The 2025 Annual Conference of the International Dance Studies Association (DSA) was held from June 25 to 29 at George Washington University, Washington, D.C., in the United States. This year’s conference, themed “Indeterminate States: Bodies, Fields, Praxis,” directly addressed the complex context of global upheavals, technological disruptions, and cultural reconstruction, exploring the critical and creative potential of the body as a “carrier of indeterminacy.”
George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USA
The conference poster highlights key concerns from both interdisciplinary and global perspectives.
This year’s conference attracted over 300 scholars from around the world and featured more than 100 sub-forums, covering five core topics: body politics and practices of resistance, focusing on the agency of dance among minority groups amid social upheavals; the dynamic transformation of archives, exploring cutting-edge topics such as blockchain-based evidence storage, mixed reality (MR) technologies reconstructing body memory, and indigenous dance; the establishment of non-Western theoretical frameworks, critiquing Western centrism and advancing the study of modernity in local dances of Latin America, Asia, and Africa; ecological choreography and spatial relations, using geographic coordinates to map the climate crisis through choreography and advocating for “a symbiosis with nature” as a dance ethics methodology; and the exploration of indeterminate boundaries in creative practice through CRIP Moves. These topics together sketch a multifaceted landscape of dance studies, maintaining the continuity of traditional academic lineages while embracing a forward-looking spirit of exploration. Through multidimensional theoretical intersections and methodological innovations, scholars have shown a keen response to global issues, underscoring the transformative capabilities of the arts and humanities in the digital age.
Chinese Scholars’ Deep Involvement and Growing Influence in Academic Discourse
Beijing Dance Academy has been participating in the DSA Annual Conference since 2013, and this year’s event witnessed a significant rise in the international influence of Chinese dance scholars. The number of sub-forums hosted or addressed by Chinese scholars has significantly increased, covering diverse areas such as dance history, cross-cultural practices, technological ethics, and dance education, setting a new historical high. On June 27, the Beijing Dance Academy organized a roundtable forum titled “Body Writing the State: Inter-textual Studies of Pre-Modern Chinese Dance Documentations,” exploring how to study Chinese dance culture from the perspectives of movement and text. The forum aimed to redefine the Eastern philosophical meaning of “dance” and offer a non-Western methodological perspective for global dance historiography.
Professor Xu Rui, President of Beijing Dance Academy, delivered a speech titled “Chinese Dance Is a Vivid Representation of the Inheritance and Development of Chinese Culture.” He first highlighted that Chinese dance sustains the living inheritance of Chinese civilization. Through its non-verbal, bodily expression, it records historical changes and transmits cultural memories, serving as a unique cultural vessel that reflects the continuity of Chinese civilization. He then explored how Chinese dance blends ancient and modern, Eastern and Western cultures. The openness and inclusivity of Chinese civilization have enabled it to evolve and thrive through cross-cultural exchange and integration. The mutual exchange of music and dance between the ancient Central Plains and the Western Regions vividly demonstrates the “diverse yet unified” cultural pattern, together forming a harmonious and unified picture of Chinese dance. The interaction between contemporary Chinese dance and foreign dance showcases how cultural fusion fosters new forms, breathing new life into dance culture. Meanwhile, Chinese dance remains firmly rooted in the cultural self-awareness of local ethnic groups. The resilience and self-awareness of Chinese civilization have allowed it to retain its cultural identity amid change, with efforts toward localization and national expression ever-present. Chinese culture absorbs foreign influences while preserving its essence, providing Chinese wisdom to address the side effects of Western modernity. Its periodic return to tradition embodies a profound cultural consciousness, enabling tradition and modernity to complement each other. In a word, Chinese dance serves as an exemplar for understanding the inheritance and development of Chinese culture. Looking ahead, it will continue to preserve the cultural essence, advance the evolution of global dance, and remain a vivid presence in the course of history.
Associate Professor Wang Xin, Deputy Dean of the School of Humanities at Beijing Dance Academy, analyzed the multiple meanings of the Chinese character “舞” (dance) in Shang dynasty oracle bone inscriptions. As a practice intertwined with human history, dance played a vital role in ancient Chinese culture. As a human-centered “activity,” it functions as a bridge between the external understanding of the objective world and the internal comprehension of the human subjective world, and stands as one of the starting points for understanding Chinese culture. Professor Zhang Yanjie, Associate Editor of the Journal of Beijing Dance Academy, noted that in traditional historical research, ancient literary works, particularly poetry, have seldom been considered core historical data. With the rise of the emotional history research paradigm, literary works are increasingly recognized as valuable historical data, as they convey the emotional experiences, spiritual aspirations, and subtle sensibilities of people in the past. This aesthetic tradition, where poetry and dance are deeply intertwined, is being revitalized in contemporary artistic practice. Taking “qi” (vital energy, which can be defined as a concept that represents a form of energy in living matter) as a central aesthetic principle, Professor Mu Yu of the School of Humanities at Beijing Dance Academy explored its overarching role in traditional Chinese poetry, calligraphy, and dance, as well as the challenges this heritage faces in recreations in the digital era. Preserving “qi” in digital art calls for prioritizing embodied experience over technical precision. By re-establishing the body as a vessel of cultural memory, it may be possible to bridge the vitality of tradition with contemporary innovation.
The forum was moderated by Miao Fangfei, Associate Professor at the University of Michigan and an alumna of Beijing Dance Academy. The audience engaged in lively discussions on topics such as the contemporary transformation of “dynamic inheritance” and choreographic practices of “poetry-dance intertextuality,” fostering academic resonance through cross-cultural dialogue. The forum not only showcased the theoretical depth of Chinese dance research but also put forward the clear and compelling vision of a “dance cultural community.” As a cultural form, dance holds a unique attribute that transcends linguistic barriers. Through the medium of bodily expression, it bridges cultural differences and conveys emotions and ideas. Its mechanism of “soft governance” embodies a distinctive logic of communication, offering a Chinese paradigm of exemplary significance for diverse research approaches in dance studies.
With an open stance, Beijing Dance Academy actively contributes to the building of a dance cultural community. Every voice from China’s academic community of dance injects a sense of certainty into an uncertain world. This is not only a profound insight revealed at the present conference, but also a resounding echo of Beijing Dance Academy’s efforts to fulfill its mission of advancing the dance cultural community.
Source: Official Website of Beijing Dance Academy, News Issue No. 1844, 2025 Issue No. 116
