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Update 7/19: Visit the links below to view the session recordings from the conference!

Disco defies death. Over forty years after the so-called “death of disco,” disco music is everywhere. From Donna Summer to Beyoncé, disco is on the radio, in the clubs, and on the dance floor. This conference brings together scholars of disco/dance music, industry professionals, and dance activists to discuss disco’s history, present, and future. We are especially interested in exploring disco’s disruptive potential. How does disco confuse strict categorizations of gender, race, and sexuality? How does it blur the lines between high and low culture? How does its insistence on decadence both play into and disrupt the logics of capitalism? What were, and are the economics of disco in the music industry?

This conference will take place at the University of Exeter Penryn Campus in the UK. The conference will take place July 5–6.  

Stayin’ Alive: The Many Afterlives of Disco
Virtual Conference July 5–6

Sponsored by University of Exeter, British Association of American Studies, University of Colorado’s Department of Women & Gender Studies, LGBTQ Studies, Research & Innovation Office, and the University Libraries’ Rare & Distinctive Collections.

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Featuring DJ Luis Mario Orellana Rizzo and DJ Ronnie Soares
July 5, 7 a.m. MDT

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Featuring DJ Frankie Elyse, co-founder of the Scotland-based Polka Dot Disco Club, a collective of women, trans, and nonbinary DJs
July 5,  8:45 a.m. MDT

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Dr. Louis Nieber, University of Nevada Reno, author of Menergy: San Francisco’s Gay Disco Sound
July 6,  8:45 a.m. MDT