CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Hollywood Dance Film Anthology

Edited by: Melissa Blanco Borelli, Lecturer in Dance and Film Studies, U of Surrey, UK

This anthology seeks to establish a body of contemporary readings of the Hollywood dance film genre through methodologies used in critical dance, performance and film studies. Not exclusively a comprehensive historical narrative of the Hollywood dance film, the collection aims to position the field of critical dance studies alongside film analysis in order to enrich, enliven and further theorize the role that dance and screen bodies play in popular culture. Some questions to consider (but not to be limited by) are:

* How do dance and choreography function within the filmic apparatus?
* What types of bodies are associated with specific dances and how does this affect how dance(s) is/are perceived in the everyday?
* How do the dancing bodies on screen negotiate power, access and agency?
* How are multiple choreographies of identity (e.g., race, class, gender, sexuality, and nation) set in motion through the narrative, dancing bodies and/or dance style?
* What types of corporeal labours (dance training, choreographic skill, rehearsal, the constructed notion of “natural talent”) are represented or ignored?
* What role does a specific film have in the genealogy of Hollywood dance film?
* How does the Hollywood dance film inform how dance operates in cultural meaning making?

Some films to consider:
Fame, Breakin’, Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo, Center Stage, Rize, Dirty Dancing, Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights, The Company, Hellzapoppin’, Stomp the Yard, Bride and Prejudice, Save the Last Dance, White Nights, Shall We Dance, Dance With Me, Salsa, Footloose, Sweet Charity, You Got Served, Step Up, Chicago, All that Jazz, Moulin Rouge, Take the Lead, Showgirls, Body Rock, Selena, and many others.

Although So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing With the Stars, or Strictly Come Dancing are not films, critical writings on these television shows are also welcome.

The volume will be organized with stand-alone chapters, each chapter focusing on a particular film, but this is amendable depending on the quantity and quality of the submissions. Ideally, this anthology will be used in both dance and film studies classes with additional contributions to other fields such as American Studies, English, Women and Gender Studies, or Ethnic Studies among others.

If interested in contributing, please send a 500 word abstract, a CV, and a 75 word bio to Melissa Blanco at m.blancoborelli@surrey.ac.uk. Deadline for abstract submission is 31 October 2009. If accepted (subject to review), complete chapters will be due by 15 July 2010.