As globalization forces us to revisit the ‘local’ in dance, an examination of the processes of identity formation, generation and affirmation becomes very necessary. The world of dance in today’s context is constantly being shaped by the nature of the state, politicized markets, the dialogues taking place within and between cultures, as well as the growing importance of multimedia skills. As the identity of dance and of dancers undergoes constant interrogation and reorganization, there is an increasing need to establish dialogues across regions, and to identify and under-stand the major areas of concern some of which may be common to all, while others may be specific to the social-political-historical conditions of particular countries.
This edited volume, a project of the research and documentation network of the world dance alliance- Asia pacific, brings together renowned scholars from the Asia-pacific region, the Americas and Europe, to discuss issues of contemporary research. It hopes to generate a fruitful inter-regional and/or inter-country understanding of the art form, as dance and dancers themselves step out and transcend borders.
Urmimala Sarkar Munsi, the editor of this volume, is visiting faculty at the School of arts and aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. A trained dancer and choreographer, she is also a social anthropologist specializing in Dance studies. She is Co-Chair of the research and documentation network of the world dance alliance-Asia Pacific.
The timing of this publication is indeed fortuitous, and it appropriately represents the work of scholars from the three main regions of the World Dance Alliance (WDA): the Asia-pacific, the Americas and Europe. They not only represent cross-cultural dialogues in dance scholarship but, in doing go, also illustrate that dance is the world’s heritage and that it transcends all borders- political, religious, economic or social. The title of this book, Dance: Transcending Borders is apt for it reminds us of the dialogic presence of dance across borders and the prevailing discourses in the discipline of dance studies. This is the first publication since the inception of the WDA in the mid- 1980s in Asia that represents the contributions of dance scholars and writers from all three regions of the WDA. Publications prior to this project were more region-specific and produced separately by the regional chapters of the WDA, rather than by the larger organization as a single global presence.
This project has been particularly fortunate in the generous assistance offered by Urmimala Sarkar Munsi, co-chair of the research and documentation network of the WDA- Asia pacific. When the project was first suggested at the WDA Global assembly in Toronto in 2006, she boldly took on the challenge of selecting, compiling and editing the manuscripts submitted by contributors from different parts of the world, assisted by her counterparts in the Asia-Pacific and the Americas. WDA- Asia pacific was given the privilege to undertake the project as a pioneering effort of the research and documentation network, to establish a model for other ongoing projects such as Education Training, Management and Promotion, Creation and Presentation, Welfare and Status.
WDA- Asia pacific feels honoured by the trust shown and encouragement offered by Tulika Books, Delhi, to publish this in India. I hope this relationship will continue into the future, with more publications from the World Dance Alliance.
The idea of bringing out a volume with contributions from various writers and researchers from the Asia-Pacific, the Americas and Europe, was born at a meeting of the Research and Documentation Network of the World Dance Alliance (WDA) during its Global summit in 2006 in Toronto. These are the three regions of the world where the WDA has grown to become a strong presence, and, for the first time, we were contemplating a publication that would enable us to take up some of the serious issues being debated in dance research in these regions, as part of one consolidated book.
Dance: Transcending Borders seems to be an appropriate title for this publication, given that the existence of national and cultural borders, their maintenance and transcending thereof, with complex negotiations taking place between and across them, have become principal issues animating dance research today. Scholarship in this area grows more complex every day as each individual dancer, and perhaps the dance community as a whole, evolves new ways of going beyond these borders to negotiate their local and global identities. This theme provides the common thread in this publication of the WDA- Asia Pacific, bringing together scholars from the Asia-Pacific, the Americas and Europe to explain and analyse this phenomenon from their individual perspectives as shaped by their cultural and communal identities, as well as their research and training specializations.
My objective, as the editor of this volume and co-chair of the research and documentation network of WDA- Asia pacific, was to bring together writings based on scholarly research on dance within or across borders created on the basis of geographies, Colour, gender, religion, language, and the many other issues resulting from political, social and cultural complexities. This is also the long-term goal of the World Dance Alliance, whose members transcend borders to form a community of people who are related, in one way or another, to the world of dance.
The book is divided into three sections, on the basis of the geographical location of the authors. Of these, the Asia-Pacific region has been placed first simply because this is where WDA was born. Then come the Americas, where the Alliance has grown into a strong and dynamic community, followed by Europe, where it is in the process of reinventing itself after some reorganization.
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