MENACASEA 2025 Third Symposium on Dance, Music, and Performing Arts of the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia

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Event Date & Time:

Friday November 14, 9:00 am PST - Sunday November 16, 4:30 pm

Event Description:

Few areas of dance research and writing have been as underrepresented and misunderstood in scholarly literature as the dances of the Middle East, North Africa (MENA), Central Asia (CA), and Southeast Asia (SEA), whether with regard to historical or contemporary contexts of performance. However, as witnessed through conferences of the Dance Studies Association (formerly Congress on Research and Dance and Society of Dance History Scholars), the number of presentations in this field has increased. Furthermore, there have been increasing numbers of emerging scholars over the past decade whose research has focused on various aspects of dance genres originating in these underrepresented regions. These combined merit a full conference dedicated to new research in these regions and their diaspora communities. This year’s symposium expands upon the previous two highly successful symposia to include Southeast Asia. This geographic expansion is an intentional one. Rather than diluting the scope of the ongoing MENACA project, this inclusion makes space for the numerous historical and contemporary connections maintained between Southeast Asia and the MENACA regions, whether examined through shared instrumentation, melodic form, or embodied movement. This inclusion focuses on the commonality of shared histories and shared memories between SEA and parts of the MENACA region, whether through historical migration, the spread and localization of Islam, or shared experiences related to gender, oppression, violence, among many other areas of exploration. This transregional approach allows for a careful consideration of migration and memory in shaping performing arts as they continue to be maintained and passed down by today’s practitioners, and we welcome proposals that seek to illuminate new perspectives on interconnection. As in previous years, this symposium contributes to important ongoing debates on decolonization and dance studies, especially from the perspectives of the largely misrepresented MENACA and SEA regions. Decolonization in dance studies remains at the forefront of dance research, as evidenced in the DSA Conference in Malta (2018), the 2020 issue of Decolonizing Dance Discourses, and at the DSA Conference in Vancouver (2022). As our symposium continues for its third iteration, we additionally seek to bring to the debate how future prospects for dance education should reconsider present academic canons.

Event Contact Name & Email:

Shahrzad Khorsandi, [email protected]