SDHS: Students in SDHS Working Group

Students in SDHS Working Group

Chair: Sarah Nixon Gasyna
Contact: sarah (dot) nixon (at) utoronto (dot) ca

Sarah holds an M.A. in Dance Studies from York University, and is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto where she is writing a dissertation entitled Bodies in Revolution: Death, Dance, and Defiance at the Bals des victimes.

Note From the Chair

Welcome to the student page of the SDHS. As of 2006, students comprised more than 16% of the total SDHS membership. At the SDHS 2005 conference at Northwestern University, 30% of presentations were given by graduate students. If you are not already a member, click here and join us today!

Student members of SDHS are automatically members of the Students in SDHS Working Group. The Working Group is a forum for student voices, and its annual meetings at the SDHS conferences provide the opportunity for members to raise and discuss issues pertaining to any aspect of the study of dance at the university level.

As the Graduate Student Representative, I am your advocate and messenger: my role is to serve as a link between our growing student membership and the SDHS Board of Directors.

The Student Representative to the SDHS Board of Directors is a volunteer position. Currently, the representative serves a three-year term. The chief duties and responsibilities of this position include attending bi-annual board meetings, chairing the working group meetings at the annual SDHS conferences, and assisting in ongoing fund-raising to help finance the SDHS Student Travel Grant fund.

If you are interested in playing this role starting in the fall of 2008, please let us know!

Members of the Students in SDHS Working Group listen to talks by Suki John, Renate Bräuninger, and MJ Thompson on the theme of "Dance Writing Inside And Outside The Academe," a special student forum organized by Sarah Nixon Gasyna at the Banff Centre (Alberta, Canada) in June 2006.

History of the Students in SDHS Working Group

The working group for Students in SDHS was formed in 1998 by Karen Silen to encourage more students to join the society. The first meeting was held at the 1999 conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Students who attended defined the group as a forum for students of all levels interested in exploring the possibilities and problems of being a graduate student in dance studies. Topics of common interest were research methods and strategies, grant opportunities, the job market, relationships with advisers and mentors, and the dual identity of graduate students working as teaching assistants. These topics-and more-are subjects for ongoing discussions.

The benefits of this working group are obvious. Opportunities for networking are unique. The friends and colleagues that students meet through the Society of Dance History Scholars will be of enduring value as they proceed to subsequent stages of their careers as dance historians, teachers, or performers. Besides networking with their peers, students have opportunities to meet distinguished scholars and faculty members with whom they may wish to study. Being able to meet with specific scholars was a prime concern of attendees at the initial meeting.

Staying In Touch

Throughout the year, students can communicate with each other through the Graduate Students in Dance e-mail discussion group. This is an informal discussion group started at the 2000 annual conference, "Dancing in the Millennium." It is open to any students working in dance, regardless of their organizational affiliation. Topics discussed include upcoming conferences (of SDHS, CORD, and other dance organizations) as well as requests and offers of information about such things as graduate programs, funding sources, and other kinds of resource.

The group's URL is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GraduateStudentsinDance/

There are two ways to join this e-mail group:

To join the group and get access to past e-mail messages, go to the Web site of Graduate Students in Dance www.geocities.com/gre97201 and follow instructions for joining the discussion group. If you use this method, Yahoo requires that you submit a page of personal information.

To join the group, bypass the Yahoo information form, and forgo access to past e-mail messages, send an e-mail request to GraduateStudentsinDance-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Financial Resources For Student Members of SDHS

SDHS Student Travel Grant
Any student member of SDHS enrolled in a graduate degree program and engaged in dance research is eligible. Students need not have a paper accepted for presentation at the conference in order to apply.

Selma Jean Cohen Award
The Selma Jeanne Cohen Award aims to encourage graduate student members of SDHS by recognizing excellence in dance scholarship. Up to three awards will be offered at each conference. Each award includes an invitation to present a paper at the annual conference, waiver of the registration fee for that conference, and a grant to help defray costs of attending the conference. Awards are based on the originality of the research, the rigor of the argument, and the clarity of the writing.

Lippincott Award
The Gertrude Lippincott Award is awarded annually to the best English-language article published in dance studies. Named in honor of its donor, a devoted teacher of modern dance in the Midwest and mentor to many students, it was established to recognize excellence in the field of dance scholarship. The award carries a cash purse of $500.

For application instructions and more information, visit the awards page: http://www.sdhs.org/awards.html

2006 inaugural SDHS Travel Grant award-winners with Sarah Nixon Gasyna.

Last updated 11 June 2007
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