Appel à contribuition: Punctum « The Semiotics of Dancing »

C’est avec grand plaisir que nous partageons l’AAC pour le numéro 12/1 (2026) de la revue Punctum (https://punctum.gr/) sur le thème The Semiotics of Dancing. La date limite pour l’envoi des propositions est le 31 décembre 2025.

Dance, as an organized form of movement within a given practice, has been a vital part of societies and cultures since the beginning of time. This seemingly simple definition raises many questions about the perspectives and fields through which dance, or rather, dances can be understood. Indeed, seeking universal “grammars” of dance appears pointless, even if it is viewed as a body technique (Mauss 1934). Is dance an art form, or does it aim to produce meaning in practices such as – to name just a few – rituals, activism, and therapy? And even if we focus on the artistic, religious, anthropological, and sociocultural areas, how can we overlook the differences between a hip-hop jam, a dervish dance, a Bharata Natyam performance, a contemporary dance show, a milonga, etc.? Do these diferences represent different autonomous semiosis, or should they be understood only in terms of the semiospheres or forms of life where they occur? Also, are there general – though not universal – features of semiosis that dance demonstrates, as René Thom (1991) once suggested?

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