News

Stepping On: A Conference on Stepping in Dance

Saturday 16 to Sunday 17 November 2019

Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent’s Park Road, London, NW1 7AY

England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales have a rich history of step dancing of many forms and in many contexts some of which are relatively well known and others largely lost. It is a history which goes back many centuries and links with traditions in other parts of the world. The aim of the conference is to further our knowledge and understanding, and to stimulate debate. The conference will be of interest to practitioners, researchers and all who are interested in the diversity of stepping in dance.

We intend to present a mixture of papers, demonstrations, workshops, round table discussions and posters. Potential topics include:

  • Local/regional step dance traditions
  • International links e.g. through migration
  • Stepping in social dances
  • Stepping in other dances such as sword, rapper and morris
  • Stepping on the stage
  • The twentieth century clog revival
  • Music and stepping
  • Competitions
  • Contemporary issues in step dance revival
  • Histories of stepping in dance
  • The role of the dancing masters

 

Call for papers

We are now accepting proposals to present at this conference.

Proposals should be sent by email to [email protected], to be received by Monday 15 April 2019 at the latest.

Please include:

  • a short description of your proposed contribution/abstract of your paper (guide 150 to 500 words)
  • an indication of what format you wish your contribution to take, including duration if appropriate (e.g. paper, demonstration, workshop, round table discussions, poster etc.)
  • a short biography
  • if your proposed contribution has previously been published/presented elsewhere please provide brief details (this will not necessarily mean that we will not accept your proposal)

The conference committee will select contributions for inclusion and we hope to notify applicants by the end of May 2019.

If you wish to discuss ideas for conference proposals please contact Toby Bennett via [email protected].