About
Conversations Across the Field of Dance Studies is an annual publication of Dance Studies Association dedicated to current themes and debates in the field of dance studies. Each issue is edited by (a) different guest editor(s) and is published online in an open access format. As such, Conversations is a venue in which scholars, artists, and educators of dance and related disciplines can respond quickly and publicly to current events and pressing issues as identified by members of an international dance studies community. Conversations publishes a range of formats, such as think pieces, scholarly dialogues, practitioner critical reflections, photo and video essays, poetic reveries, reports from the field, ethnographic considerations, introductions to archival repositories, theoretical provocations, interviews, proceedings from important recent roundtables, and more. The Conversations Editorial Board provides editorial support to the guest editors and editorial review to the issue contents.
Conversations has published annual issues from 2007-present. Prior to 2007, the Society for Dance History Scholars (SDHS) newsletter served as a similar platform for publication.
Latest News Posts
Volume 44 Press Release
Posted by Conversations Editor on 2025-12-19
December 23, 2025 Conversations Across the Field of Dance Studies Volume 44: The Caribbean as a Pole of the African Diaspora The Dance Studies Association (DSA) announces a new issue of its annual journal publication, Conversations Across the Field of Dance Studies, published on an open-access e-platform with Michigan Publishing Services. This issue, titled The Caribbean as a Pole of the [...]
Read MoreCall for Proposals for Volume 45
Posted by Conversations Editor on 2025-11-18
Call for Proposals Vol. 45: Choreographing Access: Aesthetics of Inclusion Guest Editors: Akhila Vimal C and Ash Tamara McAskill Volume 45 Call for Proposals in International Sign Language: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q-uiWrtggV1TMXofDRaMzJ0t8QK5HGru/view?usp=sharing About the Issue This issue of Conversations Across the Field of Dance Studies explores how access shapes dance. Access isn’t [...]
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Volume 44 • 2025 • The Caribbean as a Pole of the African Diaspora
Cover image credit: Myrtle Henry Sodhi (AfroQuill), A Movement Across Time, November 2025
Cover image description: This digital image captures the idea of Ubuntu as expressed through dance and movement. Being through and with others is a movement across time. Steps, twists, folds, and reaches are echoed from the past, expressed in the present, and reverberate into the future. Dance is a way to feel together--through each other. This does not mean we disappear into each other but rather we appear through and with each other.
Editors: Emilie Jabouin (Guest Editor), Karla Etienne (Guest Editor)
Articles
The Caribbean as a Pole of the African Diaspora: An Introduction
Emilie Jabouin, Karla Etienne and Karla Etienne
2025-12-22 Volume 44 • 2025 • The Caribbean as a Pole of the African Diaspora
SIMBI: An Inner Transformation through Dance and Ancestral Heritage
Laura Beaubrun
2025-12-22 Volume 44 • 2025 • The Caribbean as a Pole of the African Diaspora
SIMBI: Une Transformation Intérieure par la Danse et l’Héritage Ancestral
Laura Beaubrun
2025-12-22 Volume 44 • 2025 • The Caribbean as a Pole of the African Diaspora
Selfpolyfication and Arriving on Choice: Africana Dance Practice Revised
Talawa Prestø
2025-12-22 Volume 44 • 2025 • The Caribbean as a Pole of the African Diaspora
From Concept to Choreographic System—Advancing Selfpolyfication as a Compositional and Performance Methodology
Talawa Prestø
2025-12-22 Volume 44 • 2025 • The Caribbean as a Pole of the African Diaspora
“Si Tu No Sabe Kokobalé” and The Reclamation of Collective Memory as a Praxis of Liberation
Isabel Padilla Carlo
2025-12-22 Volume 44 • 2025 • The Caribbean as a Pole of the African Diaspora
“Si Tú No Sabe Kokobalé” y el reclamo por la memoria colectiva como praxis de liberación
Isabel Padilla Carlo
2025-12-22 Volume 44 • 2025 • The Caribbean as a Pole of the African Diaspora
"Pure" Christianity, Revivalism and Kumina: Toward a Queer Spiritual Praxis, and the Destabilization of Colonial Epistemologies
Webster Brandon McDonald
2025-12-22 Volume 44 • 2025 • The Caribbean as a Pole of the African Diaspora
Sacred Expressions: Dance and Movements in the Realm of the Spirit
Ireka Jelani
2025-12-22 Volume 44 • 2025 • The Caribbean as a Pole of the African Diaspora
From Dancers to Writers: Literary Representations of Afro-Descendant Dancing in Spiralism
Claire Massy-Paoli
2025-12-22 Volume 44 • 2025 • The Caribbean as a Pole of the African Diaspora
Du Corps danseur à l’Être écrivain : Représenter les danses afrodescendantes dans le Spiralisme littéraire
Claire Massy-Paoli
2025-12-22 Volume 44 • 2025 • The Caribbean as a Pole of the African Diaspora
A Journey through the Unity Atlantic Rhythm Map
Deirdre C. Molloy
2025-12-22 Volume 44 • 2025 • The Caribbean as a Pole of the African Diaspora
Bending but Not Breaking- Awakening to Limbo
Kieron Dwayne Sargeant
2025-12-22 Volume 44 • 2025 • The Caribbean as a Pole of the African Diaspora