Configurations in Montreal

Performance Curation and Communities of Colour

June 1-2, 2017 * York Ampitheatre (EV 1.615) & EV 3.760 * Arts and Engineering Building, Concordia University

Canadian and American performance curators, artists, and scholars will gather in Montreal June 1 and 2, 2017 to share work, develop resources, and build strategies for supporting performance in, for and by Black, Indigenous and communities of colour in Canada and the United States. Convened by the department of Art Education at Concordia University, in collaboration with the University of Toronto and the Institute for Dance Studies, SLIPPAGE:Performance|Culture|Technology, and Duke University, the event has been curated by Dr. Thomas F. DeFrantz, Duke University; and Dr. Seika Boye, University of Toronto, to explore topics that impact communities of colour.

The event includes morning statements from presenters, with live translation in French and English, and public discussion, as well as an afternoon long-table on June 1st. A talk by Dr. Thomas F. DeFrantz, entitled “Dancing the Museum,” will take place in association with DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art on June 2nd, 6:00 pm at Montreal’s Museum of Fine Arts. All events are wheel-chair accessible, free and open to the public; a full schedule with guest bios follows here.

The gathering in Montreal builds on two previous iterations of Configurations in Motion: Performance Curation and Communities of Color first convened at Duke University in June 2015 and then again July 2016. Produced by Dr. Thomas F. DeFrantz with Montreal-based curator Dr. Jane Gabriels and post-doctorate fellow Dr. Dasha Chapman, Configurations involved approximately 15-20 curators, artists, scholars, presenters, and funders each year, and resulted in a self-published booklet of essays (2015 and forthcoming 2017).

Configurations in Montreal is part of a year-long series of events focused on critical dance studies and funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), in partnership with Duke University and University of Toronto. Collectively, these events aim to mobilize knowledge, foster critical dialogue, and bring heightened awareness of dance research in theory and practice into the academic setting.

Presented with generous support from the following: Art Education Department, Concordia University; Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture, Concordia University; Office of the Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts, Concordia University; SSHRC/CRSH; SLIPPAGE:Performance|Culture|Technology, Duke University, and the University of Toronto (Institute for Dance Studies and Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies), in addition to DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art, Pepatián and International Community for Performing Arts Curators (CICA-ICAC).