SDHS: Dancing from the Center

Dancing from the Center
Society of Dance History Scholars
Twenty-Eighth Annual Conference
9-12 June 2005
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL

The twenty-eighth annual conference of the Society of Dance History Scholars, entitled "Dancing from the Center," will be held 9 - 12 June 2005 at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Susan C. Cook (School of Music, University of Wisconsin-Madison) will serve as program chair, . Susan Manning, president-elect of SDHS, will serve as local arrangements chair.

Marshall Dance Center at Northwestern University

Conference Schedule. The Programming Committee, chaired by Susan Cook, will make selections of participants for the 2005 conference by January, 2005. The final conference schedule will be available online as soon as possible. Other members of the committee include Barbara Browning (Department of Performance Studies, New York University), Jonathon David Jackson (Goucher College), Nelida Mones (University of the Arts, Barcelona), Linda Tomko (Department of Dance, University of California-Riverside), and Yutian Wong (Departments of Dance and Asian-American Studies, University of Illinois-Champagne).

Conference Registration. On-line registration is not yet possible for the conference itself. If you need information immediately, contact Jim Ranieri, Office of the Society of Dance History Scholars, 3416 Primm Lane, Birmingham, AL 35216, Fax: 205.823.2760. Other information will be posted to this page as soon as possible. Check back often!

Local Arrangements. The chair of the local arrangements committee for "Dancing from the Center" is Dr. Susan Manning, President -Elect of SDHS. Dr. Manning will be assisted by Joseph Mills (Director of Dance Program, Northwestern), Rebecca Rossen (Visiting faculty at George Mason University and Ph.D. candidate at Northwestern), and Meida Villafana-McNeal (Fulbright Scholar and Ph.D. candidate at Northwestern).

Venue. Located on the shore of Lake Michigan, the Northwestern campus is within walking distance of downtown Evanston, where conference hotels are located. Participants may choose between the newly renovated Hotel Orrington, a full-service hotel with restaurant, cafe, bar, fitness center, and business center, or the Margarita Inn, a small European-style hotel. Within the immediate neighborhood are bookstores, coffee shops, a multiplex cinema, boutiques, day spa, several dozen restaurants, and public transportation to downtown Chicago and O'Hare Airport.

Conference Highlights. To celebrate the society's republication of Katherine Dunham's KAISO! in 2005, conference events will focus on Dunham's legacy. A pioneering African-American anthropologist, a leading twentieth-century choreographer in the U.S., and an early advocate of arts for community development, Miss Dunham has received an invitation to attend the conference. The Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies at Northwestern, the largest separate collection of Africana in existence, will mount two exhibitions in her honor. The first will spotlight resources on Dunham in the collection, including her correspondence with Herskovits and her typed field notes from her research trip to the Caribbean in 1936-37. The second exhibition will survey African perspectives on American dance, including response to visits by Dunham, Pearl Primus, Alvin Ailey, Chuck Davis, and Reggie Wilson.

Reggie Wilson, a Brooklyn-based artist who attended a Northwestern summer program as a high school student, will serve as guest artist for the conference. Like Dunham, Wilson uses ethnographic research as choreographic source material, and his choreography draws from the movement languages of Africans in the Americas and the Continent, and combines them with post-modern elements and structures to create what he sometimes calls "post-African/Modern dances." He will share a concert with two younger artist-scholars who deploy ethnographic research as choreographic source material. Rebecca Rossen, in the course of her dissertation research on the staging of Jewish-American identity in U.S. dance, invited choreographers Dan Froot and Victoria Marks to "make me a Jewish dance," and she will show the extended solo that resulted. Meida Villafana-McNeal, in the course of her dissertation research on dance and identity in Trinidad, created a colaborative work between her Chicago-based company, Thick Routes Performance Collage, and the Noble Douglas Dance Company in Trinidad, a collaboration enabled by the use of digital media. Her company will perform an excerpt from Race Travels: Care Packages from Trinidad to Chicago and Back Again on the same program as Rossen's Make Me a Jewish Dance and Wilson's Introduction. On a separate evening Wilson will lead conference participants in a Community Shout.

A final conference highlight will be the presentation of de la Torre Bueno Awards for the best books in dance studies published over the last four years. Established in 1973 in recognition of the contributions of pioneering dance editor Jose Rollins de la Torre Bueno, the award was awarded annually by the Dance Perspectives Foundation through 2001. Beginning this year, the Society of Dance History Scholars will award the prize in conjunction with the Bueno family. There will be extensive book display at the conference, exhibiting many of the books nominated for the de la Torre Bueno prize over the last few years. Book display instructions are available here. A full conference brochure is available here.

Cahn Auditorium, Northwestern University.

General Information

Lodging:

Lodging is available at three Evanston establishments, each located within walking distance to the Northwestern University campus, downtown Evanston, Lake Michigan and Evanston’s beaches, and public transportation to downtown Chicago.

The Hotel Orrington:
The Hotel Orrington, located at 1710 Orrington Avenue in Evanston, has been newly renovated to provide guests with modern and sophisticated accommodations. Valet parking is available in a secure underground lot at a cost of $18 per day. Visit www.hotelorrington.com for full hotel information.
Rooms with double beds have been blocked from June 7 through June 11 at a rate of $119 per night for single or double occupancy. All rates are subject to the current 13.5% hotel tax. To make a reservation with the Hotel Orrington, call 847-866-8700 or 888-677-4648 or e-mail orrrez@hotelorrington.com on or before May 6, 2005. Please identify yourself as part of the SDHS Conference and provide your name, room request, and check-in and check-out dates. Rooms are available after 3:00 PM on arrival day and are reserved until 12:00 PM on departure day. Credit card is required at check in.
The Margarita European Inn:
The Margarita European Inn, located at 1566 Oak Avenue in Evanston, is a bed and breakfast inn including European style rooms with shared baths. Parking is available at a cost of $6 per day. Visit www.margaritainn.com for full information on the inn.
Rooms with twin beds have been blocked from June 9 through June 12 at a rate of $79 per night. All rates are subject to the current 13.5% hotel tax. To make a reservation with the Margarita European Inn, call 847-869-2273 on or before May 6, 2005. Please identify yourself as part of the SDHS Conference and provide your name, room request, and check-in and check-out dates. Credit card is required at check-in.
The Homestead:
The Homestead, located at 1625 Hinman Avenue in Evanston, provides the atmosphere of a small, classic European hotel. Free parking is available. Visit www.thehomestead.net for full hotel information.
Rooms with double beds have been blocked from June 7 through June 11 at a discounted rate of $95 per night. All rates are subject to the current 13.5% hotel tax. To make a reservation with The Homestead, call 847-475-3300 on or before May 6, 2005. Please identify yourself as part of the SDHS Conference and provide your name, room request, and check-in and check-out dates. Credit card is required at check-in.

The State of Illinois tax is currently 8.75%, applicable to all non-room purchases.

DIRECTIONS

Driving Directions to the Margarita European Inn, Hotel Orrington, The Homestead, and downtown Evanston:
- From the North:
  Take 1-94 East (to Chicago)
  Exit I-94 at Old Orchard Rd and go east (left) on Old Orchard Rd
  Turn right on Skokie Blvd
  Turn left on Golf Rd (which becomes Emerson St in Evanston)
  Follow directions below "From Emerson St."
- From the South:
  Take I-90 West (Indiana Toll Rd/ Chicago Skyway) to I-90/94 North
  Take I-90/94 North past ChicagoÕs downtown Loop area
  At I-90/94 split, stay right on I-94 West (to Milwaukee)
  Exit I-94 at Old Orchard Rd and go east (right) on Old Orchard Rd
  Turn right on Skokie Blvd
  Turn left on Gold Rd (which becomes Emerson St in Evanston)
  Follow directions below "From Emerson St."
- From Downtown Chicago
  Take I-90/94 North
  At I-90/94 split, stay right on I-94 West (to Milwaukee)
  Follow directions above ("From the South")
- From O’Hare Airport: (approx. driving time is 35 minutes- distance is approx. 20 miles)
  Follow the "Exit to City" signs to I-90 East to I-294 North (to Milwaukee)
  Take I-294 North to Dempster St East exit
  Take Dempster St East to Potter Rd
  Turn left on Potter Rd
  Turn right on Golf Rd (which becomes Emerson St in Evanston)
  Follow directions below "From Emerson St."
- From Midway Airport: (approx. driving time is 50 minutes- distance is approx. 24 miles)
  Take Cicero Ave North to I-55 East to I-90/94 North
  At I-90/94 split, stay right on I-94 West (to Milwaukee)
  Follow directions above ("From the South")
- From Emerson St:
  - For the Margarita European Inn:
    Turn right (south) on Ridge Ave
    Turn left (east) on Grove St
    Turn left (north) on Oak Ave. The Margarita Inn is on the west side of the street.
  - For Hotel Orrington:
    Turn right (south) on Sherman Ave
    Turn left (east) on Church Ave
    Turn left (north) on Orrington Ave. Hotel Orrington is on the west side of the street.
  - For The Homestead:
    Stay straight on Emerson St. onto Clark St
    Turn right (south) on Chicago Ave
    Turn left (east) on Church St
    Turn right (south) on Hinman Ave. The Homestead is on the east side of the street.
Directions to Northwestern University:
- From the Hotel Orrington:
  Travel north on Orrington Avenue (toward the clock tower) to Clark Street. Go east on Clark Street to Chicago Avenue. Take Chicago Avenue north and turn right on Sheridan Road at the Northwestern arch. Travel east on Sheridan Road and turn left onto Campus Drive, just as the road bends south. Travel north on Campus Drive, and turn right on Arts Circle Drive. The entrance for the Marjorie Ward Marshall Dance Center is on the left. Parking is available in the bi-level lot on Campus Drive. Permits, which may be obtained at registration, must be displayed on rearview mirror.
- From the Margarita European Inn:
  Travel north on Oak Street to Church Street. Go east on Church street to Chicago Avenue. Follow the directions above from Chicago Avenue.
- From The Homestead:
  Travel north on Hinman Avenue to Sheridan Road. Turn right onto Sheridan Road, and make a quick left onto Campus Drive, just as Sheridan Road bends south. Follow directions above from Campus Drive.
Parking at Northwestern University:
Parking is available in the bi-level lot on the east side of Campus Drive, directly across from the Marjorie Ward Marshall Dance Center. Permits with current date and time must be displayed on rearview mirror. Permits may be obtained at conference registration at a cost of $5.75 each.

TRANSPORTATION

Air travel:
US Airways will be the official airlines of the conference, and offers conferees a fare discount of 7-12% on flights with US Airways, US Airways Express, US Airways Shuttle and select US Airways Codeshare (United Airlines) flights. US Airways’ Group and Meeting Reservations Staff can assist you in obtaining flight, fare or availability information toll free at (877) 874-7687. Remind the telephone agent that you are attending the SDHS conference, and that the following OSI message must appear in each reservation regardless of fare type being utilized:OSI US GF 48143410.
O’Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport service Chicago with constant flights from thousands of locations. Both locations are serviced by taxis, public transportation, shuttles, and rental cars, which can provide easy access to Evanston, Illinois. For more information on both airports, please visit www.flychicago.com.
AMTRAK:
The Chicago AMTRAK Station is located at 225 South Canal Street, Chicago, IL 60606. For schedule information, visit www.amtrak.com. For accessibility information, call 1-800-USA-RAIL.
Metra Trains:
Metra provides train service to many Chicago suburbs, Wisconsin, Indiana, downtown Chicago, and Evanston. For route maps, schedules, and services, please visit www.metrarail.com or call 312-322-6777.
Greyhound:
The main Chicago station for Greyhound busses is located at 630 West Harrison Street, Chicago, IL 60607. There is also a limited Greyhound service at Chicago’s Amtrak station. Please call 312-408-5800 or visit www.greyhound.com for reservations and information.
Pace Buses:
Pace provides bus service to Evanston and many Chicago suburbs. For route information, please visit www.pacebus.com or call 888-968-7282.
CTA:
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) services the city of Chicago with constant access to both Midway and O’Hare Airports, downtown Chicago, downtown Evanston, and Northwestern University via elevated trains and buses. For route maps, schedules, and visitor’s passes, visit www.transitchicago.com or call 888-968-7282. The CTA website (www.transitchicago.com) offers a "trip planner" feature that quickly configures the best train/bus route based on an entered starting point and destination.
Taxis:
Many taxi services are available at both O’Hare International Airport and Midway Airport. For more information on these services, please visit www.flychicago.com. Chicago taxi meters start at $1.90 upon entry and increase $1.60 per mile. Estimated fare for service from Midway to Evanston is $50 and from O’Hare to Evanston is $35. Norshore Cab offers a flat rate of $25 to/from O’Hare and Evanston and $44 to/from Midway and Evanston. For more information, visit www.norshorecab.com. To make a reservation, please call 847-864-7500.
Shuttle Service:
Continental Airport Express offers shuttle service from both O’Hare and Midway airports directly to both the Hotel Orrington and the Margarita Inn. Cost for shared service for a single passenger is $35 to/from O’Hare and $41 to/from Midway. Gratuity is additional. To calculate trip expenses or to make a reservation, visit www.airportexpress.com or call 888-2THEVAN.
Rental Cars:
Rental Cars located at O’Hare International Airport and Midway Airport:
Alamo 800-327-9633
Avis 800-331-1212
Budget Rent-A-Car 800-527-0700
Dollar Rent-A-Car 800-800-4000
Hertz 800-654-3131
National 800-227-7368

Additional service located at Midway Airport only:

Thrifty 800-527-7075

Last updated 8 March 2005
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