ATHE 2022 – Music Theatre/Dance Focus Group
CALL FOR PAPERS/SESSION PROPOSALS
ATHE Annual Conference 2022 Music Theatre/Dance Focus Group
Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, Detroit, MI Conference Dates: July 28-31 Submission Deadlines: Single Papers/Presentations – November 1st, 2021 Full Panels – December 1st, 2021
The Music Theatre/Dance (MT/D) Focus Group of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) invites session proposals for the 2022 Conference in Detroit:
As we prepare to meet in person once again at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, a city that is undergoing its own renaissance, we invite you to join us as we work toward a post-shutdown renaissance of music theatre, musical theatre, dance, and related fields. Last year our conference theme was RE: ATHE and MT/D asked its membership to reckon with the past in order to build a new future for our field and our industry. The MT/D membership rose to the challenge, decentering white, cis-heteropatriarchy in many of our sessions, asking tough questions about the work we do, and sharing resources and strategies for the evolution of our field. The 2022 conference theme, Rehearsing the Possible: Practicing Reparative Creativity, asks the ATHE membership to amplify the work that began at the conference in 2021 by continuing conversations and curating new dialogues. Last year we began devising the script for the future, and this year, we continue that work as we put that script on its feet in Rehearsal.
ATHE asks us “How will we abolish institutional, embedded racist structures? As we seek to reimagine, rebuild, and rise up, what are some new arrangements of the possible that we might pursue?” MT/D asks its members to move from conversation to action as we envision a new paradigm for the study and practice of music theatre, dance, and related fields. We have been inactive for too long, endlessly discussing the shortcomings in our field. Rather than remaining stuck in our table work, let’s begin blocking. Therefore, for this year’s conference, MT/D seeks sessions that share actionable strategies, both practical and pedagogical, for moving our field forward. As we interrogate the issues inherent in the structures of our field, we must also examine the issues that arise from the structure of our traditional conference format. MT/D is actively seeking proposals that challenge the traditional— not only addressing issues in the field but also in the shape and accessibility of our sessions.
No matter the format: workshop, roundtable, working group, case study, poster session, or something we’ve never seen before, we ask our membership to engage with the following questions:
1. How can music theatre and dance, both the field, and the focus group, engage in the “reparative creativity” called for by the ATHE 2022 theme? How can we as scholars, artists, and teachers take action to dismantle the oppressive, white-supremacist systems that have ruled our industry and our classrooms? What might we build instead?
2. What tools have we gained and insights have we gathered through the challenges of the past two years that can inform how we move forward? What tools or practices have we discovered are no longer useful in our current world and should be left behind?
3. How can we as educators disconnect from harmful industry and institutional practices to teach new models of creating that uplift instead of tear down?
4. How can we expand the scholarship of our field to include more voices, ideas, and perspectives?
5. How can we create spaces, in our classrooms, rehearsal rooms, and our scholarship to invite in those who historically have been excluded?
6. How can we restructure or reframe our courses, rehearsal spaces, and committees to engage in practices of care and mindfulness for the health and safety of all artists and scholars in the room?
7. How can we think outside of the box and utilize new and creative ways to teach musical theatre, dance, and related fields?
8. What attempts have we made to engage in “reparative creativity” and what was the result?
Again this year, regardless of your proposed session topic, MT/D is asking you to de-center white cis-heteropatriarchy. We encourage you to consider foregrounding equity and anti-racist practices and elevate the work of BIPOC artists and scholars. All sessions that investigate any aspect of musical theatre, music theatre, dance, or related fields from this perspective are welcome.
In an effort to move toward greater equity in MT/D programming, for the 2022 conference, in addition to our request that all presentations de-center white cis-heteropatriarchy and our request that you consider foregrounding equity and anti-racist practices and elevate the work of BIPOC artists and scholars, panels that meet the following criteria will be more highly ranked in the session vetting process:
● Sessions that explicitly meet the call from this year’s CFP, especially sessions that utilize innovative formats.
● Sessions that center minoritarian topics.
● Sessions that include diversity in identity, affiliation, and rank of presenters.
● Sessions for which participants were solicited openly through the MT/D listservs and or were created through the single paper submission or the MT/D research-in-progress forum.
● Sessions that include detailed descriptions of both the content and the format for the session.
All members are asked to utilize the MT/D listservs: both the Google Group and the Athe.org messaging system to seek panel participants. As the membership to the two listservs is different, you are encouraged to send your inquiries to both. For instructions for joining and using the MT/D Google Group listserv, please click here. For information about how to utilize the Athe.org messaging system, please click here.
SUBMISSIONS
For the 2022 conference, there will be three kinds of submissions: single paper, full session (single focus group), and full session (multiple focus group). For full session submissions, we ask that all session coordinators alert the Conference Planner(s) of their session prior to submitting through the ATHE system. For multi-disciplinary sessions, please contact the Conference Planners for all focus groups to which you are submitting the panel prior to submission. The contact information for the Conference Planners can be found at this link.
Single paper/presentation submissions will be accepted this year. These papers/presentations are to be submitted to MT/D via this link. Papers/Presentations will then be vetted and may be assigned to panels, which will need to then be submitted to the ATHE system by a designated session coordinator. The deadline for single submissions is November 1st, 2021.
Completed full session proposals should be submitted online via the ATHE website at www.athe.org. The deadline for submissions is December 1st, 2021. Sessions submitted on December 1st must be complete panels with multiple presenters. MT/D does not accept sessions with fewer than three presenters. All single papers submitted to MT/D will need to be re-submitted as full panels to the ATHE system. Upcoming MT/D Events to support panel formation and submission:
MT/D CONFERENCE PROPOSAL WEBINAR – Saturday, October 9th 3pm EST/2pm Central/1pm MST/12pm Pacific:
MT/D is committed to supporting all interested participants in crafting proposals for the conference. Therefore, MT/D will again host a conference proposal webinar. This year’s webinar will be held on October 9th. At this session, members of the MT/D leadership will talk about best practices for crafting proposals, discuss the process that MT/D uses to rank submissions, and answer questions about the proposal process. The event is free and open (MT/D or ATHE membership not required) to all but registration is required. Please click here to register for the session.
MT/D RESEARCH-IN-PROGRESS FORUM – Thursday, November 4th 6:30pm EST/5:30pm Central/4:30pm MST/3:30pm Pacific In order to facilitate more connections between our members as panels are being created, MT/D will host a scholarship matching session. Modeled after the research in progress session at the 2021 MT/D pre-conference, this informal forum will provide an opportunity for participants to share elevator pitches about their current work and/or ideas for conference sessions in an effort to help members find collaborators prior to the December 1st submission deadline. The event is free and open (MT/D or ATHE membership not required) to all but registration is required. Please click here to register for the session.