Focus and Scope

Dance Research Aotearoa is an annual publication that presents peer-reviewed scholarly dance research in an internationally accessible online journal. Dance Research Aotearoa is an initiative of Karen Barbour (member of the Tertiary Dance Educators' Network New Zealand Aotearoa (TDENNZA)), in partnership with the Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research (WMIER) in The Faculty of Education at The University of Waikato.

Dance Research Aotearoa has a particular focus on dance in, and by dance researchers working in, Aotearoa, Australia and the South Pacific. The journal welcomes authors engaging with qualitative, interpretive perspectives and research methods. Authors drawing from performative, pedagogical, Kaupapa M?ori, indigenous, practice-based, ethnographic, Pasifika, critical, cultural studies, phenomenological, postmodern, feminist and other qualitative research perspectives and methodologies are encouraged to submit.

Authors may submit research articles, critical reflective essays and creative representations of research including narrative, autoethnographic, performative, poetic and image-based submissions. A 'looking back' feature incorporating a reprinted historic article with current responses, and book reviews may also be published regularly. While the journal focus is dance research in and by researchers working in Aotearoa, Australia and the South Pacific, submissions may also be made by international dance researchers or authors with topics beyond dance in Aotearoa, Australia and the South Pacific. The Editor and/or any Special Issue Editor/s will advise on the suitability of the submission for the journal.

Proposals for special and/or additional journal issues should be made to the Editor, Dr Karen Barbour. The first issue was launched in July 2013 during the Tertiary Dance Educators' Network New Zealand Aotearoa conference hosted by The University of Waikato and the second issue is anticipated to contain papers presented at this conference Dancing Critically: Pedagogy, Performance, Praxis.

The name of this journal - Dance Research Aotearoa - is both descriptive and aspirational. Aotearoa is the te reo Maori (indigenous Maori language) name originally given to the islands that were later called 'New Zealand' by Dutch explorers and then Captain Cook. Aotearoa is a now commonly used name, most particularly used by those living in the north of the two main islands.

In the historical migration of Polynesian peoples around the South Pacific, great voyaging canoes sailed south, navigating the vast Pacific ocean by reading the stars and the signs of the clouds, winds and waves. On one such canoe, it is said that Hine-te-aparangi, the wife of the captain Kupe, saw ahead on the horizon a long, white cloud. She called out 'He ao, he ao'! (A cloud, a cloud!) and thus the land she saw ahead became known as the 'the land of the long white cloud' - Aotearoa. (Ao meaning cloud, tea meaning white or bright, and roa meaning long.)

In using this original name Aotearoa, the history of Pacific migrations and thus connections between peoples throughout the Pacific is celebrated through this focus on dance research about and by dance researchers living in Aotearoa, Australia and the South Pacific. Further, imaginative and far-seeing people, particularly women, are celebrated through this journal.

The initial journal cover and website banner design, by Tori Veysey from KT Design, aims to reflect the aspirations of the journal in the sea, clouds and the movement of dancers. The original dance photo is by Marcia Mitchley of dancers in a 2008 choreography by Karen Barbour.