Men In Dance Symposium: Bridging the Gap

WVU, Summer 2017

 

SUMMARY OF THE MEN IN DANCE SYMPOSIUM

 By Barry Blumenfeld, Andrew Jannetti, Yoav Kaddar, and Chris Rutt

Overall the symposium was a success with a total of thirteen presentations that comprised movement based sessions, panel discussions, and papers. The majority of the presentations focused on theory, personal reflections, and anecdotes. A few addressed best practices and useful information of what works in the field. Many presenters were presenting for the first time.

Feedback indicated that the participants found the symposium to be empowering and inspiring in terms of dealing with the challenges this overall topic presents. Participants voiced that having the symposium was a start of something new, a “tipping point” in solving these long-time issues. For many, the networking alone was a great benefit, knowing that they are not alone in contending with these matters. The long-time issues and challenges on the topic surfaced throughout the various sessions.

One of the main intentions behind this gathering was to come away from the symposium with some type of action plan. To that end, the final session brought all the participants together for a wrap-up discussion to do just that. The big takeaways were the need for a web-based resource clearinghouse and a larger conference on the topic in the future.  The web-resource page would hopefully cover a range of topics and offer both tools and networking opportunities. Some suggestions were that it include a registry to help find other educators that are succeeding in similar teaching environments, links to research in the field, information on college programs and resources for parents, as well as advice on how to talk to parents about dance training and careers.

As for future conferences, the hope is that an international conference in the next 2-3 years could be produced in order to share information with other cultures. It was also suggested that such a conference involve both students and teachers, and, perhaps, offer sessions for parents as well.

As we look ahead to such future events and gatherings, here are some questions to continue the conversation:

• How do we take this to the next level?
• What might that look like in terms of empowering educators, parents, administrators, and students?
• How might an international event be structured and what value might it bring to the discussion?

One key benefit of an event like this is that there were many issues and sub-topics related to the title of the symposium that came up that probably would not have surfaced at a more general dance conference. The topic needs to continue to “live” and be promoted through social media, online forums, NDEO membership, and during the annual NDEO conferences. The challenges of Men In Dance and Dance Education brings up many issues that range from social ideas of masculinity, gender identity, misogyny, social status, marketability and viable means of income. As we move forward toward an international conference, these inequities and identifications in the field of dance need to continue to be explored in order to create viable actionable outcomes.