Section Guest Editors: Margareta Sörenson (Sweden) and Octavian Saiu (Romania)
The special theme of the 13th issue of Critical Stages is Dance, and it is indeed for the first time since the web journal was created that this art form has been the centre of attention. Various articles on dance have been featured in Critical Stages on different occasions, but never before has contemporary dance from around the globe been the focus of this international publication.
It is the implied belief of this journal that critics are the most updated and analytical of all viewers. Therefore, we have invited a few of them to contribute articles and interviews about the contemporary landscape of dance, seeking to identify its current development and its impact on performing arts in general. This global approach relies on a clear sense of cultural specificity, because although universal and without borders, dance is always a reflection of the body and the mind, of identity, an image of old rituals as well as a portrayal of new social gestures.
We hope that this specially themed section on dance will provide new possibilities for relating to, and thinking about, twenty-first century performance. From Korea to Nigeria, from Romania to China, from the Americas to Europe—dance has been a driving force for the aesthetics of performing arts of all possible definitions. This issue of Critical Stages is meant to celebrate its fascinating, never ending newness.
Margareta Sörenson, president of IATC, is a Swedish theatre and dance critic, and a writer and researcher in dance history. She has written for the daily national paper Expressen since the early 1980s, and for the Swedish dance journal, Danstidningen, in addition to writing a number of books on the performing arts, the latest on Mats Ek, with photographer Lesley Leslie-Spinks. Her special interests in dance and puppetry have often led her to the Asian classical stage arts and increased her curiosity about contemporary ones.
Octavian Saiu, Adjunct Secretary General of IATC and President of the Romanian Section – Theatre Studies of IATC, holds a PhD in Theatre Studies and another one in Comparative Literature. He has published articles in several international journals, as well as eight books on theatre. He received the Critics’ Award in 2010 and the Award of the Union of Theatre Artists (UNITER) in 2013. Actively involved in various international festivals around the world, he has chaired talks and seminars at Edinburgh International Festival and Sibiu International Theatre Festival. His most recent publication in English is the monograph, Hamlet and the Madness of the World (2016).
