Call for submissions: 'The Changing Body' - International symposium and Contemporary Theatre Review

[Denis Salter]

Subject: Call for submissions: 'The Changing Body' - International symposium
and Contemporary Theatre Review


Please find below a call for submissions for both an
international/interdisciplinary symposium (January 2006) on 'The Changing
Body: the bodymind in contemporary training and performance', and a special
issue of 'Contemporary Theatre Review' (April 2007).



CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:

       International/interdisciplinary symposium
        January 6-8, 2006

on

The Changing Body
The bodymind in contemporary training and performance


Hosted by the
Department of Drama, School of Performance Arts
University of Exeter

and the

International and Intercultural
Research Centre for Performance Practice and Actor Training


This is a call for submissions for presentations as part of an international
symposium to be held within the newly opened/upgraded facilities of the
Department of Drama, University of Exeter. Proposals received by February
25,
2005 will be considered for (1) practical work-sessions focused on 'moments
of
practice', (2)  brief presentations (live or via audio-visual means) of
performance/process work, or (3) seminar papers/essays.


Focus
The symposium will focus on the suggestion that the unique mobile of
performance - across the gamut from ritual to physical theatre/dance, from
role playing to live art - is the body in action, the body in a process of
change - of performers and "audience" alike. It might be said that a body is
the site of multiple inscriptions - environmental, political, imaginary,
familial, scientific, social, among others. A body is also the site of
multiple presences - the breath, sensations, perceptions, emotions,
thoughts,
among others. Performance occurs at the interstice of a body and a world,
and
the action that is occurring there is a body engaging and negotiating a
process of change with a world - through narrative, image, sound, text,
place,
time, among others. To do this might require particular forms of training,
but, also, it might not. It depends upon how the performance is constituted.
Probably, though, all performance across the gamut requires a degree of
reflexivity.

What "reflections", then, might be of critical and radical interest to those
engaged in performance?

Specific questions that might be explored in contributions include but are
by
no means limited to the following:
. given the proliferation of new modes of performance within the rubric
'physical theatre', has there been a paradigm shift in modes of training
and/or preparation of actor/performers?
. has the 'point of entry' or beginning point of the engagement of the
actor/performer shifted?
. what paradigms, models, and/or techniques of performer/actor training are
most relevant today for contemporary actors whose performance work is
located
not in Western, but in non-Western contexts? How do principles and/or
practices of 'traditional' modes of performer training speak to contemporary
problems of acting/performance?
. what new perspectives might be offered on the work of Stanislavsky,
Michael
Chekhov, Copeau, or other lineages of actor training today? What are the
sources for such new perspectives, and what implications are there of such
new
perspectives for a specific approach to acting?
. if the body is a site of multiple inscriptions-environment, political,
imaginary, familial, scientific, social, among others-as well as a site of
multiple presences-the breath, sensations, perceptions, emotions, thoughts,
among others, and if performance occurs at the interstice of a body and a
world, how might we better understand the 'changing body' of today's
actor/performers as such as site?


Symposium Format
The symposium will focus on 'the changing bodymind' in contemporary training
and performance by seeking to demonstrate, expose, discuss, experience,
and/or
analyze some of the underlying principles and/or processes which inform
specific paradigms of the bodymind-in-action in training and performance.

The symposium will begin with a series of practical statements in action
focused upon particular moments of practice led by professional
practitioners
invited to represent a broad spectrum of contemporary approaches to the
bodymind in contemporary training and performance. These initial practical
presentations will take the form of workshops and/or work-demonstrations.
Each
practitioner will have prepared these 'statements in action' with selected
colleagues prior to the symposium, and offer in action and in discussion a
close analysis of one or two specific moments to the symposium.

Two philosophers [one Western and one non-Western] will deliver key-note
addresses reflecting from their particular disciplinary/cultural
perspectives
on 'the bodymind' in training and/or performance.

A multi-disciplinary group of respondents from sports science, neuroscience,
and psychology will respond to practical sessions at a plenary session,
offering observations on the underlying principles which they see arising
from
practice.

Performances will be held on Friday and Saturday evenings, January 6-7.


Invitation of Submissions for Open Work-sessions/Seminars
You are invited to submit a proposal no later than February 25, 2005 for one
of the following: (1) a thirty-minute "practical essay", i.e., a
work-session
taking the form of either a participatory workshop or a
lecture-demonstration
elucidating a key moment of practice; (2) a fifteen minute presentation of
performance work with a brief discussion of one key underlying
process/principle of that work; or (3) a seminar paper on a relevant aspect
of
'the changing bodymind in contemporary training and/or performance' to be
submitted prior to the Symposium for discussion as part of one of two
seminar
sessions.

We invite contributions from the performance profession, the cultural
sector,
and/or those who teach in drama schools or university
drama/performance/dance
departments. A contribution might focus on a specific exercise,  a technique
of a specific practice, an insight arrived at  through practice, a
particular
stage within the creative process, a point of development within ensemble
work, the application of a certain technique to the performance of text, an
instance of the relationship between the voice and image, etc.

Those who submit essays for the seminar sessions will be posted on the
conference's web-site prior to the conference itself and will be discussed
within one of two specific seminar sessions.

Three opportunities for 'publication' may result from submissions:
1. Practical submissions may be 'published' as part of the conference
DVD-ROM
(through ARTS ARCHIVES).
2. Proposals for seminar essays may also be sent for consideration for
consideration for publication in a special issue of Contemporary Theatre
Review (see additional announcement below. Note that this is a related but
SEPARATE application).
3. Some of the written essays as well as practical submissions may be
selected
for inclusion in a book with accompanying DVD-ROM if quantity and quality
warrant.


IF YOU WISH TO MAKE A SUBMISSION FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE SYMPOSIUM PLANNING
COMMITTEE, PLEASE SEND THE FORM BELOW BY EMAIL OR MAIL NO LATER THAN
FEBRUARY
25, 2005.

All those submitting a proposal will be informed no later than May 1, 2005
about presentation.


If you have questions or need further information on the Symposium, please
contact Dr. Jerri Daboo (J.J.Daboo at exeter.ac.uk)  or visit the Department
web-site (www.exeter.ac.uk/drama).




Contemporary Theatre Review: Vol. 17, no. 2., April, 2007.

Call for submissions:

Phillip Zarrilli and Bella Merlin will be co-editing a special issue of
Contemporary Theatre Review on contemporary theories and practices of
acting/performance. Building from Phillip Zarrilli's edited volume of
essays,
Acting Reconsidered, the purpose of the special issue is to further evaluate
and reconsider contemporary theories and practices of acting in the 21st
century. We are therefore inviting theorists as well as practitioners of
acting/performance to submit proposals for publication. Specific questions
that might be explored in contributions include the following:
. given the proliferation of new modes of performance such as 'physical
theatre' in the UK, has there been a paradigm shift in modes of training
and/or preparation of actor/performers?
. what paradigms, models, and/or techniques of performer/actor training are
most relevant today for contemporary actors whose performance work is
located
not in Western, but in non-Western contexts? How do principles and/or
practices of 'traditional' modes of performer training speak to contemporary
problems of acting/performance?
. what new perspectives might be offered on the work of Stanislavsky,
Michael
Chekhov, Copeau, or other lineages of actor training today? What are the
sources for such new perspectives, and what implications are there of such
new
perspectives for a specific approach to acting?
. if the body is a site of multiple inscriptions-environment, political,
imaginary, familial, scientific, social, among others-as well as a site of
multiple presences-the breath, sensations, perceptions, emotions, thoughts,
among others, and if performance occurs at the interstice of a body and a
world, how might we better understand the 'changing body' of today's
actor/performers as such as site?

Submissions based on research through practice are most welcome.
Preliminary proposals should be sent by February 25, 2005 to:

Phillip B. Zarrilli
Professor of Performance Practice
University of Exeter
Drama Department
Thornlea
New North Rd.
Exeter EX4 4LA
UK
P.Zarrilli at exeter.ac.uk (proposals by email are welcome)

Timetable for submissions/publication:
1. Receipt of preliminary proposals: February 25, 2005
2. Response to submission of proposals: April 15, 2005
3. Final draft of submissions: January 30, 2006
4. Reading by referees with final word on submission: April, 2006
5. Copy to publisher (Routledge): December, 2006
6. Proofs revised: March, 2007
7. Planned publication, April, 2007


Application for presentation at 'THE CHANGING BODY' SYMPOSIUM
Send by mail to: THE CHANGING BODY SYMPOSIUM
c/o Drama Department
University of Exeter
Thornlea
New North Rd.
Exeter EX4 4LA
UK

by fax to:  01392-264594
by email to: J.J.Daboo at exeter.ac.uk

Date:

NAME:


ADDRESS:



TELEPHONES:


EMAIL ADDRESS:



I am submitting an abstract (with accompanying audio-visual materials if/as
appropriate) for presentation at the International/Interdisciplinary
Symposium
on 'The Changing Body' for January 6-8, 2006 in the following category
(please
circle):

(1) "Practical Essay" [30 minute workshop or lecture-demonstration
elucidating
a key moment of practice];
(2) Presentation of Performance/Process Work [15 minutes for showing,
analysis, and discussion of an excerpt of a key moment of practice/process
either 'live' or through audio-visual demonstration;
(3) Seminar paper [on a specific aspect of 'The Changing Body in
contemporary
training/performance to be submitted if selected no later than December 4,
2005 for posting on the symposium web-site].

Attached is a recent artistic resume or curriculum vitae.

250 word Abstract: [please attach a narrative abstract of the above. For
practical essays or presentations of performance work include audio-visual
materials with application either of this work or previous work if this is
new
work. If your essay is already complete, please consider submitting the
essay
full at this time. If sending supporting audio-visual materials, please do
NOT
send originals, but copies.]

Dr Jerri Daboo
Lecturer in Drama
University of Exeter

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