General Submission Guidelines for Paper & Presentation Proposals

The 2025 program committee for annual conferences welcomes proposals for presentations in several formats, outlined below. (Visit the 2025 conference site, Indeterminate States)

Hubs: Hubs are meant to gather individuals around stated conference themes. Groups are curated through submission, meet on all 3 days of the conference, and are open to conference attendees as audience members. Applicants apply individually to participate in a Hub using the submission portal. Hubs will have facilitators. Hub participation counts towards a person's singular conference presentation.  2025 Hubs include:

• What counts as practice? Complicating the terms “practice” and “research” in the field of Dance Studies
• Colonial Transformations and Global Exchanges in Nineteenth-Century Dance
• Folklórico Dance and the Choreographies of a Transnational Mexicanidad
• Dance in Defense of Academic Freedom: Storytelling, Tactics, Resources
• Activating Asian and Asian Diaspora Dance Futures: Creating Resilience Through Community
• Indeterminate Boundaries: Rethinking the Binary of Theory vs Practice in Early Dance Studies

Read full descriptions of the 2025 Hubs HERE

Gatherings/Roundtable Discussion: Gatherings run 90 minutes. This format takes a dialogical approach to collective thinking about tools and strategies in dance studies (for the 2020 conference, particularly those related to dance activism). We welcome proposals from teams of at least five facilitators who will lead discussions with session attendees. Topics for 2020, for example, might include "Syllabi for Dance Activism in the 21st Century," "Strategies for Decolonizing Dance Performances," or "Using Dance to Protest Climate Change." One member of the Gatherings group must submit the proposal and submission form, but the names of all members of the Gatherings group must be listed on the submission form. Note: this format replaces DSA's previous "roundtable" format.

Individual Papers: Paper presentations must be based on unpublished research or interpretation and must be designed for oral delivery within 20 minutes, including use of audiovisual aids. Papers running eight double-spaced pages are ideal. The programming committee will arrange individual paper submission into panels of three with a moderator. 

Panels: Panels are 90 minutes in length and should consist of three 20-minute papers or occasionally four 15-minute papers on a related topic and 30 minutes for questions/answers. We also welcome panels that take a delivery response format, in which formal respondents comment on one or two presenters' work. Panel proposals should consist of one document that contains a 300-word summary of the larger panel topic and individual paper proposals as outlined above for each presenter. The title of the proposed panel and the panelists' names should be included in the appropriate fields of the submission form only. Only one member of the panel needs to submit the panel proposal. Proposed panels will not be assigned a moderator. If panels would like a moderator, they may include their own moderator with their proposal if they wish. 

Movement Presentation/Workshops: Movement workshops (formerly called Lecture-Demonstrations) may run either 20 or 45 minutes. Presentation format incorporates spoken and performative aspects in dialogue (as commentary, illustration, disruption, or otherwise). Proposals should articulate: why the presentation best fits within the this format; the time requirements and studio/space requirements (specifically whether a studio space is necessary); and the names of all presenters (include performers or demonstration assistants). 

Screendances: Screendances should run no more than 12 minutes. Proposals should include a link to a trailer, full work (preferable), or excerpt of the work to be shown. The proposal abstract should articulate the work's research inquiry. Presenters will be grouped into performance panels or screendance showings, depending on the space available at the conference site, and the research inquiry being posed. There will be time for a facilitated Q&A with all of the presenters/performers at the end of the session. It should be noted that there are no submission fees, screening fees, or other fees or revenue for the presentation of dance works or screendances. There is no technical support for dance works. 

Poster Presentation: (2025: THIS FORMAT IS ONLY FOR FIRST-TIME CONFERENCERS & GRAD/UNDERGRAD STUDENTS.) A poster presentation is a research communication method that involves displaying a poster with a researcher present to informally answer questions. Print and trim final version to a size of 40" x 32" (102 cm x 81 cm); landscape or portrait orientation. Your poster should include your name and contact information, a title, approximately 300-800 words (prose, bullets, numbering, or headlines), and effective use of graphics/images to communicate ideas. A poster presentation will summarize main research ideas/findings, answering: What is the most important/interesting/astounding finding from my research project.

FORMAT: All Proposals must include the title of the presentation and an abstract of no more than 300 words that describes the topic, approach, sources and format of your presentation. Specific presentation formats may also require additional materials. Proposals will be anonymously reviewed and therefore names and affiliations of presenters should be omitted from the proposal and indicated only on the online submission form. 

 GUIDELINES: 

• Membership Requirement: Only DSA members in good standing are eligible to present at conferences.  Potential presenters may submit a proposal as a non-member, but must be a member of DSA in order to submit a Presenter Acceptance Form. For membership information, visit the Join Us section of our website. Accepted presenters must join DSA and register in full for the conference. The 2025 conference is an on-site event (not virtual/hybrid).
• Participation Limits: A potential delegate's name may be included on only one proposal submitted to the conference porta. Though some exceptions apply, these are initiated by the program committee and/or DSA Board of Directors (i.e., if invited by the program committee after a panel has been accepted, a delegate may also serve as a moderator on someone else's panel, Board sponsored event, etc.) A delegate presenting their own work may also serve on an awards panel honoring another scholar.  
• Graduate & Conference Awards: Graduate students interested in having submissions considered for the Selma Jeanne Cohen Award, or in applying for a Graduate Student Travel Award, can submit as a part of conference submissions.  Individuals interested in submitting for a Conference Fellowship for Contingent Faculty/Independent Scholars, can submit as a part of conference submissions. Consult the Awards page for more information.
• Onsite Participation: The 2025 Conference will be a live event. 

Note about DSA Working Groups: At each conference, ongoing DSA Working Groups meet immediately before the conference starts to discuss a particular topic. Read about all DSA Working Groups HERE.