Conferences

Every three years, daCi organizes an international conference located somewhere in the world. Dance educators, dance teachers with their children’s groups, young people who love to dance, artists, academics, politicians, and many others who are moved by dance, assemble together to experience dance as creators, performers, researchers, participants and spectators. During this active week, filled with workshops, lectures, performances and meetups, international networks and friendships arise and last a dancing life. 

We are thrilled to announce the next conference in Slovenia in 2024! Check out the invitation from our hosts Vesna Geršak of the Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana and Nina Meško, RS Public Fund for Cultural Activities, Department of Dance:

The website is LIVE NOW! All information on travel, registration and participting can be found here: https://daci2024.org/

Check out the full I-body, I-dance trailer here: 

 Be sure to visit the website for full information on the upcoming 2024 conference! https://daci2024.org/

History of conferences

2022 - 15th conference: Dancing into Communities
July 10-15 Toronto, Canada hosted virtually for the first time due to COVID-19 pandemic

2018 - 14th conference: 2nd Joint World Dance Congress 
July 8-13 Adelaide, Australia 
Panpapanpalya: dance gathering generations learning

2015 - 13th conference
July 5-10 Kopenhagen, Denmark
Twist and Twin: Dancing Identities
Identity in dance as it is experienced in formal, non-­formal and informal settings of education

2012 - 12th conference: 1st Joint World Dance Congress
July 15-20 Taipei, Taiwan 
Dance, Young People and Change.

2009 - 11th conference
August 2 - 8 Kingston, Jamaica
Cultures Flex: Unearthing Expressions of the Dancing Child

2006 - 10th conference
The Hague, Netherlands
Colouring Senses

2003 - 9th conference
August 3 - 10 Faculdade Social Da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil
Breaking boundaries: dance, bodies and multiculturalism

2000 - 8th conference 
July 30 - August 5 University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Extensions and Extremities: Points of Departure

1997 - 7th conference
July 28 - August 3 Kuopio, Finland
The Call of the Forests and Lakes

1994 - 6th conference 
July 12 - 20 Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
Kindle the Fire

1991 - 5th conference
July 29 - August 3 University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A
Roots and Wings

1988 - 4th conference
July 19-28 Roehampton Institute, Froebel College, London, U.K.
Young People Dancing: An International Perspective  
Volume I -  DANCE: Education
Volume II - DANCE - Special Education
Volume III - DANCE: Culture Community

1985 -  3rd conference
August 25-30 Auckland, New Zealand
Dance -  The New Zealand Experience

1982 - 2nd conference
Children and Youth Dancing, Stockholm, Sweden

1978 - A beginning through a conference
July 25 - 27 University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

In 1978 an international conference was held at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. The conference title was ‘Dance and the Child’, the brainchild of Dr. Joyce Boorman, together with the support and active participation of the local dance and university dance community and the National Dance Committee of the Canadian Association for Health Physical Education and Recreation (CAHPER). The program centred around the child as creator, performer and spectator and resulted in an international gathering of concerned people from the world of children's dance.

The success of the conference was such that those attending agreed to keep this international forum alive. However, it was recognized that, although an organization had been named DANCE AND THE CHILD: INTERNATIONAL (DaCi) and fees paid by founder members, it did not constitute a legal body. A Steering Committee was formed, consisting of one representative from each country attending the conference. Its mandate was threefold, to ensure that no organization already existed with similar objectives, if there was none to prepare the draft of a constitution, which would be presented to the members at a General Council meeting in a subsequent conference. The final draft of the constitution was prepared and presented for ratification at a General Council Meeting of the members held during the 1982 conference in Stockholm, Sweden. This conference, therefore, became the first one of the new association, Dance and the Child International (daCi) which has since hosted a conference every three years.