Third Symposium on Dance, Music, and Performing Arts of the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia (MENACASEA)     

Few areas of dance research and writing have been as underrepresented and misunderstood in scholarly literature as the dances of the Middle East, North Africa (MENA), Central Asia (CA), and Southeast Asia (SEA), whether with regard to historical or contemporary contexts of performance.

However, as witnessed through conferences of the Dance Studies Association (formerly Congress on Research and Dance and Society of Dance History Scholars), the number of presentations in this field has increased. Furthermore, there have been increasing numbers of emerging scholars over the past decade whose research has focused on various aspects of dance genres originating in these underrepresented regions. These combined merit a full conference dedicated to new research in these regions and their diaspora communities.

This year’s symposium expands upon the previous two highly successful symposia to include Southeast Asia. This geographic expansion is an intentional one. Rather than diluting the scope of the ongoing MENACA project, this inclusion makes space for the numerous historical and contemporary connections maintained between Southeast Asia and the MENACA regions, whether examined through shared instrumentation, melodic form, or embodied movement. This inclusion focuses on the commonality of shared histories and shared memories between SEA and parts of the MENACA region, whether through historical migration, the spread and localization of Islam, or shared experiences related to gender, oppression, violence, among many other areas of exploration. This transregional approach allows for a careful consideration of migration and memory in shaping performing arts as they continue to be maintained and passed down by today’s practitioners, and we welcome proposals that seek to illuminate new perspectives on interconnection.

As in previous years, this symposium contributes to important ongoing debates on decolonization and dance studies, especially from the perspectives of the largely misrepresented MENACA and SEA regions. Decolonization in dance studies remains at the forefront of dance research, as evidenced in the DSA Conference in Malta (2018), the 2020 issue of Decolonizing Dance Discourses, and at the DSA Conference in Vancouver (2022). As our symposium continues for its third iteration, we additionally seek to bring to the debate how future prospects for dance education should reconsider present academic canons.

We welcome you to participate in this exciting opportunity to meet dancers, choreographers, and scholars active in education, performance, and research in MENA, Central Asian, and Southeast Asian music and dance cultures. We welcome innovative approaches to performing arts research and practice in these regions, including spatial considerations of the environment, resistance practices, arts as dis/empowerment, among other perspectives.

Please submit paper abstracts (max 250 words) and a short author bio by August 15, 2025, to menaca2023@gmail.com. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by September 1, 2025. This year’s symposium will be held virtually on November 14-16, 2025. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc3QrwiiNvJ7Vf1lfrgOB-RoyMSwhC2tBb_c3tZhbLKrUUCew/viewform?pli=1

Suggested topics include (but not limited to):

Social Justice and Human Rights

Diaspora, immigration and community: challenges, opportunities

LGBTQ: challenges and changes/growth in the MENACASEA region

Architecture and site-specific performance

Screendance

State Dance Ensembles and Nationalism

Postcolonialism & Decolonization

Dance as identity in the marginalised regions and new forms of discrimination

Neuroscience

Mythology