteban & Elisabeth Motley
• Full film ofFuture Cargo, an outdoor dance performance spectacle by Frauke Requardt and David Rosenberg

The full conference schedule and registration link can be found here. Fees are:

Virtual - DSA or SDR Member ($25) Virtual - Nonmember ($75)

Onsite - DSA or SDR Member ($50) Onsite - Nonmember ($100)