Tyranny of distance: the ninth international drama in education research institute

The economically oppressive distance between Aotearoa New Zealand and most of the rest of the world was somewhat mitigated this year for those of us lucky southern hemisphere drama and theatre in education researchers, at least, with IDIERI 9 hosting delegates from 25 different countries, in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland, during the first week of July. Hosted at the University of Auckland’s Epsom campus, set close to Maungawhau Mount Eden an appropriately elevated location at the ‘bottom of the world’, delegates spent a week soaking up Aotearoa New Zealand’s unique culture with drama-in-education colleagues, research practitioners, writers and artists. This is the first IDIERI event to have been held in Aotearoa New Zealand and we were delighted to welcome our international guests with a powhiri, a traditional welcoming ceremony involving korero and waiata (speeches and song) led by Professor Peter O’Connor and to which Professor Tim Prentki responded on behalf of the Manuhiri (those of us being welcomed onto the campus for the first time). The Powhiri ended with an invitation to us all to share breath in a hongi, prepare to share plenty more singing, and to look forward to connecting with new friends, and reconnecting with familiar friends, many of whom had travelled great distances to be in Aotearoa for the week. ‘Six Months in a Leaky Boat’ by NZ band Split Enz (1982) became IDIERI 9’s theme song, and the lyrics seemed to reflect new meanings each time we sang it together. The concept of distance, of course, was the key theme for IDIERI 9. Specifically, the conference invited presenters and performers to consider how our drama in education practice may be shaped by our locations, or how we might conceptualise notions of travelling from a physical or affective perspective, or to consider the aesthetics and politics of distance. Whilst there was significant diversity across the keynote presentations, performances, panels, papers and workshops it became clear just how these ‘distances’ can impact our ideas and representations of self and other, identity formulation, and practice – in the contexts of aesthetic and knowledge exploration. The conference offered delegates a wealth of ways we might diminish limitations imposed on us in our drama in education research and practice by ‘distance’.