CFP: Investigating Nijinska’s Musical Legacy, AMS MDSG Business Meeting, Chicago, 14-17 Nov 2024
AMS Office
Investigating Nijinska’s Musical Legacy, MDSG Business Meeting with Short Papers
A pioneer of twentieth-century neoclassical style, member of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, leader of the avant garde, choreographer, dancer, author, and sister of Vaslav Nijinsky, Bronislava Nijinska’s approach to music has much to reveal about her artistry, the music she chose, and her collaborations, but it is understudied. A few music scholars have contributed to this aspect of Nijinska’s history, including Matilda Ann Butkas Ertz (2009), Deborah Mawer (2006), Stephanie Jordan (2005, 2000), and Margarita Mazo (2005, 1990). In her recent monograph, dance scholar Lynn Garafola (2022) has also advanced knowledge of Nijinska’s significance to ballet choreography, technique, and twentieth-century history. There is, however, a need for further investigation of Nijinska’s relationship with music to better comprehend her vital contributions and develop a more nuanced understanding of her remarkable accomplishments.
At the MDSG business meeting, we seek to include three short papers probing the effects of the radical advances of Bronislava Nijinska’s style and choreography on the music of her dances.
After an introduction by Rebecca Schwartz to Nijinska’s manifesto, “On Movement and the School of Movement,” and best-known work, Les Noces, we invite ten-minute contributions on the following topics:
• How does what we know of Nijinska’s embodiment of musical sounds, ideas, and gestures impact our understanding of Ravel’s Bolero, Poulenc’s Les Biches, and Milhaud’s Le Train Bleu, and other works?
• How can we characterize Nijinska’s approach to music across her career?
• How does a more musically-centered and nuanced understanding of Nijinska’s work inform our perspective of music connected with theatrical dance in the 20th century?
• We also welcome other new or ongoing music-dance research on Nijinska and her oeuvre.
Abstracts should outline the angle, methodology, and materials of the project, and should be limited to 200 words. Papers will be limited to ten minutes and followed by discussion. Please include a short biography of the author at the bottom of the abstract page. Submissions are due by August 15, 2024, and should be emailed to raschwar -at- umich.edu with the subject heading Nijinska’s Musical Legacy. Papers will be reviewed and selected by the MDSG Co-chairs, and presenters will be notified by August 31.