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Decentring dance studies in and with the Americas: circulations, tensions and the creation of expertise and physical practices

Coordinators

Ivan Jimenez (MCF UPEC, unité de recherche IMAGER)

Mélanie Papin (MCF UBO, unité de recherche HCTI)

and Lou Forster (Centre national de la danse)

Ivan Jimenez (MCF, Université Paris-Est Créteil, UPEC) – Latin America section
ivaanjimenez[at]gmail.com

Ivan Jimenez is a Lecturer in Latin American Studies at Université Paris-Est Créteil (Department of Languages, Literature and Cultural Studies, IMAGER laboratory – CREER group). He is also an associate researcher at the MUSIDANSE laboratory (Université Paris 8) and a theatre director (Compagnie Trazo). In literature, he studies the convergence of history and fiction in the works of several Argentine and Colombian novelists (including Andrés Rivera and Pablo Montoya). In theatre, his artistic projects began in 2012 with the staging of a triptych of monologues by the Cuban writer Abilio Estévez. In dance, he is interested in the political dimension of movement and the relationship between the historical past and the contemporary period. He is currently completing research on the work of the Koré danza-teatro group in Barranquilla (Colombia) during the 1980s and 1990s, and preparing his accreditation to supervise research (HDR) with an original work on gestural circulations and the challenges of nationalism among several dance artists in Latin America: Alicia, Fernando and Alberto Alonso in Cuba, and the Colombian duo Los Darof (Ofelia Betancur and Darío Arboleda). In parallel, he is also translating Michel Bernard’s De la création chorégraphique into Spanish.

Mélanie Papin (MCF, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, UBO) - North America section
melanie.papin[at] univ-brest.fr

Mélanie Papin is a Lecturer in Dance at the Université de Bretagne Occidentale (UBO) in Brest. A member of the research team UR 4249 Heritage and Creation in Text and Image (HCTI), she is also involved in the work of the Dance, Gesture and Corporeality team at UR Musidanse, Université Paris 8. Her research focuses on the emergence of the contemporary choreographic field in France and seeks to interrogate dance historiography by cross-referencing the history of dancers and aesthetics, marginal figures and fringes. Within this framework, she has conducted research into the circulation in France of artists, practices and discourses on dance originating from the United States. She is a co-editor with Isabelle Launay, Sylviane Pagès and Guillaume Sintès of Danser en 68, perspectives internationales, published in 2018 by Editions Deuxième Epoque, and Une parole libre en danse, co-written with the choreographer and teacher Christine Gérard, published by Editions Ressouvenances in 2021. A book, based on her PhD thesis which was awarded in 2017, was published in 2025 by Horizons d’attente under the title Histoire collective de la danse contemporaine en France: 1950–1980, en passant par le moment 68.

Lou Forster (Centre national de la danse)
forster.lou[at]gmail.com

Lou Forster is an exhibition curator, playwright and has a PhD in Art History. He works at the intersection of the visual arts, dance, the humanities and the social sciences. He is the driving force behind a major project that has led to the rediscovery of Lucinda Childs’s graphic work. He is an associate researcher at CRAL – EHESS. Since March 2026, he has headed the heritage, audiovisual and publishing department at the Centre national de la danse de Pantin.

Theme of issue 30

The themed issue 30 of IdeAs is keen to engage with the collective work that has been ongoing for several years to decentre dance research. Whether it seeks to clarify, question or even subvert methodological frameworks or offer new readings and interpretations of aesthetic criteria with their origins in the hegemonic North which have historically been imposed worldwide, notably in the subaltern societies of the South, this notion of decentring is much more than a simple shift of focus from one geography to another. It is the product of a revised epistemological approach which is sensitive to postcolonial perspectives, decolonial questions and situated knowledges.

Through sustained dialogue with the humanities and social sciences, and with history and anthropology in particular, the prospect of decentring in dance studies has prompted very diverse and fruitful initiatives which include: pursuing cultural equality with the objective of moving away from historiographic approaches designed for, and based on, the dominant model of Western classical dance (Capelle and al., 2024); showcasing dance in indigenous and Afro-diasporic communities in the Americas (Fléty, 2023; Souza, 2021 ) which are often overlooked or violently erased by the colonial value system; analysing the mechanisms of entrenched racism in educational and cultural institutions (Purper e Oliva de Araújo, 2020; Teixeira, 2025); and, in post-colonial contexts, studying the subversion or critical reappropriation of canons and categories preconstructed around classical, modern and contemporary Western dance (Vallejos, 2020; Lassibille, 2025). Decentring is also apparent: in a commitment to multiple performativities and corporeities (queer, feminist, transgender, differently-abled, etc.) which are at odds with dominant ableist, functionalist and heteronormative models (Aschieri, 2020; Habib, 2020); in the exploration of the role of the subjective and intersubjective in performative practices between artists and audiences, and teachers and learners (Rojas and Caviades, 2020); and, on a somatic level, in the flourishing of sensory experiences which allow us to break free from our most deeply-ingrained patterns of perception (Fratagnoli, 2025). Our themed issue will describe the state of the art in dance research in the Americas, where the decentring approach is particularly well-developed.

  • 1 Founded in Buenos Aires in March 2020, at the initiative of Marie Glon (Université de Lille), Isabe (...)

This project builds on several initiatives and on research work carried out by members of the network Réseau Descentradxs1 (Decentring dance research, https://descentradxs.hypotheses.org/): the III Encuentro Descentradxs (Barranquilla, October 2023); visits by Juan Ignacio Vallejos and Rafael Guarato (2025) to Université Paris 8, at the invitation of the Unité de Recherche Musidanse; the workshop on the History and Anthropology of Circulations in Dance (an annual event since 2020 organised by the Dance, Gesture and Corporeality sub-team, UR Musidanse), aspects of whose research was presented at the latest Institut des Amériques conference on 1 October 2025.

Looking at the Americas as a whole, our objective is to prompt reflection on the epistemological and political scope of the concepts of decentring and situated knowledges from transnational and transdisciplinary perspectives, informed by exchanges between dance researchers (history, anthropology, aesthetics) and experts from other disciplines (including the arts, literature and philosophy). Given the epistemological and political issues raised by post-colonial and decolonial studies, notably around modernity viewed through the lens of a Eurocentric linear timeline, we would like to reflect on the impact of the concepts of modern/modernity, contemporary/contemporaneity, postcolonial/postcoloniality and decolonial/decoloniality in dance studies. The categories of “modern dance” and “contemporary dance”, which, although often criticised or challenged, are still used in histories of stage dance in the Americas, are increasingly situated in local contexts while at the same time drawing on the circulation of gestures across national boundaries – for example in the context of artistic training or collaborations. How can we deconstruct essentialisms around “modern” and “contemporary”? How do issues around the modernity or contemporaneity of dance intersect with issues around national identities? How are the desires of dancers in the Americas for modernity or contemporaneity expressed and manifested? What gestural circulations, identification and disidentification processes, and what ideas about the body, do these desires for modernity and contemporaneity support? In general terms, what conclusions can be drawn from the problematisation of the “coloniality of power” (Quijano, 2000) in decentred histories of danced gestures, in the bodywork of memory and in various manifestations of research-creation/creation-research more broadly in the Americas?

Theme 1 – Academic traditions, modernities and identity-building in the Americas

In western traditions – first and foremost the concepts of modernity, and contemporaneity and classical ballet – have circulated in the Americas and how have they been appropriated, transformed or challenged in national and postcolonial contexts in the 20th century. This is an invitation to take a critical look at the mark left, in terms of sensory experiences or aesthetic education, by certain very widespread reference models. Looking beyond the very straightforward “influence” of the North on the South, what cultural debates, what kinaesthetic tensions and creative subversions have informed the reception of practices associated with prestigious names such as Isadora Duncan, Rudolf Laban, Martha Graham, José Limón, Katherine Dunham, Merce Cunningham, Alwin Nikolaïs, to name but a few? Or in the sphere of classical ballet, what new impetus or resistance has the Cuban school in particular encountered, notably in its many forms in locations across the continent as a whole?

Choreographic modernity conceived as an agent of the “coloniality of power” (Quijano, 2000), was able to function as both a normative horizon, a tool for artistic legitimation and symbolic instrument of power or even cultural propaganda. In the light of the research carried out by Fabian Barba (2025) and Valentina Morales (2025), articles could analyse the means by which these models were disseminated (pedagogical, aesthetic, institutional), the relationships of coercion or seduction which they engender, and also the imaginaries and sensory experiences which they produce. Issues raised in this thematic area could include analysis of which dance practices play a part in the construction of national identities and the fabrication of official historical narratives – or conversely, alternative narratives – and of practices that align to some extent with more western expectations which are now being questioned by decolonial approaches?

Theme 2 – Problematising bodily and kinaesthetic memories

This theme will examine bodily and kinaesthetic memories that have long been marginalised or rendered invisible by colonial, “racial” and cultural relationships in the Americas. The hybridisation of practices with their origins in the West and the bodily knowledge of colonised or enslaved peoples has often covered up or fragmented pre-colonial, indigenous or Afro-descendant bodily knowledge, some of which has been excluded from dominant historical narratives.

Contributions could explore the circumstances in which these memories were transmitted, transformed or interrupted and also contemporary attempts to reactivate or repair these bodily legacies. What means of circulation – or transaction – of erasure or resistance are embedded in the dance gestures and practices which emerged from colonial history. How might we consider their memories?

Theme 3 – Epistemological issues: situated knowledges and artist-researchers in action

This third theme examines contemporary ways of carrying out dance research in and about the Americas, by placing the emphasis on situated knowledges. This involves thinking about knowledge production which brings together physical engagement, perceptive experience and sensibility, and which explores the relationship between artistic practice and academic research.

Proposals could explore the position of artist-researchers, and research-creation approaches by analysing not only their contributions, but also their methodological, institutional and political tensions. How do these practices make it possible to decentralise dance studies and to reframe critical perspectives on the Americas?

Submission Guidelines

All proposals submitted – written in French, English, Spanish, or Portuguese – must include:

  • a title;

  • an abstract (500 words maximum);

  • 5 keywords;

  • a brief biographical and bibliographical note (10 to 15 lines).

Proposals should be sent to the editorial board by email, no later than October 5, 2026, to the following addresses:

  • Ivan Jimenez: ivaanjimenez[at]gmail.com

  • Mélanie Papin: melanie.papin[at]univ-brest.fr

  • Lou Forster: forster.lou[at]gmail.com

cc: Julie Amiot-Guillouet: julie.amiot-guillouet[at]cyu.fr

cc: Françoise Martinez: francoise.martinez[at]sorbonne-universite.fr

cc: Hélène Quanquin: helene.quanquin[at]univ-lille.fr

They will then be evaluated by our editorial board and the issue coordinators. If your abstract catches our attention, we will contact you to request the full article.

Full articles must be submitted by March 2027 at the latest.

Bibliographie

Aschieri Patricia, “Corporalidades diversas en movimiento. Descentrar la danza de la danza”, Arte da Cena 6/2, 2020, p. 205-231.

barba fabi, “Transmisiones impuras: tradiciones de danza escénica a través de fronteras históricas y geográficas”, Descentrar la investigación en danza, dir. Iván Jiménez y Juan Ignacio Vallejos, Buenos Aires, Miño y Dávila, 2025, p. 83-101.

Boidin Capucine, “Études décoloniales et postcoloniales dans les débats français”, Cahiers des Amériques latines 62 [Philosophie de la libération et tournant décolonial], 2009, p. 129-140.

Cappelle Laura, Elizabeth Claire and Mariem Guellouz (dir.), Pour une histoire décentrée de la danse, volume 2. Chorégraphier l’égalité culturelle, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2024.

Colin Philippe and Lissell Quiroz, Pensées décoloniales. Une introduction aux théories critiques d’Amérique latine, Paris, Zones, 2023.

Delavaud-Roux Marie-Hélène, Florence Poudru and Aude Thuries (dir.), Pour une histoire décentrée de la danse, volume 1. Méthodes en mouvement, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2024.

Fléty Laura, Les cortèges de la fortune. Danse, dévotion et prospérité à La Paz (Bolivie), Mimésis, 2023.

Fratagnoli Federica, “La noción de descentramiento desde una perspectiva somática: auto-etnografía del aprendizaje de una danza de la India”, Descentrar la investigación en danza, dir. Iván Jiménez y Juan Ignacio Vallejos, Buenos Aires, Miño y Dávila, 2025, p. 245-257.

Frantz (de) Thomas, Books: Dancing Many Drums: Excavations in African American Dance, Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 2002.

Guarato Rafael and al. (ed.), Dossiê Temático Descentrar as Pesquisas em Dança - Parte I, Arte da Cena 6/2, 2020.

Guarato Rafael and al. (ed.), Dossiê Temático Descentrar as Pesquisas em Dança - Parte II, Arte da Cena 7/1, 2021.

Habib Ian Guimarães, “Corpos transformacionais. A facetrans no Brasil”, Arte da Cena 6/2, 2020, p. 68-106.

Jiménez Iván y Juan Ignacio Vallejos (ed.), Descentrar la investigación en danza, Buenos Aires, Miño y Dávila, 2025.

Lassibille Mahalia, “'En África, la danza moderna es el coupé décalé' (Yacouba). Por un descentramiento metodológico de las categorías en danza”, Descentrar la investigación en danza, dir. Iván Jiménez and Juan Ignacio Vallejos, Buenos Aires, Miño y Dávila, 2025, p. 63-82.

Morales Valentina, “Los tránsitos de un gesto: hacia una historia de las transferencias coreográficas entre Chile y Alemania a través de las figuras de Joan Turner et Patricio Bunster”, Descentrar la investigación en danza, dir. Iván Jiménez y Juan Ignacio Vallejos, Buenos Aires, Miño and Dávila, 2025, p. 103-117.

Purper Raquel and Olga Brigitte Oliva de Araújo, “Pensarfazer dança desde uma perspectiva contemporânea e decolonial”, Arte da Cena 6/2, 2020, p. 276-310.

Quijano Aníbal, “Colonialidad del poder, eurocentrismo y América Latina”, La colonialidad del saber: eurocentrismo y ciencias sociales. Perspectivas latinoamericanas, ed. Edgardo Lander, Buenos Aires, CLACSO, 2000, p. 201-246.

Rojas Camila and Loreto Caviedes, “Autorías da audiência. Estratégias de participação para a criação na dança”, Arte da Cena 6/2, 2020, p. 342-379.

Shea Murphy Jacqueline, The People Have Never Stopped Dancing: Native American Modern Dance History, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 2007.

Souza Giuliano, “Por um conceito de danças negras”, Arte da Cena 7/1, 2021, p. 6-36.

Teixeira Ana, “Entre prácticas de civilidad, cuerpo y danza: ¿deconstrucción de un cuerpo ideal?”, tr. Hernán Borisonik, Descentrar la investigación en danza, dir. Iván Jiménez and Juan Ignacio Vallejos, Buenos Aires, Miño and Dávila, 2025, p. 27-41.

Vallejos Juan Ignacio, “Embarrar el canon. Por una coreopolítica de la abundancia”, Arte da Cena 6/2, 2020, p. 7-37.

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Notes

1 Founded in Buenos Aires in March 2020, at the initiative of Marie Glon (Université de Lille), Isabelle Launay (Université Paris 8) and Juan Ignacio Vallejos (CONICET), this international network is made up of artists and researchers affiliated to univeristies and and other institutions in France and Latin America including: Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC); el Instituto de las Artes del Espectáculo (IAE) de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, Universidad Nacional de La Rioja and Universidad Nacional de Rosario, in Argentina; UNESP and Universidade Federal de Goiás in Brazil; Universidad de Chile and Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica; Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá, in Colombia; and CENIDI Danza José Limón in Mexico.

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