Call for Manuscripts

Submitted by Billie Lepczyk, October 22, 2011

Call for Manuscripts

Dance: Current Selected Research

Volume VIII

Edited by:

Lynnette Young Overby, Ph.D. and Billie Lepczyk, Ed.D., CMA

We are preparing the 8th volume of Dance: Current Selected Research. Criteria for the consideration of manuscripts: (1) original research on topics for which valid techniques in experimental, historical, ethnographic, movement analysis, or clinical research have been applied in the collectionof data and with appropriate analytical treatment of data; (2) state-of-the art research reviews on topics of current interest with a substantial research literature base, or (3) theoretical papers presenting well formulated but as yet untested models.

Deadline: February 10, 2012

Guide to Authors

1. The selection is required to be in English and should not have been published exactly in its present form elsewhere. However, it is satisfactory if the paper has been presented at a professional meeting and/or appears in abstract only. 

2. Submit one copy of the manuscript in a Word document (.doc or.docx) to both editors by e-mail. Submissions must include the lead author’s address, telephone number, e-mail address, title, and professional affiliation. The manuscript order is: (1) title page, (2) blind title page, (3) abstract, (4) text, (5) references, (6) author notes, (7) footnotes, (8) tables, (9) figure captions, and (10) figures.

3. The submitted manuscript is required to be typed on 8.5 x 11 inch paper with 1 inch margins on all sides and text in 12 font Times.

4. The submitted manuscript is required to be no more than 9,000 words (approximately 25 manuscript pages) in length.

5. Include an abstract of not more than 200 words.

6. The APA reference and citation system (6th edition) should be used for all manuscripts.

7. Illustrations, charts, etc. should be submitted in “camera ready” condition apart from the text. Indicated exactly where this material should be inserted.

8. In addition to the editors, the papers will be evaluated by at least two outside reviewers for consideration for publication.

9. For each contribution selected for publication the author will receive one copy of the book.

10. Deadline for submitting manuscripts is February 10, 2012

Dr. Lynnette Young Overby, Co-Editor

Dance: Current Selected Research

Office of Undergraduate Research & Experiential Learning

180 S. College Ave.

University of Delaware

Newark, DE 19350

302-831-7064

302-831-3698

Email: overbyl@udel.edu, lepczyk@vt.edu

Submit your manuscript to both editors

Choice on Dance: Current Selected Research Volume 3

“This serial presents an ideal way for beginning dance majors to become aware of dance research. For this third volume as for past ones (1989, 1990), editors Overby and Humphrey have selected articles reflecting research across the dance spectrum including dance education, history, kinesiology, and ethnology. These articles are useful not only for their content but also as examples of research methods within each area…it is quite possible that this and future volumes will show up on reading lists in general dance research courses; for that reason this publication is recommended to undergraduate libraries supporting dance programs.”

Dr. Overby is Professor of Theatre and Dance and Faculty Director for Undergraduate Research and Experiential Learning at the University of Delaware and specializes in dance education and imagery research. Dr. Lepczyk is Professor of Dance in the Department of Theatre and Cinema atVirginia Tech and specializes in movement analysis and dance style research.

JPAS, On Line Journal

Submitted by Doris Green, October 13, 2011

JPAS (Journal of Pan African Studies) is an online publication that brings together scholars, educators and others who work within this area of concentration. JPAS began in 1987. Volume 4 number 6 is a special issue on African dance. My article is entitled “The Saga of African Dance and Black Studies Departments.”

The article traces African dance from the 'hub' of cities with large Black populations, namely New York City, to the continent of Africa where I studied in the bush, Art Centers and campuses of Universities of Africa. It reveals how I, always mesmerized by rhythm wrote my first drum sounds, when I was a teenager in high school, after a remark from a stenography teacher who said 'any sound could be written with the Pitman shorthand system'. I pondered the statement and questioned if any sound could be written, why not write drum sounds. With that I picked up my pencil and wrote  my first drum sounds.

The article explores how I aligned my system with Labanotation in an integrated score. It also points  out the dire need for a comprehensive textbook on African music and dance as any course in academia  that is not supported by a definitive textbook is not consider a viable course. As far as academia is concerned African music and dance is too young and disorganized to be viable courses. These courses  may be 42 years old in the U.S., and diaspora, but in Africa they are centuries old. Hopefully my textbook GREENOTATION: MANUSCRIPTS OF AFRICAN MUSIC AND DANCE will soon be published so African music and dance can take its rightful place in academia. 

I have had the pleasure of working with a number of the legends of Africa from the post-colonial cultural era. These people were the founding members of African music and dance as we know  and perform it today.It was not easy introducing my work to Africans because I am female and many felt that females should dance and not drum. But African dance is always accompanied by music. It is the music that controls the dance. If one does not understand the music, it makes it difficult to dance on time and interpret what the musicians indicate. When I did break through, they were astonished indicating that my work was what Africans had been seeking for decades. 

My autobiography No Longer an Oral Tradition: My Journey Through Percussion Notation was published in 2010. It tells the history of my voyage from Brooklyn to Africa, but my textbook defines and gives structure to the oral traditions of African music and dance, from Tanzania to Senegal  that is unparalleled.


My work essentially gives African music the scientific basis if formerly lacked and provides perpetuity to the field. 

Article about Ray Cook

Submitted by Charlotte Wile - October 4, 2011

Here is an interesting article about Ray Cook: 

"The Language of Dance, Examined", by Dana Gavin (Hudson Valley News, December 22-28, 2010, pp10-11.)

The article includes terrific photos of Laban and Labanotation.

Unfortunately, the link above is a little hard to navigate and view, at least on my computer. You need to go to the site, then click on the picture of the newspaper, then click on the thumbnail at the bottom for pages 10-11. To enlarge the view see the icons at the top of the page.