Theatre, Dance and Performance Training

In 2020, the special edition of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training ‘Beyond the Canon’ captured a change in direction for curricula and pedagogies of training, which were starting to diversify from linear, solely patriarchal, and/or white histories of performance. Five years on, in a post-pandemic world threatened by war, climate crisis, economic collapse, sociocultural divisions, nationalism, censorship and the rapidly unfolding effects of AI, our pedagogies are required to respond to a very different landscape. This special edition of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training seeks to mark this moment of pivotal change within institutional settings, to explore the practices, praxis, philosophies, and politics that define contemporary performance pedagogy at this time of development.

In looking towards the next decade of performer training we will examine what the education sector feels we should hold onto tightly and what we might let go of. We want to map the pivotal shifts in pedagogy from a range of diverse, situated perspectives, drawing on the experience of educators, artists, scholars and practitioner researchers from diverse geopolitical contexts. We invite contributions that challenge the traditional models of the past, propose new paradigms for the future, and critically consider the current structures of teaching and learning within the performing arts.

This special edition builds on the significant pedagogic turn of the last decade, with scholarship and practice responding to the need to decolonise the curriculum and work with increasingly inclusive pedagogies. This work has looked to expand performance training beyond technique, to do vital social justice and cultural activist work; to challenge outmoded power dynamics of training, looking to non-Western practices; to give voice to those who have been previously unheard. This has tended to focus on identity politics: through race and anti-racist practice (Ginther, 2023; Luckett & Shaffer, 2017), feminist (Malague, 2011; Peck, 2021) queer (Spatz, 2015), dis/abled (Sandahl, 2009; Whitfield et al., 2022; Glen 2024), class (Stamatiou, 2024) and the intersectional (Peck & Stamatiou et al., 2025). Scholar/practitioners are interrogating the ways that technology is shifting how we teach and learn (Kapsali, 2021) and look to the non-human (Camilleri, 2019; Alexandrowicz, 2024). The field is in a complex and exciting pivot from approaches to acting, towards approaches with actors (Hartley, 2024).

A key question is what we understand pedagogy to mean. This requires that we/educators reflect upon our terms of reference and engage in dialogue that revaluates the current tensions between training and education, industry and academy, process and product, methodologies and pedagogies. Whilst we are developing inclusivity in sharing what we teach, close consideration of how we teach still feels in its infancy. One concern is to expand our thinking about pedagogy as a research practice, exploring suitable research methodologies that allow us to better understand how teaching and learning takes place in studios, classrooms and in rehearsals. Now is a vital moment to take stock, take a breath and come together to reflect on pedagogies of and/or for performance-training disciplines. We welcome scholarly articles, practice-based research, manifestos, provocations, and visual essays from academics, practitioners, artists, and educators. Potential themes and topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Beyond Staging: the final-year production as a capstone training pedagogy.
• Bridging or Broadening the Gap: critical interrogations of how training aligns with the industry.
• Building Sustainable Communities of Practice: pedagogy, mentorship, and professional ecosystems.
• Defining the ‘Pedagogical Turn’ in Performance: from knowledge transmission to radical and transformative learning.
• Directing as Training: expanding the parameters of pedagogical methodologies for makers.
• Feminist and Queer Pedagogies: disrupting traditional training structures and practices.
• Histories and Legacies of UK Actor Training/Pedagogies: challenging canonical lineages.
• (Im)practicalities of Contemporary Performer Training: pastoral care, student evaluations, the (im)balance of teaching with practice.
• Pedagogic Approaches to Instrumental Practices of Performer Training at HE: audition practices, authentic assessment, experiential learning outcomes, budgetary challenges, specialist space and resource.
• Post-Pandemic Training Practices: digital liveness, remote collaboration, and hybrid training models.
• Re-Evaluating the Director-Trainer: hierarchies, power dynamics, and pedagogical authority in the studio.
• Research Methodologies for Performer Training Pedagogies: capturing embodied knowledge and practical wisdom from educators whose epistemologies are practical and/or situated (phronesis).
• The Emotional Labours of Training: pedagogical approaches to emotion, resilience and wellbeing for teachers and students.
• Training Futures: speculative pedagogies for the 21st-century performer.

Submissions

Through this special issue, we are keen to push the boundaries in asking how to research the nuances of performance pedagogy. We are interested in supporting contributions from freelance practitioners, and/or contributions that emerge through co-authorship and collaboration. We encourage and invite a supportive dialogue prior to formal submission from and with potential contributors without significant prior publication experience.