Dance(d) Forms - Shakespeare and Dance - ESRA international conference, Bangor University, Wales, July 27-30, 2027


As an art form grounded in embodiment, movement and visual/geometrical composition, dance offers a particularly rich framework through which to interrogate the notion of “form”. In dance, form may refer to style and technique (classical ballet, contemporary dance, jazz, physical theatre), to national and aesthetic traditions (French, Russian, Danish, American schools), to the shaping of the body in motion, or to the spatial and collective configurations produced by choreography. Form also concerns the structure and format of performance itself: full-length narrative ballets, short choreographic works, dance theatre, dance film, immersive and site-specific performances all generate different modes of adaptation and spectatorship. Dance continuously negotiates questions of corporeality, temporality, memory and presence.
This seminar invites participants to explore how Shakespeare has been continuously reimagined through choreographic and dance(d) forms across cultures, media and performance traditions. Rather than approaching dance as a simple non-verbal translation of dramatic texts, the seminar seeks to investigate how it transforms Shakespearean dramatic structures, affective rhythms, spatial relations and embodied narratives. Shakespearean dance adaptations frequently challenge the primacy of textuality itself, foregrounding gesture, movement, music and corporeal presence as alternative modes of interpretation and storytelling.
The seminar welcomes contributions engaging with adaptation, intermediality and performance theory. From narrative ballet to postdramatic performance, digital dance and dance film, Shakespeare continues to generate new embodied forms that renegotiate the relationship between text, body and spectatorship.

Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:
- formal innovations in Shakespeare-inspired choreography;
- narrative and abstract dance adaptations;
- historical and transhistorical perspectives on dance(d) forms;
- Shakespeare in ballet, contemporary dance, dance theatre, and other dance(d) forms;
- intercultural and transcultural choreographic practices;
- gendered and queer embodiments of Shakespeare;
- dance film and digital Shakespeare;
- historical dance forms and archival reconstruction;
- site-specific and immersive performances;
- corporeality, memory and affect in Shakespearean dance;
- notions of defying, conforming, bending, changing form(s);
- inclusive and disability-led choreographic approaches.

By foregrounding the intersections between dramatic and choreographic form, the seminar aims to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue between Shakespeare studies, dance scholarship and performance theory, while exploring how dance continues to reinvent Shakespeare for contemporary audiences and global performance cultures.

Please send proposals (max 400 words) and a short bio to Adeline Chevrier-Bosseau (adeline.chevrier-bosseau@sorbonne-universite.fr) & Mattia Mantellato (mattia.mantellato@unikore.it ) before Dec. 4, 2026.