Future of CI: Call for Proposals

ACCEPTING WORKSHOP PROPOSALS THROUGH FEBRUARY 15, 2021
Visit HERE for conference description.

In writing your proposal, respond to one or more of these central questions:  
 

  • Can CI grow to meet the present moment? 
  • How will it change? 
  • Who will continue practicing and who will leave? 
  • Should CI be abandoned to make room for new practices? 
  • What are the conversations we need to be having?

EQUITY AND ACCESS
We can no longer ignore that CI spaces have been unsafe and unwelcoming for many dancers who fall outside the norm of white, middle class, able-bodied, heteronormative, cisgendered dancers (including individuals who identify as BIPOC, trans, non-binary, and differently-abled). How can we address traumas surrounding consent, sexual harassment, inequality and social hierarchy – hierachies from broader society as well as hierarchies within CI communities?

EQUITY: What issues of racial inequity, injustice, or oppression play out in the CI community? What other inequities are prevalent in CI settings (around class, disability, language…)? What would a new CI look like based on the experiences of those who’ve suffered from oppression?

CONSENT: In the #metoo era, we cannot continue to allow the boundary crossings that have long been a shadow side of CI. How can CI culture develop new norms around consent? 

QUEERNESS: How are Queer CI and shifting definitions of gender influencing the CI landscape? What can the global CI community learn from ideas and practices in Queer CI?

A CHANGING WORLD

PANDEMIC: How do we step back into our CI practices as the Coronavirus pandemic fades? What safety measures are needed to protect our jams and vulnerable dancers, now and in the future? 

CLIMATE CHANGE: How will climate change affect CI, travel, and festivals? What new vision of CI infrastructure might we create that supports the healing of our planet?

NEW FORMS: Where are people taking CI next? Researching CI, adapting CI to therapeutic and academic contexts, blending CI with other practices (Parcon, contemporary dance applications, mixtures with martial arts, connections with kink/sexuality work, etc.)?

Let us come together to discuss these questions openly, search for answers and new directions, and envision the CI we want to practice and the communities we wish to build. 

Information on Types of Workshops:

Lecture sessions will run for 45 minutes (including Q&A). In a lecture session, the information, ideas or questions will mainly flow from the speaker to the audience. However, you are invited to creatively interpret the idea of a lecture: conduct an interview, make your talk interactive with the listeners, show a film, etc.! Lecture leaders will be paid a small honorarium (exact amount TBD) and offered free admission to the conference. 

Movement workshops will run 60-90 minutes. In a movement session, teachers will lead participants in physical explorations that can be conducted solo in whatever spaces the participants inhabit. Movement sessions will explore questions related to the future of CI or demonstrate new forms developing from CI. Movement Workshop leaders will be paid a small honorarium (exact amount TBD) and offered free admission to the conference. 

Panel discussions will run 60-75 minutes. In a panel discussion, 3-5 speakers will discuss a particular topic. The proposed model is that each panelist will present an opening statement of no more than 5-10 minutes; the panelists will then talk amongst themselves before opening up to conversation with the participants. You may propose a panel together with other panelists, or you may propose the idea for a panel on your own and the organizing team can help put together the rest of the panel. Both models are useful. Panelists will be offered free admission to the conference.

Facilitated conversations will run 45-60 minutes. These sessions are meant as times for conference participants to talk with each other about a focused topic of mutual interest. The facilitator’s job is to help get the conversation started and help keep it on track, holding space with a light hand. What conversations would you like to see us have at this conference? Conversation leaders will be offered a discount to the conference. 

Other – Do you have an idea that doesn’t fit in any of the above categories? Use the “Other” section to share your vision (including how long you imagine the session to be).
 

Language:

While English will be the primary language for this conference, we welcome proposals for workshops in your primary language, with or without translation into English. If you would like translation, it is most helpful if you ask a friend who is familiar with your work to translate for you. It is also okay for some sessions to be conducted in languages other than English, without translation.

Submitting a Proposal:

You are welcome to propose as many workshop ideas as you would like, understanding that we may receive many proposals and we will likely not be able to include all of them. 
If you have an idea and you need help developing it for a proposal, you are welcome to reach out and we will provide you some support.

Submit Your Workshop Proposals Here

Questions? Feedback? Contact the organizing team at: futureofci@earthdance.net

Organizing Team: Sze-Wei Chan (Singapore), Ariadna Franco (Mexico), Kristin Horrigan (USA), Diana Thielen (Germany) and others TBA

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