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Dance

This guide suggests resources for locating information and materials on dance and all of its forms.

 

Contents of this research guide

Background Information  |  BooksArticles  |  Videos & DVDs of Productions

Show Reviews | People | Companies  | ImagesCostumes & Makeup | Additional Sources


Background Information

Encyclopedias and other reference works are an excellent place to start a research project or simply learn more about a particular topic.  They provide topic summaries, context, and bibliographies for further reading. These items are in our Reference Collection on the main floor.
GENERAL

International Dictionary of Modern Dance

R 792.803 In78

International Encyclopedia of Dance

R 792.803 In8

Also available online using the above link

Oxford Dictionary of Dance

R 792.803 C846o

Also available online using the above link

 

BALLET  

Ballet Guide

R 792.84 T279b

History of Ballet, Productions, Photographs

Complete Book of Ballets

R 792.8 B383

Ballets of 19th & 20th Century

Ballet Carnival

792.8 C883b 1957 Kent Stacks

Biographies &

Production Information

Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ballet

R 792.803 K818c

Balanchine's New Complete Series of the Great Ballets

792.8 B595b 1968 Kent Stacks

Production Information

 

ONLINE REFERENCE

American Ballet Theatre's Online Ballet Dictionary

170 Ballet Terms with Video examples.

Oxford Reference Online - Kent Library Subscription Resource

Searches almost 200 dictionaries and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press.

Internet Resources: Dance

Article from the Association of College and Research Libraries presents many web resources on dancing including general directories, dance dictionaries, dance media and special collections.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Kent Library Subscription Resource

Search for encyclopedia entries and video clips.

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Books
Use the Kent Library Catalog  to find books,  videos/DVDs, government documents and other materials.

Keyword searches allow you to use your own words as search terms.

Examples:

Dance and Asia Dance and Broadway Dance and Teaching

Subject Heading searches look for items that are part of a group or topic.

Examples: Modern Dance Ballet Folk Dancing
  Tap Dancing Jazz Dance Improvisation in Dance

 

Browse the Shelves. Books on dance can fall into many different subject areas and many different call number ranges.  For a list of sections, try the New York Public Library's Guide to Performing Arts Dance Finding Aid.

 

Examples: 

780.7

eurhythmics

793.3

ballet

372.86

movement education

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Articles

Search an article database to find scholarly journal articles, popular magazines articles and trade publications. For a full list of databases see the the database A-Z list or database by subject.

Databases Subject
Wilson OmniFile Multidiscipline - Art Concentration
Academic Search Premier Multidiscipline
Proquest Research Library Multidiscipline
ARTstor Images
SPORTDiscus Sports
JSTOR Humanities and Social Sciences
Masterfile Premier General Reference, Health, Business
America: History and Life American/Canadian History
Historical Abstracts World History
CINAHL Nursing and Health
ABI Inform Complete Business
Project MUSE Multidiscipline
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Videos & DVDs of Productions

The library has many videos and DVDs of dance performances. Do a Title Search in the catalog or in the Advanced search limit your material type to FILM/VIDEO.

 

Many films are grouped together under different Subject Headings. 

 (Subject Headings below were limited to just Film/Video entries)   

Examples: Musical Films Modern Dance Ballet Choreographer
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Show Reviews
Locate show reviews from newspapers, journals and magazines.

ProQuest Research Library + Newspapers

 

Select "More Search Options" at bottom of page.

Under DOCUMENT TYPE drop-down menu, select "Dance Review" or "Performance Review".


New York Times in Print

The Arts Section of the New York Times has reviews with color photos. The New York Times is held behind the Periodicals desk in the Library.

 

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People
Learn about important people & historical figures in Dance.

Biographical Dictionary of Dance

Reference Collection  R 927.933 C66B

 

Ballet Carnival

Kent Stacks  792.8 C883b 1957

 

Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ballet

Reference Collection  R 792.803 K818c

 

International Dictionary of Modern Dance  

Reference Collection  R 792.803 In78

 

Biography.com from A&E  www.biography.com

 

Biography

In print from 1978-1999, online in ProQuest Research Library from 1998-present.

 

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Companies
Company homepages often have dancer biographies, show summaries and audition information. Use these links to find the homepage for a dance company.

Dance Companies - New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

Dance Companies - From Ballet Companies.com, a listing of more than 2,000 links to ballet and dance companies all over the world

Dance > Modern > Companies - Google Directory - by Country & State

Dance > Ballet > Companies - Google Directory - by Country

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Images

Complement your print information with photograph and images.

Oxford Art - Database with an image search function

 

ARTstor - Image database

 

Performing Arts in America: 1875-1923

Digital Collection, New York Public Library for Performing Arts

 

Images of the Dance

New York Public Library for Performing Arts

 

Research Guide: Finding Images - Kent Library

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Costumes & Makeup
To find information about costumes and stage makeup, consult the following sources.
Books

Costume Design: Techniques of Modern Masters

Lynn Pecktal - Kent Stacks, 4th Floor 792.0260922 P337c 

  Subject Heading Costumes
  Subject Heading Theatrical Makeup
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Additional Sources
For a list of Web searching tools, see the Find: web resources page.

Selected Internet Resources - New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

Library of Congress: Performing Arts Encyclopedia - Dance
Images and online videos.

An American Ballroom Companion: Dance Instruction Manuals

Digital Collection  from Library of Congress - American Memory Project.

Video Directory - 75 clips organized by time period.

 

Internet Resources: Dance Article from the Association of College and Research Libraries presents many web resources on dancing including general directories, dance dictionaries, dance media and special collections.

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page developed by Information Services
last updated: 02/10/2009/ ES

created: 10/25/05/ MD