WELCOME TO THE SOCIETY FOR DANCE RESEARCH
The Society for Dance Research is an internationally focused, British-based non-profit society that supports and develops scholarly interests in all forms of dance through seminars, conferences, performances, and publications. Our journal, Dance Research, is addressed to scholars and practitioners working within the many disciplines which constitute dance studies, providing an international forum for the presentation and discussion of contemporary dance research.
NEWS
Joint Letter to REF Director Rebecca Fairburn – March 2025
Joint letter from the UK performing arts subject associations: British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS), DanceHE, DramaHE, Royal Musical Association, Society for Dance Research and Theatre and Performance Research Association (TaPRA) to Rebecca Fairbairn, REF Director
Dear Rebecca Fairbairn,
We write on behalf of the above subject associations for the performing arts, in support of the letter you have received from the English Association (https://englishassociation.ac.uk/ref2029-concerns-about-the-implications-of-decoupling) and to share our concerns about the risks of non-portability of outputs for REF2029.
As you are well aware, the UK HE sector is in an extended – and for some existential – crisis. As of the date of this letter, 90 UK HEIs are reported as being in some form of restructure, voluntary severance or redundancy rounds, with arts and humanities especially impacted (source: https://qmucu.org/qmul-transformation/uk-he-shrinking)
The UK HE community all want to ensure that REF2029 is fair, transparent, trusted and sustainable; and that any negative unintended consequences are mitigated. To that end we reinforce the points made in the open letter from the English Association, namely:
- That due consideration is given to output portability so that past and present employers within a census period may each claim a link to a researcher’s published outputs (within an agreed number of years following publication). We believe the removal of output portability represents restraint of trade: individual researchers will find their careers in limbo or potentially ended if their current institution retains their outputs for REF submission at the end of their employment. This situation will hamper sector mobility, as new hires with non-submissible REF outputs represent a suboptimal proposition for any new employing institution. We concur with the English Association that this will have negative impacts on universities’ responsibilities to equity, diversity, and inclusion, as it will have asymmetrical impact on careers dependent on types of contract, and who hold such contracts. The current climate of cost cutting in the sector, including redundancies, voluntary severance and restructuring bears especially on the issue of portability. We would therefore ask that HEIs should declare in their REF2029 submission the number of staff (headcount and FTE) who have left under such conditions.
- That the People Culture and Environment indicators and process (following explicit signals that the current pilot does not indicate the final approach) will recognise (i) the current existential challenges to the entirety of UK HE, and (ii) how these challenges manifest in different provider contexts.
We trust that this letter is received in the spirit it is sent – one of collegiality, rigour and commitment to a fair REF process which supports and not injures the UK higher education ecology. The subject associations have a vital role to play in representing and stewarding the sector, and we urge you to engage with us on future consultations.
Yours sincerely,
Mark Hunter, Dr. Victor Ladron de Guevara, Dr. Rashna Nicholson, co-Chairs of DramaHE
Dr. Natalie Garrett Brown, Chair of DanceHE
Dr. Broderick Chow, Prof. Royona Mitra, co-Chairs of Theatre and Performance Research Association
Dr. Kathryn Stamp, Dr. Sinibaldo de Rosa, co-Chairs of Society for Dance Research
Prof. Simon Keefe, President of the Royal Musical Association
Dr. Gabor Gergely, Chair of British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Saturday 29th March 2025
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Our next Annual General Meeting will take place on 29 March 2025 – online 11:00 – 14:00. Come and join us as we hear from guest speaker ‘Funmi Adewole Elliott, followed by a summary of annual activities of the Society for Dance Research.
‘Funmi Adewole Elliott
3 Decades of Dance of the African Diaspora in the UK
The establishment of the Association of Dance of the African Diaspora (ADAD) in 1994 marked a significant moment in the UK dance sector, introducing and legitimizing the term Dance of the African Diaspora (DAD). From a perspective based on theories from sociology, postcolonial studies and cultural production this paper will examine three areas related to this milestone. It will discuss ADAD’s role in shaping professional opportunities for artists’ work that is based on or incorporates African and diaspora dance forms or Africanist aesthetics into their practice. Through initiatives such as the Trailblazers fellowship, the Re:generations conferences, and the BLOOM festival, ADAD fostered artistic growth and sector recognition. In 2002, ADAD shifted its primary focus towards building a critical discourse around DAD, launching HOTFOOT magazine as a platform for reflection and exchange. This talk will assess both the achievements and limitations of this endeavour. Finally, with no dedicated funding body supporting DAD, the talk will consider the enduring legacy of ADAD and its significance for future research and dance development in the UK.
Speaker: ‘Funmi Adewole Elliott
‘Funmi Adewole Elliott is a performer, dramaturge, and academic. She holds an MA in Postcolonial Studies and a PhD in Dance Studies. She worked in journalism and TV production in Nigeria before transitioning into performance after relocating to Britain in 1994. She toured for a decade with mainly physical theatre and African dance drama companies whilst working as a dance advocate within African and Diasporic dance and the independent dance scene. She played a key role in the Association of Dance of the African Diaspora (1994 to 2016), serving in various capacities, including as Programme Manager and Chair. In recognition of her contributions to reshaping perceptions of Black dance in the UK, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from One Dance UK in 2019. Following her PhD, Funmi lectured in dance at De Montfort University for eight years. Her research interests include Dance as a profession, Black British choreographers, African cultural production, Embodied creativity and Storytelling as performance. Now working as an independent artist, she also leads Enact Arts, a Community Interest Company.
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