Call for papers – thematic focus: “The diversity of theatrical dance in Portugal”

Invited Editor: Maria José Fazenda (Escola Superior de Dança, Politécnico de Lisboa / CRIA-Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Polo ISCTE)

The Revista Estud(i)os de Dança (RED) launches a thematic focus section dedicated to the theme “The diversity of theatrical dance in Portugal”.

In Portugal, theatrical dance practices have been documented in publications of a historical nature (Sasportes, 1970, 1991; Ribeiro, 1991, 1994), in books about temporally and politically circumscribed periods (Tércio, 2005, 2010; Ribeiro, 1994), in theoretical reflections within the scope of performance studies (Lepecki, 1997, 2016), in works that situate choreographic creation in sociocultural and biographical contexts (Fazenda, 2012 [2007]), in compilations that highlight their specificity (Vicente, 2017), or that focus on creators' methods, creation or presentation structures, such as the recent publication by Teatro Municipal do Porto (História(s) da Dança, 2023), among other studies.

Whether they focus on historical transformations, of long or short duration, or artistic movements, aesthetics, and languages, it goes by these works, theoretically explicitly or tacitly, the recognition of the diverse nature of theatrical dance in Portugal, both internally and in its relationship with other geographies, as well as consideration for the political and sociocultural circumstances that shape it.

Currently, the reality of theatrical dance in Portugal is expanding significantly and the diversity of proposals is increasing. The picture is made up of multicolored dots, in which can be seen the universes of each artist, the extensions of the domain of classical dance, the articulation of different body and aesthetic techniques — from hip hop to the most diverse social dances, passing through other forms of expressive culture originating from the fields of competition —, the plurality of bodies, the inclusion of a diversity of groups and people in participatory projects. They are cultural practices that make us aware of the variety of views of the world, social and cultural realities, human experiences, and ways of life. These are practices arising from sociocultural dynamics, enabled (or conditioned) by the role of institutional structures, public or private, local or national, by the cultural policies and by the cultural programming, and by the actions of specific people. In the analysis of cultural phenomena, we consider, following the anthropologist Vertovec (2015), the inter-influence of three spheres: representations (ideas, values), structural conditions (politics, institutional structures), and social interactions (contacts between people). Considering the interconnection of these three domains also allows us to analyze and understand the internal specificity of choreographic practices in Portugal and what they share with other sociocultural spaces (Fazenda, 2020).

Following the above, we invite the writing of texts that contribute to the knowledge of the current panorama of theatrical dance in Portugal, including practices in which the purpose, the context of occurrence and the participation criteria that define the theatrical may intercept those of other fields, such as social, ritual, educational. The theoretical and methodological scope is broad, opening space for proposals that can be driven by dance studies or social science perspectives, focus on a case study, with ethnographic analyses, combined with historical research, or in an autoethnographic approach.