General Call for Papers
The Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices (JDSP) (ISSN 1757-1871) is an international refereed journal published twice a year by Intellect. It has been in publication since 2009 for scholars and practitioners whose research interests focus on the relationship between dance and somatic practices, and the influence that this body of practice exerts on the wider performing art.
JDSP is committed to open dialogue, rigorous enquiry and inclusive practice. We seek to broaden the spectrum of voices featured in our pages and to challenge hierarchies of knowledge by encouraging contributions from artists, movers and thinkers of all backgrounds. We consider dance and somatic practices as endeavours toward tuning sensing, responsive bodies and response-able, open minds. In this spirit, we value viewpoint diversity by encouraging open conversation and a generosity of spirit when engaging with topics and lines of enquiry which may be considered controversial or marginalized. All our submissions are double-blind peer reviewed, and we welcome a variety of non-traditional formats. We recognize that the Journal serves and seeks to more accurately represent and support people from historically underrepresented groups including (but not limited to) the Global Majority/BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, and ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious minorities.
JDSP invites submissions on an ongoing basis. Themes might include:
• The pedagogical philosophy of somatics and how this might be seen to challenge or negate dominant approaches to learning and creativity
• The history of somatic practices
• The current application of somatics to dance/performing arts training and education
• The aesthetic implications of working with/from a somatic understanding
• The ‘body’ as a site of discourse in western culture, the influence of eastern cultures on notions of embodiment and how somatic practices challenge/collude with these ideas.
• The future of somatic practices - challenges, critique and connections with other disciplines.
Standard articles should be in the range of 4–6000 words. More playful contributions are welcomed, particularly those that include images, but if a contributor has a particular idea in mind that might deviate from the template they must contact the editors first to discuss the possibilities and prior to submitting a contribution and contributors need to work within the existing journal design template (a free to view issue is available on the Intellect website as illustration). The guidelines for alternative formats can be found here.
Alternative Text for Images:
As part of Intellect’s commitment to innovation and accessibility, we ask our authors to provide descriptive text alternatives for all images, graphs and figures in your work. Authors must download and complete an Alternative Text Form to accompany any figures submitted with your article.
All articles submitted should be original work and must not be under consideration by other publications. Journal contributors will receive a free PDF copy of their final work upon publication.
Enquiries regarding reviews should be sent to the Reviews Editors, Lily Hayward-Smith (aa2849@coventry.ac.uk) and Marie-Louise Crawley (ad1803@coventry.ac.uk).
Call for Book Reviewers:
The editors of JDSP are looking for new writers to conduct book, performance and event reviews for upcoming journal issues. We have a list of books inline for review already, however we also welcome proposals for new reviews. We welcome applicants at all stages of their career, scholars and/or practitioners; however, this opportunity would suit postgraduate researchers, early career researchers and/or anyone looking to develop their writing for journals and or gain experience in writing for journals.
This is a voluntary role. Each reviewer receives a copy of the book they are reviewing and free online access to the JDSP issue that their review is published in. We also welcome reviews of conferences, performances, workshops, festivals, websites and other resources.
Review details:
- For books: Once a reviewer has been confirmed, a review copy is ordered. Once the copy is received the reviewer will normally submit a first draft in six weeks.
- Proposals for reviews of conferences etc. are accepted by email to jdsp@coventry.ac.uk
- Reviews are generally between 1000–1500 words depending on the resource being reviewed.
- Reviewers should submit their reviews via the ‘Submit’ link on the JDSP webpage, which will direct to the JDSP submissions system.
- Reviews are reviewed by the Reviews Editors, Marie-Louise Crawley and Lily Hayward-Smith. This is an open review process unlike the blind peer review process for other JDSP.
Review guidelines:
Book reviews should contain a brief description of content and summary of the book, including its main themes and conclusions.
The purpose of the review is to convey clearly the essence of the book and to reflect critically on the book’s key points.
The review should be a fair appraisal of the book that assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the book.
It should also describe the relevance of the book to various audiences including practitioners, students and researchers and the readership community of JDSP.
Other elements that could be considered include:
- place of the book in the wider context,
- writing style,
- structure,
- format and
- design etc.
The length of a book review can be up to 1000 words. The journal commissions and accepts proposals for longer review essays on events, performances, festivals and so on. Please state all the relevant information about the book/event: full title, author, publisher, place of publication, date of publication, ISBN, number of pages, paperback/hardback. Please also remember to put your own name, short bio, contact e-mail address, postal address and any institutional affiliation after your review.
The Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices is committed to open dialogue, rigorous enquiry, and inclusive practice. We seek to broaden the spectrum of voices leading the journal and featured in our pages and to challenge hierarchies of knowledge by encouraging contributions from artists, movers, and thinkers of all backgrounds. We particularly welcome reviewers from historically underrepresented groups in somatic practice and research.
We recognize that the journal serves and seeks to more accurately represent and support people from historically underrepresented groups including (but not limited to) Global Majority/BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and disabled communities. We also welcome applicants who can contribute knowledge of somatic practices beyond a Western cultural context. The publication language of JDSP is English but we also welcome people with other language skills as we increasingly get submissions from around the world and include abstracts in a range of languages.
If you are interested in getting involved, please contact the editors at jdsp@coventry.ac.uk.
Publishing Webinars:
Registration details for the next JDSP Online Webinars coming soon.
At JDSP, we are dedicated to finding new ways of ensuring ethical and fair practices, equality and diversity throughout our work at all levels; and to ensure that all voices and all bodies are supported and represented by the journal’s work in dance and somatic scholarship and practice.
As such, we wanted to open out to you, our community, to demystify the processes of submitting work to the journal – whether that be standard written articles or through less traditional formats exploring practice, working as a peer reviewer, getting involved with editorial work or what it means to be a Board member.
We have curated three webinars to answer and discuss any questions that you may have about authoring, submitting and reviewing, in the hope of beginning to break down any barriers to engagement with the journal’s work and academic publishing in dance scholarship more broadly.
JDSP is an international refereed journal published twice a year. It has been in publication since 2009 for scholars and practitioners whose research interests focus on the relationship between dance and somatic practices, and the influence that this body of practice exerts on the wider performing arts. In recent years, somatic practices have become more central to many artists’ work and have become more established within educational and training programmes. Despite this, as a body of work it has remained largely at the margins of scholarly debate, finding its presence predominantly through the embodied knowledge of practitioners and their performative contributions.