Call for Participation | “Physical Movement, Body Cultures and Identity in Europe – on and off the Screen” | International hybrid symposium, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, October 1, 2021

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dance

Co-organised by Dr Sabine Egger (German Studies, MIC) and Dr Marcus Free (Media and Communication Studies, MIC), this event includes panels on “Sport and Questions of Identity in European Film and TV”, “Dance, Media and Embodied Identities” and “Lola Montez: Spanish Dancer from Ireland, European Femme Fatale, 19th Century Media Celebrity?” 

Dr Seán Crosson (Huston School of Film, NUIG) will discuss representations of sport, the body and national identity in two recent European co-productions, The Racer (2020), which featured the commencement of the 1998 Tour de France in Ireland as its context; and The Keeper (2018), which dramatized the career of former German PoW, Bert Trautmann, as Manchester City goalkeeper. Papers by Prof. Rebeccah Dawson (University of Kentucky) and Dr Marcus Free (MIC) focus on football in early German cinema, and migration and ‘Irishness’ in television representations of Gaelic games.

Former lead dancer and director of Riverdance, Dr Breandán de Gallai (IWAMD, UL), will speak on the (de)construction of images of ‘Irishness’ through Irish Dance, while papers by Dr Eoin Flannery (MIC) and Dr Gert Hofmann (UCC) will discuss dance and embodied identities in literature and philosophy. 

Prof. Marita Krauss, historian at the University of Augsburg, will present on Lola Montez, an international media celebrity of the time, born in Ireland in 1821. Montez’ performance on and off stage was regarded as scandalous, including her love affair with King Ludwig I of Bavaria, while her political impact was seen as a threat by church and secular authorities. Krauss’s fascinating book on Montez, based on new sources, came out in 2020 and has received enthusiastic reviews. Prof. Joachim Fischer (European Studies, UL) will take a closer look at fact and fiction surrounding the ‘Irish dimension’ of Lola Montez. The event will close with a screening of the recently restored film Lola Montez/Lola Montès (1955) by Max Ophüls, introduced by Dr Christiane Schönfeld (MIC).

The symposium will bring together national and international perspectives from different disciplines, including film and television studies, literary and cultural studies, sport science, performing arts and history. Panels will focus on the spheres of sport and dance as codified physical and popular cultural activities that have historically connected individuals and peoples across the continent of Europe but also – paradoxically – highlighted its internal divides, fractures and boundaries through their rituals (international competitions, performance practices) and representation in literature, film and media forms.

Please find full programme & abstracts on the ICTS homepage. Participants are welcome to attend either online or in person. You will need to register in advance at icts@mic.ul.ie to receive the online joining link or access to the conference venue on campus.

Programme, 1 October 2021


Welcome & Introduction (12:45-13:00)

Panel 1 (13:00-14:30): Sport in European Film and Television

      • Prof. Rebeccah Dawson (University of Kentucky): Soccer in Early German Cinema. The Eleven Devils of the Weimar Cultural Apocalypse.
      • Dr Seán Crosson (NUIG): The Transnational in Contemporary European Sport Cinema: The Keeper (2018) and The Racer (2020)
      • Dr Marcus Free (MIC): “New Gaels”? Irishness, Migration and Gaelic Games in Irish Television

Panel 2 (15:00-16:30): Dance, Media and Embodied Identities in Europe (and beyond)

      • Dr Breandán de Gallaí (UL): Interrogating Identity through the Body: Reflections on Choreographic Processes (and Products) in Irish Dance Post Riverdance
      • Dr Eoin Flannery (MIC): Dance and Performance in the Fiction of Colum McCann
      • Dr Gert Hofmann (UCC): Embodied Imagination: Corporeality as Subject Ground in J.M. Coetzee’s Writing

Panel 3 (17:00-18:30): Lola Montez: Spanish Dancer from Ireland, European Femme Fatale, 19th Century Media Celebrity?

      • Prof. Marita Krauss (University of Augsburg): Lola Montez, Countess Landsfeld (1821-1861) – an enigmatic ‘Spanish dancer’ from Ireland conquers the world
      • Prof. Joachim Fischer (UL): Lola Montez. The Irish Dimension
      • Dr Christiane Schönfeld (MIC): Introduction to Max Ophüls’ Film Lola Montez/Lola Montès, 1955

Film Screening (20:00): Lola Montez/Lola Montès, 1955


Organised by the Departments of German Studies and Media and Communication Studies, MIC, in co-operation with the Irish Centre for Transnational Studies (ICTS), MIC, and the Centre for European Studies, UL.

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