Dance, young people and change
by daCi & World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific originally published on 14 November 2012
The 2012 Global Dance Summit: Dance, Young People and Change, held at Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA) in Taiwan 14 – 20 July 2012, was organized collaboratively between Dance and the Child International (daCi) and World Dance Alliance (WDA) and hosted by TNUA. The summit attracted more than 1500 delegates of all ages, from over thirty countries. The program included performances and workshops for and by young people and adults, as well as presentations of research papers and panels and professional projects.
This event was groundbreaking in several ways. It is the first time that the two international organizations, daCi and WDA, have joined forces to organize a conference. It is also the first time in the history of daCi, and the third time in the history of WDA, that conference proceedings have been published online, thanks to the Australian Dance Council – Ausdance.
There were further innovations in the conference program, some of which are visible in the Proceedings. In response to the large number of abstracts submitted for the conference, the organizers developed a new category designated as 'Project Dialogues,' adding to the menu of more traditional research papers and panels. These dialogues allowed dance educators and artists to share professional projects focusing on young people. Project presenters were paired and urged to communicate with each other prior to the conference in order to plan discussions linking the projects.
In addition, the conference was the first time in these organizations’ history that a couple of presenters were given the opportunity to present by Skype. This was part of an attempt to be inclusive of participants from diverse parts of the world.
Following the event, authors of both research papers and project dialogues were invited to submit their contributions for the proceedings. All those submitted are published here, organized by the themes under which they were identified in the conference program; each appears in the language (English and/or Chinese) chosen by the author(s).
The conference organizers wish to thank everyone who contributed to the conference and to this publication. Enjoy reading!
Susan W. Stinson, Editor-in-chief
Shu-Ying Liu, Co-editor
Charlotte Svendler Nielsen, Co-editor and chair of the conference committee for papers, panels, projects and proceedings