“Music, Dance, and Theatre In Fantasy Worlds: The Role Of Entertainment In Worldbuilding And Magic Systems” [Hosted online 16–17 January 2026]
Abstract submission deadline: 30 October 2025.
From the conference organizers:
Dear Colleagues,
The Centre for Fantasy Literature Studies at the Taras Shevchenko Institute of Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is pleased to announce the call for papers for our annual conference on the theoretical aspects of fantasy studies “MUSIC, DANCE, AND THEATRE IN FANTASY WORLDS: THE ROLE OF ENTERTAINMENT IN WORLDBUILDING AND MAGIC SYSTEMS”, which will be hosted online on 16–17 January 2026.
We welcome proposals from any area of fantasy studies, including, but not limited to, the topics listed below. We invite scholars specialising in literary studies, as well as researchers from other areas of the humanities, to submit proposals, and we encourage an interdisciplinary approach.
• Music, singing, performing musicians, and travelling bards;
• Theatre, pantomime, masquerade, and puppet shows;
• Carnivals, processions, street entertainment, and circus;
• Dance and choreography;
• Dionysian and Apollonian tensions;
• Theatricality, spectacle, and performance;
• Liminality, rituality, and rites of passage;
• The carnivalesque, corporeality, and humour;
• Narrative strategies and descriptive techniques centred around music/dance.
Abstract submission deadline: 30 October 2025.
Notification of abstract acceptance: 10 November 2025.
Please refer to the attached Call for Papers (CfP) for more information and the application form.
Sincerely,
The Organising Committee