Call For Papers: Socio-Legal Studies Association 2026 Annual Conference, Dance/Law Current Topic

From Dr. Sean Mulcahy, Research Officer, Gender, Law and Drugs Program, LaTrobe University:

The call for papers for the Socio-Legal Studies Assocation's 2026 Annual Conference is open. The conference will be held at the University of Sussex.

We would be delighted if you would consider submitting an abstract to the Dance/Law current topic co-convened by myself and Dr Maria Frederica Moscati (University of Sussex).

You can find out more information here. Just scroll down to 'Dance/Law'.

The deadline for submissions is 30 October 2025. 

If you have any questions or would like any further information, please do reach out. 

 

"And When You Get the Choice To Sit It Out Or Dance/I Hope You Dance"

Dancing law enforcement officers always get my attention, maybe because I love to dance, and maybe because they seem unique. But as these videos show, dancing LEOS aren't that unusual, and why should they be? Police officers are human, they aren't really "flatfoots" (feet?) and they know how to have a good time. So let's encourage our cops to dance, and let's dance with them. Everybody dance!

This Greater Manchester Police Inspector dances at a Pride Parade in 2015.

This District of Columbia police officer de-escalated a tense situation by engaging in a dance-off (2015).

 A Kansas officer dances at a Black Lives Matter barbeque (2016). 

Some Denver cops dance here. 

Swedish officers dance at a Pride Parade here.

This Ottawa police officer dances on Canada Day here.

The New York Times investigates the "dancing cops" matter more fully here.

Law and Dance

Miriam Aziz, Visiting Scholar at Cardozo Law School, has published Lost For Words: Embodying Law Through Tanztheater, 7 Law and Humanities 91 (2013). Here is a link to the abstract.

Professor Aziz also tells me that the project has its own blog at Lost For Words by Miriam Aziz and Artist(s) at Large. Lots of things to explore, including a soundtrack.